Hiking a 110-Mile Jungle Trail — Entirely Within Rio

Brazil’s longest hiking trail is 110 miles through Atlantic rainforest along the coast, stopping off at white sand beaches, waterfalls and panoramic viewpoints, where monkeys, toucans and parrots abound. Where is this tropical hiker’s paradise? It’s 100 percent within Rio de Janeiro city limits — a metropolis with more than 7 million people.

The newly inaugurated Transcarioca Trail links seven Rio de Janeiro parks from the city’s eastern to western corners, forming one of the most extensive urban hiking experiences on the planet. The trail uses several of Rio’s famous pre-existing trails — like the trail up Corcovado Mountain to Rio’s iconic Christ the Redeemer statue — and connects with newly forged trails that spread far beyond the tourist zone and into the city’s outskirts.

There’s a lot to draw you to Rio, but this urban center is built within the kind of tropical paradise usually reserved for five-star resorts on remote islands — filled with jungle, gorgeous beaches and dramatic granite mountains that jut up from the sea. The Transcarioca allows you to explore so many corners of the world’s largest urban rainforest without leaving the city.

With no government funding, the trail was put together throughout the course of 20-plus years by more than 1,000 local volunteer mountaineers who are head over heels for Rio’s abundant rainforest.

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