5 alternative parks to avoid crowds in Rio de Janeiro!

There is no shortage of alternatives in the city to breathe fresh air, take photos and have fun safely!

The COVID-19 Pandemic has brought new concerns and new precautions to our daily lives, making us avoid crowded places, queues and closed environments. With tourism starting to move again, we started looking for more open and less crowded places!

This list has 5 parks in Rio that don't usually attract crowds, make for a nice walk and, of course, are beautiful! Get in touch and we can arrange to go together!

1) Marapendi Municipal Natural Park

The discreet entrance to the Municipal Natural Park of Marapendi keeps its 155 hectares of preserved area almost a secret. From the outside, passersby and drivers rushing along Avenida Alfredo Balthazar da Silveira, in Recreio, barely notice it, but the park holds, in addition to its great beauty, an intense wildlife, making it possible to see alligators, capybaras and many species of birds.

The park has a rare - at least in Rio - bird watching tower, from where you can see nests from above, as well as an incredible view of the Recreio dos Bandeirantes neighborhood.

2) Chacrinha Park

In the place that housed, more than a hundred years ago, a small farm (hence the term “chacrinha”), lived a fisherman named Theodoro, one of the first residents of the neighborhood.

One of the oldest state parks in Rio, the address founded in 1962, on a dead-end street close to the Cardeal Arcoverde metro station, is the result of a historic struggle led by a group of Copacabana residents. Before becoming an environmental preservation area, the land was the target of real estate speculation — and almost became a samba school court, supermarket and residential building. Today, in addition to the intact forest — there, at the top of the hill, is a 300-year-old jacaranda tree painted by Rugendas —, the park preserves archaeological material.

3) Penhasco Dois Irmãos Park

It's hard not to take your cell phone out of your pocket to take a photo of the landscape and take a selfie at the Penhasco Dois Irmãos Municipal Natural Park, in Leblon. With four viewpoints facing the beaches of Ipanema and Leblon, the Lagoa and Corcovado, the place with a privileged view has not yet entered the itinerary of most city residents.

Set on the hill that gives it its name, the environmental preservation area has wooden decks, a small lake and well-kept gardens. One of the first gardens has a moving monument dedicated to the victims of the accident with Air France Flight 447, between Rio and Paris, which crashed into the ocean in 2009.

4) Catacumba Park

Opened in 1979, the park occupies the place where the favela of the same name existed until the end of the 1960s. Currently, a project is planting native species from the Atlantic Forest on the hillside, which is the basis for 30 sculptures by artists plastics such as Franz Weissmann and Alfredo Ceschiatti, recently restored.

The biggest attraction there is the trail to the Sacopã and Urubu viewpoints, with a beautiful view of the Lagoa and beaches.

5) Parque Municipal Paisagem Carioca

Located between the neighborhoods of Copacabana, Botafogo, Leme and Urca, one of Rio's newest parks has trails that lead to natural viewpoints that reveal the city's charms. Through its trails, we access 6 viewpoints, all with stunning views.