Sugarloaf Mountain

Sugarloaf Mountain is the rock that makes Rio's harbour instantly recognisable: a bare, rounded dome of gneiss rising 396 metres straight out of the sea at the mouth of Guanabara Bay. Its name was coined by the Portuguese in the 16th century, when refined sugar was shipped in tall conical clay moulds and the loaf that came out looked just like this peak. Geologists group it with the bornhardts — steep, isolated domes left standing as softer rock around them wore away — and it is one of a family of monoliths that rise from the water all around the city. The lower, wooded Morro da Urca stands beside it, and together the two hills form a natural monument, created in 2006, that protects a remnant of Atlantic forest clinging to their flanks.

The summit is reached by one of the world's oldest passenger cableways. Engineer Augusto Ferreira Ramos conceived it in 1907; German-made equipment was hauled up the rock by hand and on steel cables, and the first section, from Praia Vermelha to Morro da Urca, opened in 1912 — the first cable car in Brazil. Two stages carry visitors up: first to the 220-metre top of Urca, then across a 1,400-metre span to Sugarloaf, in bubble-shaped glass cars that give a full circle of views. The first cabins were of wood and ran for 61 years; the cars were replaced in 1973 and again in the late 2000s.

From the top the city opens in every direction — Copacabana on one side, Botafogo and Corcovado on the other, the entrance of the bay directly below. The rock is also one of the great urban climbing grounds of the world: together with Urca and Babilônia it has more than 270 routes, many of them long multi-pitch climbs. Walkers can follow the Cláudio Coutinho path, 1,250 metres along the sea at the foot of both hills, and a free trail climbs from it to the top of Morro da Urca. The mountain is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site that recognises Rio's cultural landscape between the mountains and the sea.

Getting there

Sugarloaf rises at Urca, about 2.6 km from Botafogo and a short ride from central Rio. The nearest airport is Santos Dumont (SDU), about 4.4 km away. The cable car leaves from the station at Praia Vermelha in Urca.