The cable car ride to Urca Hill and then to Sugar Loaf Mountain in Rio does not take long. What can take much time though is the queue to buy the tickets to the cable cars, then the queue to board the cars.
The cable car ride takes approximately three minutes. Since you need to take two cable cars to get to the top of Sugar Loaf and then take the same two to get back to sea level, you will spend approximately twelve minutes total on the cable cars.
Each cable car departs every 20 minutes (or earlier, depending on how many visitors are queuing to board). Each car holds 60 people and the ride is not scary. Even tourists who are averse to cable cars handle well the ride. Note that the Sugar Loaf cable car company takes safety very seriously. In fact, the cable cars that take tourists to Sugar Loaf are considered among the safest in the world.
There are even better news for those travelers who are scared to death of cable cars: you can skip the first cable car and hike in the forest until you get to Urca Hill. Although Urca Hill is not Sugar Loaf, you already have panoramic views to Rio de Janeiro and to Sugar Loaf. From Urca Hill to Sugar Loaf you can only go by cable car though.
To read more about the cable car rides and on how to visit Sugar Loaf in Rio de Janeiro without hassles, get a copy of Sugar Loaf: the definitive guidebook to visiting the Rio de Janeiro’s most famous hill.
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Afraid of heights? The cable cars won’t scare you!
Buy tickets to Sugar Loaf in Rio de Janeiro
