Language spoken, Portuguese; also often French. Spanish generally understood.
Chief Points of Interest
Avenida do Rio Branco, the National Library, the Fine Arts Museum, the Cathedral, and the Candelaria Church, the Praças 15 of November, and Republica, the Passeio Publico, the Beira Mar, the Botanical Garden, the Pão de Assucar, and—Corcovado.
It is a great advantage to have selected one’s hotel in advance and to have rooms engaged, as the three leading establishments are a long way apart.
The carregadores who have numbers on their hats may usually be relied upon to bring in time your baggage to its destination. Some haggling over the price is usual, as large fees are demanded; not too large perhaps for those who carry them on foot, but more than an ordinary express company would ask for the same distance. The carregadores carry suit cases and other small packages, several of them, on their heads, at least to the cars, where they must pay their fare. Also it must be said that baggage is not allowed in electrics of the first class (I did once smuggle a suit case) nor—make a note of this—is any man allowed without a coat, however hot the weather. Even on the street a gentleman under no circumstances is expected to carry his coat over his arm. One American who did so was politely accosted by a Brazilian who said, “Man, coat put on!” in the best English he could muster. Two milreis would be charged for two or three pieces of hand baggage to the Avenida Hotel and four or five for a trunk, which would be pushed in a hand-cart; double to the Estrangeiros, less to the Suissa. For the International Hotel, the Express Company must be employed, but with that there may be considerable delay. Each hotel has its own especial merit, which to some minds would outweigh all others and render possible a decision without personal observation; many will prefer to spy out the land for themselves. It has been said that there is no really first-class hotel in Rio, but a Ritz Carlton now being constructed on the Avenida with accommodations for 1200 visitors, will be opened in 1914. As hotels are liable to be full, it is wise to telephone before going to look at rooms.
First may be mentioned the Hotel Avenida, American Plan $5 up, not because it is the best, but as being in the center of things, right on the main business street, the new Avenida Rio Branco. Many lines of electric cars start from beneath its portico and nearly all the others pass within one or two blocks. Naturally it is noisy but persons accustomed to our city streets will hardly mind. This hotel, having a restaurant with all night service and music every evening, is the largest in Brazil. Many English-speaking tourists, however, prefer one of the other two. The Hotel dos Estrangeiros, the Strangers’, is a large establishment facing the Praça José de Alencar, a charming ride of 20 minutes from the Hotel Avenida in the direction of the Assucar, mostly along the boulevard by the sea called the Beira Mar. The hotel is not far, about two blocks, from the water, which may be visible from the upper windows in the rear; in front several lines of cars diverge in various directions. The table is no more than fair, though perhaps as good as any; the price, 12 to 15 or more milreis daily being sufficient for what is provided. Opportunity for sea bathing is near; also for hot and cold baths in a hydropathic establishment. The International Hotel, which seems more out of the city, though reached in about the same length of time from the Avenida, is recommended as cooler in the hot season, from October to April, and is by many preferred at any time, on account of its delightful situation 1000 feet above the sea on the way to Corcovado. Though the ride is but five minutes longer, the cars do not go so often as to the Estrangeiros, which is served by all the cars of the Jardim Botanico Co., these passing in an almost continuous row under the Hotel Avenida. The cars to the International set out once in 20 minutes from the farther side of the Praça de Carioca, a Square just behind the Hotel Avenida; the invisible starting point is around at the back of a certain building. This line, called the Santa Theresa, goes by the rua do Aqueducto over the arches which once bore the aqueduct, across a portion of the city from a hill, the Morro de Sto. Antonio, to that of Sta. Theresa, the latter being rather a ridge extending from the peak of Corcovado. On the steep slope of the ridge the International is situated, where the nights are ever comfortable, while the journey to and fro is always a delight. The hotel has many suites of rooms and bath with hot and cold water, and is a favorite resort with many. At these three hotels the rates are much the same.
Should one prefer a more modest establishment with lower prices, a finer outlook than any save the International, and more conveniently located than any but the Avenida, he may go to the Pensão Suissa, kept by a motherly German Frau, only ten minutes from the Avenida by any of the Jardim Botanico lines, and looking out upon the bay, the Gloria hill, the lovely Beira Mar. The rooms are as neat as possible, so that I was able to reply to a gentleman’s query as to red ants that I had seen none, which seemed to him a great surprise, as he supposed that every dwelling in Rio contained them. The various other hotels and pensions are not without merit and patrons.
One may generally get settled in his hotel in time for the noon meal, though the luggage is not likely to arrive before the middle of the afternoon. Yet the time should be improved, either by sight-seeing in the middle of the city, or if one is tired by a ride to some of the suburbs. A few tourists, caring little for the commercial and business section of the city, devote their entire time to the wonders of the jewel’s marvellous setting. The center of the city should not, however, be ignored. Yet a ride in car or automobile, according to the length of the purse, will be a delightful beginning for the eager tourist. In an auto one may skim over a great part of the city’s boulevards in a single afternoon. Our admiration for these magnificent drives and parkways, unsurpassed in the world in their opportunities for delightsome hours, will be heightened if we are mindful of the astonishing transformation which has here been wrought within the last decade. In 1903 Rio was a dirty, not to say filthy, city of narrow streets, a place to be shunned, as often a hot bed of yellow fever. For its regeneration various plans had previously been proposed, but President Rodriguez Alves was the man who put one of these into execution.
AVENIDA DE RIO BRANCO