{"id":6687,"date":"2014-02-22T00:44:36","date_gmt":"2014-02-22T00:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/?p=6687"},"modified":"2014-02-22T01:21:30","modified_gmt":"2014-02-22T01:21:30","slug":"world-cup-guide-rio-de-janeiro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/?p=6687","title":{"rendered":"World Cup Guide: Rio de Janeiro"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"\u00a0<\/span>by\u00a0<\/span>BillJ<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0<\/span>money.co.uk<\/a><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
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We’d love to visit Rio de Janeiro even if there wasn’t to be a World Cup this summer; but there is, and it’s home to more games than any other host city. Here’s how to make the most of it\u00a0<\/span>and<\/i>\u00a0save money…<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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City\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 Rio de Janeiro<\/span><\/div>\n

Stadium name<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Estadio do Maracana
\nStadium capacity<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 78,000
\nWorld Cup games<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 7
\nTime zone<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 3 hours behind GMT<\/p>\n

Matches<\/a><\/h3>\n

Group F<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Argentina v Bosnia-Herzegovina
\nGroup B<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Spain v Chile
\nGroup H<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Belgium v Russia
\nGroup E<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Ecuador v France
\nRound of 16<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Winner Group C v Runner-Up Group D
\nQuarter-Final\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0TBC
\nFinal\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0TBC<\/p>\n

The city<\/h3>\n

Rio de Janeiro achieves worldwide fame and acclaim for its weather, its lifestyle and its beaches. The city is home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the imposing statue of Christ the Redeemer atop soaring Corcovado Mountain.<\/p>\n

Nearby, Sugarloaf Mountain (not the one in Wales) is one of the most-visited attractions in the world. Unfortunately, World Cup visitors won\u2019t be there during the infamous Rio Carnival but you\u00a0can\u00a0<\/em>check out the nightlife in Lapa for a taste of the party atmosphere.<\/p>\n

There are just the one or two “well-known” beaches: Copacabana, Barra\u00a0da\u00a0Tijuca, Ipanema, Leblon… but luckily you don\u2019t have to arrive by sea. Rio has a major international airport that you can fly into direct\u00a0\u2013\u00a0but still\u00a0check for flights routed via Miami, Lisbon and elsewhere in case these prove cheaper.<\/p>\n

Rio de Janeiro stadium<\/h3>\n

The\u00a0Maracana<\/em>\u00a0is the spiritual home of Brazilian football and freighted with every bit as much history and mythology as Wembley Stadium, the San Siro, the Camp Nou \u2013 take your pick.<\/p>\n

The stadium\u2019s full name is officially\u00a0Estadio Mario Filho<\/em>\u00a0but no-one really cares. The Maracana-hosted 1950 World Cup Final was attended by more than 173,000 fans, although this time around its capacity is restricted to 78,000.<\/p>\n

The World Cup venue has its own station (creatively, Maracana station) about 2 miles from Rio centre and 7 miles north of the beaches. It\u2019s on metro line 2 which ferries people in from downtown, Flamengo and\u00a0Botofago. A commuter train also stops there \u2013 take the red Ramal Deodoro line.<\/p>\n

Rio de Janeiro World Cup hotels<\/h3>\n

There\u2019s not much around the Estadio do Maracana; a few taxi-able hotels only in the Gallant Hotel and Hotel Villa Tijuca. You\u2019re more likely to find something in the touristy areas and downtown, but it gets more expensive towards the beaches.<\/p>\n

TripAdvisor<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>recommends Miramar Hotel, Copacabana Palace Hotel, Windsor Atlantica Hotel, Porto Bay Rio Internacional Hotel, Arena Copacabana Hotel and Hotel Sesc Copacabana.<\/p>\n

World Cup tickets<\/h3>\n

Thomson<\/a>\u00a0is the FA’s partnered World Cup travel agency and the only way you can guarantee tickets.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, you\u2019ll need to try FIFA’s final two ticket phases to get your\u00a0Maracana<\/em>\u00a0football tickets. They’ll\u00a0be available in two final windows from 12 March to 1 April and 15 April to 13 July.<\/p>\n

England won\u2019t play in Rio during the\u00a0World Cup Group Stages<\/a>\u00a0so you\u2019ll need a few quirks of fate to see them at the Maracana \u2013 in either the Round of 16 or the Final, or both.<\/p>\n

Plan your travel to Rio de Janeiro<\/h3>\n

Getting to Rio de Janeiro is no mean feat \u2013 it is half a world away after all! Compare flights (including all combinations through Lisbon, Madrid etc) to gauge cost, and compare prices to the official\u00a0Thomson Follow England<\/a>\u00a0packages. You can then decide if you want the surety of a package, or the flexibility of self-booking.<\/p>\n

If you don’t want Thomson’s full\u00a0monty, you can look for\u00a0savings<\/a>\u00a0with flights-only packages via\u00a0Thomas Cook<\/a>\u00a0or multi-stop round the world flights from any number of travel agents.<\/p>\n

Add\u00a0travel insurance<\/a>\u00a0for your World Cup odyssey straight after booking to make sure you’re protected, plus look into ways to keep your phone bill down and save money on\u00a0Brazilian currency<\/a>. Currently you can get nearly $4 Brazilian Real per \u00a31.<\/p>\n

Local knowledge<\/h3>\n

Such is its cache\u00a0everyone<\/em>\u00a0wants Rio de Janeiro as their base for the 2014 World Cup. And there\u2019s plenty to go round with arts, history, music, museums, theatre; no few restaurants either. TripAdvisor recommends Cachambeer, Hachiko, Rio Scenarium, BB Lanches, Rio Brasa, Jaee, Fiorino and more.<\/p>\n

It’s well worth going hang-gliding on the beaches while you’re there \u2013 if you get the chance. Incredible!<\/p>\n

Rio de Janeiro average temperature (June):\u00a022\u00b0C\u00a0<\/strong>
\nRio de Janeiro average rainfall (June):\u00a03.2 inches<\/strong><\/p>\n

Football hipsters<\/h3>\n

Ronaldo, Romario, Zizinho, Zico, Didi, Leonidas, Zico, Carlos Alberto, Amarildo, Tostao… the list goes on, and both Rio and Brazil just keep on churning out world class talent.<\/p>\n

However, just as much fun is the talented and mercurial Edmundo. His nickname was “Animal” and coincidentally he was once accused of getting a chimpanzee drunk on beer and whisky, later proved false. Much more entertaining!<\/p>\n

If you want to throw your lot in with one of Rio\u2019s many top-level clubs, you\u2019ll need to choose between Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense, America, and Vasco\u00a0da\u00a0Gama (of Edmundo-fame).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Read more here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0by\u00a0BillJ\u00a0from\u00a0money.co.uk We’d love to visit Rio de Janeiro even if there wasn’t to be a World Cup this summer; but there is, and it’s home to more games than any other host city. Here’s how to make the most of it\u00a0and\u00a0save money… City\u00a0\u2013 Rio de Janeiro Stadium name\u00a0\u2013 Estadio do Maracana Stadium capacity\u00a0\u2013 78,000 World [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6688,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[283,486,1286],"class_list":["post-6687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-brazil-2014","tag-top-10","tag-world-cup-2014"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6687"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6703,"href":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6687\/revisions\/6703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ididgo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}