Why this ride
253 km from Rio de Janeiro to Paraty, about 4 h 19 of riding. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Brazil Rio Santos Highway: Rio de Janeiro to Paraty
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 253 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 19
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Rio de Janeiro
Rio is the kind of city that looks like it was drawn by someone with a taste for exaggeration. Granite domes rise straight out of the sea and the streets, Sugarloaf at the entrance to Guanabara Bay, Corcovado with Christ the Redeemer on top, and between them are beaches, lagoons, favelas climbing the hillsides and a forest in the middle of town. The Tijuca Forest, replanted by hand in the nineteenth century after coffee farming had stripped the slopes, is one of the largest urban forests in the world. UNESCO recognised Rio's setting as a cultural landscape in 2012.
Read the complete Rio de Janeiro write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Rio de Janeiro is where the day begins. Next is Angra dos Reis.
2. Angra dos Reis
Angra dos Reis is a bay of islands, and the number most often quoted is 365, one for every day of the year. Whether that is exact does not matter, because the scene is clear: a green, steep coast, calm blue water, and countless islands covered with Atlantic forest. The town, about a hundred and fifty kilometres west of Rio along the Costa Verde, is the main port, and boats leave from the harbour for Ilha Grande, the largest island, which has no cars and some of the best beaches in Brazil.
Read the complete Angra dos Reis write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Angra dos Reis comes up about 156 km into the recorded legs. Next is Paraty.
3. Paraty
Paraty is a small colonial town on a bay of the Costa Verde, where the Serra do Mar mountains drop in green folds to a sea scattered with islands. It was a port of the gold rush in the eighteenth century, when gold from Minas Gerais came down a mule trail through the forest, the Caminho do Ouro, and was loaded here for the voyage to Rio and then Lisbon. The town is remarkably well preserved, with whitewashed houses with coloured door frames, a handful of churches, and streets paved with big uneven stones that are laid, so they say, to let the sea flush them clean at the highest tides.
Read the complete Paraty write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 253 km.
Leg by leg
Rio de Janeiro to Angra dos Reis
Rio de Janeiro → Angra dos Reis is 156 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Angra dos Reis to Paraty
Angra dos Reis → Paraty is 97 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.