The entrance to Guanabara Bay is a narrow gap between two rock masses, with Sugarloaf Mountain on one side and the fort of Sao Joao on the other, and it is one of the great harbour views of the world. This stretch of shoreline, around Urca, Botafogo and Flamengo, is part of the area that UNESCO recognised in 2012 as a cultural landscape where the city and the natural setting have shaped each other. The words manmade shoreline refer to the reclaimed land along the bay, which includes the Flamengo Park.
That park, created in the 1960s on landfill, was designed with the landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx, who laid out lawns, paths and groves of native trees along the waterfront. It is a place where Cariocas run, cycle and play football, and the view across the bay to Niteroi and the Sugarloaf is hard to beat. Behind it, the apartment blocks stand shoulder to shoulder, and traffic runs along the main road, but the green strip softens the effect.
Sugarloaf, which rises about four hundred metres from the sea, is reached by a two-stage cable car that has run since 1912. The ride is short, and the view from the top, over Botafogo bay, Corcovado, Copacabana and the whole city, is the best introduction you can get. Late afternoon is the favourite time, because the light is golden and the sunset over the bay turns the water pink. Queues are long at midday, so go early or late.
Across the bay, the Rio-Niteroi bridge, finished in 1974, runs for thirteen kilometres, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Niteroi, a flying-saucer building by Oscar Niemeyer, sits on a rock above the water. Riding around the bay is slow, because of traffic, but the coastal roads at Urca and along the waterfront give a good view. Fuel and food are easy to find, with stations on the main avenues and endless places to eat. Watch your belongings when parked, and avoid riding at night in unfamiliar areas.