All activities / Paragliding / Rio de Janeiro
Paragliding in Rio de JaneiroBR
Brazil's marvelous city: beaches and granite domes, samba schools and the largest carnival on earth, with free flight, climbing, and jiu-jitsu inside the city limits.
Why here
The ramp on Pedra Bonita launches you at 520 meters over unbroken Atlantic rainforest inside Tijuca National Park, with Pedra da Gavea alongside, Christ the Redeemer behind, and the sand of Sao Conrado beach as the landing strip. It may be the most scenery-dense ten minutes in free flight, and because the Clube Sao Conrado de Voo Livre has run the site for some fifty years, the operation around it, from weather calls to ramp marshals to licensed tandem pilots, is as settled as the view is wild. Hang gliders and paragliders fly from the same ramp, which almost nowhere else offers.
Best months
Flyable in every month. June through August brings the most stable winter air; summer adds stronger thermals and longer flights but more weather cancellations, so keep a spare morning. Tandem flights run 7 to 20 minutes depending on conditions.
Getting there & around
Twenty to thirty minutes from Copacabana; operators collect you from your hotel. Book one to three days ahead and leave a flexible weather window. Fly into GIG or SDU.
Skill levels: beginner, advanced
Schools & guides (2)
Rio Adventures
OutfitterRio adventure operator running Pedra Bonita tandem flights with ABVL-certified pilots of twenty-plus years' experience, plus climbing and hiking across the city's parks.
Rio Tandem
GuideTandem paragliding and hang gliding from the Pedra Bonita ramp with pilots certified by ABVL, Brazil's free flight association.