When's the best time to go?
On arrival in Rio de Janeiro, you will be engulfed in the heat first - if you arrive for Carnival, get ready for a week-long, hot, sweaty, crazy party!  If you like parades and festivals then Carnival is a great time to visit this beautiful country, but if you hate crowds then best to leave it to the off-season. Carnival is a very expensive time to visit Brazil, the cost for a room/bed triples or quadruples over this period (February 6 - February 14).

Beautiful bodies?  Yes Please!
Rio de Janeiro is known for having a 'body-beautiful' culture, more so than other Brazilian cities.  An everyday sight on the beaches are buffed toned men and women - excellent perving for everyone.  There is also a 'gay section' on Ipanema beach, you will see the rainbow flags (and lots of beautiful gay men).  The beaches are mostly all crowded with tourists - therefore high prices for food and drinks.  Rio is a tourist city, especially the more popular beaches like Copacabana and Ipanema.  You can spot the freshly arrived tourists as they stand out like a white chocolate raisins in a dark chocolate pack. 

What else is in Rio?
Some other attractions in Rio are the Corcavado Christ statue, which stands tall on a mountain overlooking the city.  The other must-see things to do here is go up to Sugar Loaf mountain in the cable car for a great view – Rio is nestled picturesquely between tall hills, and is a very beautiful city.  The coast line is very nice, though you will find that a lot of the beaches have a film of something akin to coca-cola floating on the top.  A ride on almost any bus will give you a great view of the city, local style.  They travel quickly, and vehicles rule the road – if you step out, you will get run over.

A fabulous thing to see is the favellas – they are amazing little villages where the poorest people live, and also many wealthy drug lords and their merry men.  A tour around these interesting places will give you an insight into Brazilian people you wouldn’t normally get.  The guides are locals and know the places and people well, so don’t be afraid and don’t feel voyeuristic!  The money from your ticket helps them in community centres, and they like to sell you their artwork and jewellery.  Definitely worth a visit, though most of the locals will wonder why you would want to do such a thing!  None of them would venture into this no-go-zone, but it’s actually one of the safest places in Rio to be – all the thieves live here, but they try not to shit in their own nests - the drug lords run a tight ship and punishment for crimes is swift and brutal.

Sex tourism - Rio de Janeiro Accommodation