The charming 360-degree view from atop Corcovado Mountain displays Rio de Janeiro’s splendour in all its heart-stopping magnificence. This exceptional, overpowering tableau of bending white beaches, skyscrapers, gray granite mountains, verdant rainforest, and the island-studded Bay of Guanabara encouraged Rio’s nickname, Marvellous City.

Corcovado’s peak is crowned by the 120-foot-high soapstone statue of Christ, his arms stretched out to a 75-foot expanse; the very sign of the city, it was finished in 1931 to celebrate the 1922 centennial of Brazilian sovereignty. Approximately twice as high as its rival, 1,300-foot Pao de Açúcar, Corcovado provides a sight of the gumdrop-shaped Sugarloaf, and confirms that no other major city is as sanctified with physical and natural splendour as Rio.