The coastal Mountains in Sao Conrado Rio de Janeiro offer favorable conditions for paragliding and hanggliding
Hang gliding is just one of many offbeat things you could do in Rio de Janeiro
Some people say that Rio de Janeiro is a city where you can do just about everything without ever leaving the city. Whether it is on water, land or in the air, the possibilities are almost endless
Driving down the coastline of Rio de Janeiro in the direction of Barra de Tijuca (Zona Oeste – west side), you will pass São Conrado, one of Rio’s “noble”, and more privileged neighborhoods, which is surrounded by coastal mountains, creating perfect circumstances for hang gliding.
If you’re not too distracted by the bikini’s on the beach, on a good day, you will probably see a bunch of paragliders (portuguese: parapente) and hanggliders (portuguese: asa delta) circling around in the air..
The Pedra Bonita take-off ramp is located inside the famous Tijuca National Park, at an altitude of 520 m.
It should only be a 20 minute drive from Copacabana, but depending on the time of day, traffic tends to cause significant delays, so always leave half an hour (or even an hour) earlier than you planned initially.
There are several tour operators offering tandem flights, and some of them can arrange to pick you up at your hotel (for the right price of course).
View of Bairro São Conrado from the takeoff ramp at Pedra Bonita – Rio de Janeiro. Altitude: 520 m Are you ready to jump off?
Depending on wind conditions, flights take from 15 to 20 minutes. After the flight you land on the beach of São Conrado.The price should be around 250 R$ (+/-100 Euros)
Here are a few more pictures I took when I visited the ramp (and came close to flying myself).
Preparing the wings…
A hang glider taking off…
A paraglider taking off
A hang glider seconds after taking off…
paraglider seconds after taking off… Free as a bird.
And last but not least, here’s a link to a hanggliding video of my friend, travel writer and photojournalist Mark Eveleigh when he took the plunge himself…
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This looks like so much fun, thanks for sharing. I’m heading to Rio in February and may try to squeeze this in!
Hi Coleen, looks like you want to get here for the Carnival period (8-13 of Feb)
Hang gliding in Rio must be among the best locations in the world. I visited the ramp yesterday with a guy who has been flying all over the world and he was really impressed about the ramp itself and the scenery. Definitely a “not to miss”
I am also running a brand new information site about Rio de Janeiro. It is actually more focused on expats, but tourists can find lots of info too (like the activities and events in the “what’s on guide“, or about hostels and hotels)
The site is called “AngloINFO Rio de Janeiro”
Cheers
Raf
Thanks Raf – I’ll be sure to check out the new site and will be adding this to my list of activities for Rio. You guessed correctly – I’m going for carnival
One thing is certain: you have Brazilian looks
Cheers
Raf
I hanglided from this point down to Sao Conrado beach a few years ago. It was totally awesome! My pilot’s name was captain “zero”.
It’s on my to-do list for 2012 Michael… I’ll check if Captain Zero is still around
Amazing bio, rock on man!
Thank you… I’m planning to rock on for a while longer
This is an amazing experience, the marvelous city is even more incredible from high above. Nice post!
Thanks Julia, I haven’t had a chance to do it myself yet, but I’m planning to before the end of the year… that AND the Teresópolis – Petrópolis hike across the serra dos Orgãos