Rio de Janeiro is an incredible city. In Portuguese it means “river of January”, because when Europeans first arrived on 1 January 1502 they thought the large entrance of what is now known as Guanabara Bay was the mouth of a river.

Rio stunned me in many ways, but I think its most striking feature is how it seamlessly blends city, beach and jungle into a buzzing metropolis of around 7 million people.

Having already spent the best part of two weeks travelling around Argentina and Brazil, myself and three friends arrived in Rio with just five days before our flight home.

I immediately felt the overwhelming urge to try and take in this giant, vibrant city – but how? We found a helicopter tour online for about £100 each and booked up for the following afternoon.

In the morning we visited the famous Christ the Redeemer statue, catching a train up the Corcovado mountain to the peak.

Despite going fairly early in the day the place was heaving, with so many people crowding the statue some were lying on the floor just to take photographs. We slinked off to grab a drink and enjoy the view, allowing our excitement to build for the helicopter tour.

Taking off from Jacarepagua

We caught a cab out to Jacarepagua, a suburb west of the city. Probably best known for the Jacarepagua circuit that hosted the Formula One Brazilian Grand Prix from 1978 to 1989 – it isn’t really a place many tourists would go. 

Until now, with the Jacarepaguá–Roberto Marinho Airport doing a roaring trade in helicopter tours of the city. As we waited to board our chopper, we saw numerous other groups doing the same. Okay, so we aren’t exactly the first tourists to take a helicopter flight over Rio…

As we prepared to take off I thought about the only time I had been in a helicopter before for a flight around London. That was a great experience with my Mum but here I was about to see sights I had only seen pictures of or in the movies before.

Taking off from Jacarepagua Airport, we levitated above the tarmac long enough to get some selfies in using my GoPro camera and stick. With our headsets on and seat belts buckled we began to rise in the air, rotors spinning creating a loud buzz around the cockpit.

Flying past the Rochina favelas

​​It was a beautifully bright day in Rio, with the vibrant blue sky meeting the navy sea encroaching onto the green jungle, as high-rise buildings dot along the city’s coastline.

To our left mountains encased the sixth-most populous city in the Americas, while our right showcased vast swathes of the South Atlantic Ocean. 

Sitting in the passenger seat of the cockpit next to the pilot, I take a break from window gazing to check out his control panel. I count at least 17 dials, 10 buttons and one sizable red switch at his mercy. As the wind toys our little bubble ship from side to side, a bolt of adrenaline surges through my body. I had looked down and remembered I was scared of heights.

Don’t look down then! Luckily enough the view ahead was so good there really wasn’t a logical reason for me to look below my legs. In front of us was Rocinha, the largest favela in Brazil.

Built on a steep hillside overlooking Rio, around 100,000 people call Rocinha home. Although it’s officially classed as a neighbourhood, it certainly looks like a favela. Even so it has developed from a shanty town into an urbanised slum, with almost all the houses made from concrete and brick.

There are hundreds of businesses inside this little world such as banks, pharmacies, bus routes, cable TV like local channel TV ROC and at one point even a McDonald’s. But before we had time to imagine what life was like down on the ground we were hitting the beach.

Cruising past the beaches

Up first was Leblon, a wealthy and cosmopolitan neighbourhood known for having the most expensive price per residential square metre in Latin America. 

Filled with cozy French bistros, lively steakhouses, cocktail bars, clubs and designer fashion boutiques – how was this place next to Rocinha?

Just above Leblon we could make out the track of the Jockey Club Brasileiro and the home of football club Flamengo, established in 1895 as a rowing club.

Next up was the fashionable Ipanema, known for its iconic namesake beach which inspired the 1960s bossa nova jazz hit ‘The Girl from Ipanema’.

More fine dining restaurants, high-end fashion boutiques and relaxed bars make up this slice of luxury, encased by a large lake called Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas.

Seconds later Copacabana took over, with its 4km of pristine beach instantly recognisable.

Copacabana was etched in my memory from the 2014 World Cup in Brazil where the BBC studio saw Gary Lineker quiz pundits like Thierry Henry and Alan Hanson amid a backdrop of beachgoers enjoying the festivities.

Probably the most recognisable promenade in the world, our time there in the days following the helicopter tour was magical.

Walking out of the South Atlantic Ocean after a refreshing dip, I cast my eye along the beach and was met with balls looping in the air as far as I could see. Everyone was seemingly playing football on the beach, samba soccer in full swing.

Turning at Sugarloaf Mountain

The end of Copacabana morphs into Pão de Açúcar – known in English as Sugarloaf Mountain, the name coined in the 16th century by the Portuguese during the heyday of sugarcane trade in Brazil due to its resemblance to the well-known resulting sugarloaf shape.

We couldn’t take the cable car up to the peak unfortunately as the day we planned for it was deemed too cloudy to run, meaning we were left to talk about James Bond’s iconic battle with Jaws on it in the 1979 movie Moonraker.

Lapping Christ the Redeemer

Sitting atop Mount Corcovado – which means “hunchback” in Portuguese – in the Tijuca Forest National Park, the 98-foot tall statue of Jesus Christ cannot be missed.

Created by Polish-French sculptor Paul Landowski, built by Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa in collaboration with Frenchman Albert Caquot with Romanian artist Gheorghe Leonida designing the statue’s face and the concrete for the base coming from Sweden, the cosmopolitan nature of Christ the Redeemer is apt given the range of nationalities that gaze upon it daily. 

The statue took nine years to build in total – from 1922 to 1931 – and in 2007 was voted onto the list of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

As we edge closer I spot the Maracana in the distance, the scene of John Barnes’ wonder goal for England against Brazil in 1984.

But before I have time to plan our stadium tour, we are lapping the statue taking in comprehensive 360-degree views of Rio de Janeiro in all its glory.

A truly stunning city from every angle, a helicopter tour was the perfect way to kick-start our five days in Cidade Maravilhosa, meaning ‘Marvellous City’ in Portuguese.

Soaring back over the thick jungle below and landing in Jacarepaguá, we couldn’t contain our excitement at what we’d just seen.

One of the most special cities in the world was our oyster and we were about to experience Rio life on ground level. Obrigado!