Well worth the steep hiking! The views are incredible and perhaps the best in Rio! - The summary: Well worth the roughly 45 minute hike up a steep hill. The details: You'll likely get dropped off at the entrance gate of a very steep and long paved driveway however there are some private cars that park along the entrance asking if you want a drive up the steep driveway for $R5 or so. It may actually be worth it as that hike up could be pretty intense as it's quite steep. Once you arrive at the little cafe, you'll see the actual trail entrance. This is for people that can handle a fairly intense incline for a long period of time - at least 40 minutes of pretty steep and often slippery pathways. The first section you'll feel deep inside a rainforest hence the slippery traction. WEAR MOSQUITO SPRAY otherwise you will for sure get bitten a lot. Once you reach the top, you'll be blessed with perhaps the best view in Rio. The views even extend past Barra Tijuca. Absolutely gorgeous, stunning and well worth it. PRO TIP: Either plan to take the public bus that seems to frequently stop outside on the main road or call your Uber once you are at the cafe on your return. Celluar/data reception is available ironically only at the very top and at the cafe. Once you walk down the driveway, you'll be out of signal until you walk on the highway road back down the hill for at least 1.5 miles. It's a windy road and the vehicles come whipping around. In our case, we waiting until we were on the road to call Uber and then had zero luck. The cars canceled one right after the other and cellular reception would come and go. Thankfully a city bus passed by and the friendly driver allowed us on even though we had no cash on us.

The view! The view! - Nattrip arranged for the guide/driver Eduardo La Pasta to pick us up at our hotel and drive us up 1600 ft to the start of the trail. The mile-long hiking trail led us up to 2300 ft in less than an hour; along the path, our guide even spotted a huge sloth way up on its tree! And then we were at the top of the Pedra Bonita: what a view! Stayed for an hour, Eduado naming us all the breathtaking sites. We are way past 60, and it took us some extra breath up and knee control down. On the way back we stopped at the Mirante das Canoas. A plus was that we took the trail early Monday morning, very few tourists.

Beautiful views - Short hiking but the views on top were phenomenal with Gavea' in the backdrop, and spacious areas. I was lucky and happy to have Eduardo as my guide again. He made this trip enjoyable and memorable one. Thank you Nattrip for wonderful times and a wonderful guide.