Sugarloaf Mountain Adventure Tours

Sugarloaf Mountain, or in Portuguese, Pão de Açúcar, is a peak situated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from the mouth of Guanabara Bay on a peninsula that sticks out into the Atlantic Ocean. Rising 396 meters (1,300 feet) above sea-level, its name is said to refer to its resemblance to the traditional shape of concentrated refined loaf sugar. This may, however, be a folk-etymology, since it is believed by some that the name actually derives from Pau-nh-acuqua(“high hill”) in the Tupi-Guarani language, as used by the indigenous Tamoios. The mountain is only one of half a dozen monolithic morros of granite and quartz that rise straight from the water’s edge around Rio de Janeiro. A glass-paneled cable car, capable of holding 75 passengers, runs along a 1,400-meter route between the peaks of Babilônia and Urca every half hour. The original cable car line was built in 1912.