Take a helicopter over Copacabana beach

Rising up the two-stage, hump-backed Sugar Loaf mountain by cable car is pretty exciting. And the views from the top of Copacabana beach, Guanabara and Botafogo Bays and the Christ the Redeemer statue on the skyline are really impressive. But just imagine just how much more thrilling it is to look out over the whole city and its world-beating coastline from the window of a helicopter.

Boarding at the first level of the Sugar Loaf, Morro da Urca, you take off in your chopper to do just that. There’s a maximum of five passengers, plus the pilot, so it’s a pretty intimate experience as well as a privileged one.  The flight is only a few minutes long, and may be the only helicopter flight you will ever take – although if you enjoy it, there are other helicopter rides in gorgeous and dramatic Latin American locations such as Iguazú Falls, the Blue Hole in Belize or Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica (though we haven’t tested them all ourselves yet).