Santa Teresa and its tram

Right next to Laranjeiras, Santa Teresa is one of Rio’s most charming neighborhoods: a hill of winding cobbled streets, 19th-century mansions, artists’ studios and lookouts over Guanabara Bay. Few places in the city keep the feel of an old neighborhood so well — and the yellow tram is its symbol.

The neighborhood is named after the Santa Teresa Convent of the Carmelite nuns, completed in 1750 at the top of the hill. In the 19th century, wealthy families moved up the slope to escape the heat and epidemics of the lower city and built country houses and mansions. Later the old houses drew artists, intellectuals and bohemians, and Santa Teresa earned the artists’-village reputation it keeps to this day.

The tram has been part of the neighborhood’s story since the 19th century. On September 1, 1896, the first electric trams crossed the Lapa Arches — the old aqueduct became a viaduct — and the ride became one of Rio’s most famous. After a serious accident in 2011, service was suspended; it returned in 2015 with new trams that keep the classic look. Today two lines leave from Downtown: one to Dois Irmãos, via Largo dos Guimarães, and the Paula Mattos branch to Largo das Neves, reopened in 2025.

Besides the tram, don’t miss Largo dos Guimarães, with its bars and restaurants; the Parque das Ruínas — officially Parque Glória Maria since 2023 —, built on the ruins of the mansion of Laurinda Santos Lobo, whose salons gathered artists and intellectuals in the first half of the 20th century, with one of the best views of Downtown and the bay; and, next door, the Chácara do Céu Museum, the former home of collector Raymundo Ottoni de Castro Maya, with Brazilian and European art and free admission.

The highlight is to wander at an easy pace: ride the tram up, walk down the slopes, drop into studios and craft shops and stop for a snack with a view. Largo das Neves, at the end of the Paula Mattos branch, has traditional bars and a small-town feel, and the Selarón Steps link the neighborhood to Lapa.