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I Tried Hang Gliding Pedra Bonita in Rio and Here's What I Packed
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items So you booked the tandem hang gliding flight off Pedra Bonita and now you're spiraling through Reddit threads wondering what to wear, what to bring, and what to do before and after. I was you six months ago. Spent way too long overthinking it, packed...
Sections
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Gear I Actually Wore on the Flight
Camera Setup That Survived the Flight
Booking the Flight Without Getting Ripped Off
What to Do Right After Landing on São Conrado Beach
Day Pack Essentials for the Pedra Bonita Trip
Getting to Pedra Bonita from Zona Sul Hotels
Gear I Actually Wore on the Flight
The pilot told me half his passengers show up in flip flops and regret it immediately. Wind at launch is no joke, and you're running downhill off a ramp at altitude. What you wear matters more than you think.
Wear these for the running launch off the ramp. I nearly ate dirt in sneakers because the soles had zero grip on that wooden platform. These locked my feet in and the pilot actually complimented my footwear, which apparently never happens.
Salomon X Ultra 5 GTX Hiking Shoe Review
Toss this on right before launch. It's warm on the ground in Rio but freezing once you're soaring at 500 meters. Packs down to the size of a fist so it won't bother you under the harness. I was shivering without it on my first attempt.
Patagonia Men's Houdini® Windbreaker Jacket
Use this to keep hair out of your face during flight. One girl ahead of me had her hair whipping into the pilot's eyes the entire ride. Doubles as a sweat band for the hike up to Pedra Bonita if you skip the van.
Multifunction Headwear Buff Original EcoStretch Neckwear
Grab a pair that won't fly off your face at speed. I lost a nice pair of Ray-Bans on a boat once and wasn't about to repeat that mistake 400 meters above São Conrado beach. These grip tight and the polarization actually matters when you're staring at...
WHAT GLASSES ARE NOT POLARIZED?
Wear these under whatever pants or shorts you pick. The harness sits right at your thighs and can chafe badly on bare skin. Learned this from a guy in line who'd done the flight three times and said chafing ruined his first experience.
Under Armour HeatGear Men's 6" Compression Shorts
Camera Setup That Survived the Flight
Your pilot will offer a GoPro package for about 100 reais. Worth it for the selfie angle. But I also wanted my own footage and spent a week figuring out what wouldn't end up in the Atlantic Ocean.
Bring your own and mount it on a chest harness under the flight harness. The pilot-provided camera is fine but you get way more angles this way. Ask the pilot before launch where to clip it. They're used to it.
GoPro HERO12 Black Action Camera
Pair this with your GoPro for that POV shot looking down at your dangling legs over Dois Irmãos. Sounds ridiculous but it's the shot everyone asks about when you post it. Secure every buckle twice.
GoPro Performance Chest Mount (All GoProCameras)
Keep your phone locked to your wrist if you want photos during flight. Dropping a phone from Pedra Bonita is a real thing that happens. The case grip plus the strap gave me enough confidence to actually pull my phone out mid-flight.
Moment Nylon Phone Wrist Strap // for Moment Photo Case
Swap in a fresh card before the flight. Nothing worse than running out of storage while you're literally flying over a rainforest. I formatted mine the morning of and shot 40 minutes of 4K without a hiccup.
Sandisk Extreme 128Gb Original Terbaru
Toss this in your daypack. Between filming the hike, the wait at launch, and the flight itself, my phone hit 12% before I even landed. Charged back up on the beach at São Conrado right after landing.
Anker Power Bank, 10000mAh Portable Charger
Booking the Flight Without Getting Ripped Off
Pricing is all over the place online. Some sites charge triple what you'd pay booking directly. I wasted two hours comparing before a hostel receptionist in Ipanema just told me what to do.
Book directly through their site. They've been running flights off Pedra Bonita for over 20 years and the pilots are ABVL certified. I paid about 590 reais total, which was 200 less than what a tour aggregator quoted me for the same pilot.
Just Fly
Try these guys if Just Fly is booked. A friend used them two weeks after my trip and had a great experience. They include transport from certain hotels in Zona Sul, which saves you the Uber headache up the mountain.
Rio Hang Gliding
Get in touch with Beto directly on WhatsApp. He's one of the most experienced pilots at Pedra Bonita and speaks solid English. My pilot pointed him out as the guy who's flown more tandems than almost anyone at that launch site.
Soar Over Rio: Hang Gliding & Paragliding with Beto Rotor
Use Civitatis if you want everything in English and prefer paying in euros or dollars upfront. Slightly more expensive but they handle all the coordination. Good option if your Portuguese is nonexistent and the idea of WhatsApp negotiations stresses ...
Hang Gliding in Rio de Janeiro
Show up at the launch site around 9 AM on a clear day and pilots will be there taking walk-ups. Risky because weather can cancel everything, but I met a couple from Berlin who saved 30% doing exactly this. Only works if your schedule is flexible.
Pedra Bonita: Hiking tour with a geologist and a visit
What to Do Right After Landing on São Conrado Beach
You land on the beach and the adrenaline is absolutely ridiculous. I just stood there grinning like an idiot for ten minutes. Then I got hungry. Here's what's within walking distance.
Walk straight from the landing zone to this kiosk. Order an açaí bowl and a coconut water. You just flew off a mountain, you've earned it. The portions are huge and it's right on the sand so you can sit and process what just happened.
Barraca do Pepê (Beach Kiosk) in Rio de Janeiro
Grab lunch here if you want a full meal after landing. It's a short walk from the beach and serves classic Rio seafood. The moqueca hit different after an adrenaline dump. Arrive before noon or you'll wait 30 minutes for a table.
Restaurant Tía Paty
Rent a board right on the beach if the waves are decent. Going from flying to surfing in the same morning felt absolutely unreal. The rental guys near the landing area charge about 50 reais for two hours.
Sao Conrado Surf Spot Guide, Webcam & Map
Catch an Uber from São Conrado to Barra Shopping if you want air conditioning and food court variety after the heat. It's 10 minutes away and has everything. I needed to buy a replacement phone charger and this was the closest spot.
Barra Shopping Barreiro
Drive or Uber to this viewpoint on your way back toward Ipanema. Seeing the coastline from ground level after you just flew over it gives you this weird perspective shift. Great photo spot with Dois Irmãos right there.
Mirante do Leblon
Day Pack Essentials for the Pedra Bonita Trip
You need a bag that can go up the mountain with you but won't be in the way during flight. The pilot holds your stuff or it stays at launch. Pack light and smart.
Bring this as your day bag. It weighs nothing, packs into its own pocket, and holds everything you need for the trip. Hand it to the ground crew at launch and pick it up at the beach landing zone. They transport bags down for you.
Ultralight Stuff Pack
Keep this filled. The hike to the launch if you walk takes about 20 minutes uphill in Rio humidity. I drained a full liter before I even reached the ramp. Tap water in Rio is technically treated but I didn't want to risk stomach issues before flying.
Sawyer MINI Filter Instructions
Slather this on before you leave the hotel. You're exposed at altitude with zero shade during flight and the UV in Rio is brutal. I got a weird goggle-shaped sunburn line on my face because I only put sunscreen on my arms like a fool.
Sun Bum Continuous Spray Sunscreen Review
Toss your phone, wallet, and keys in this before handing your pack to the crew. If anything gets jostled during transport, at least your valuables are waterproof and sealed. Also handy if you hit the beach after landing.
Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Dry Bag | REI Co-op
Take one 30 minutes before flight if you get motion sick at all. The thermals can bounce you around and some flights include tight spiraling turns. A guy who landed right before me looked green. Don't be that guy.
Dramamine Less Drowsy Motion Sickness Tablets
Getting to Pedra Bonita from Zona Sul Hotels
Figuring out transport to the launch site confused me more than it should have. It's in Tijuca National Park, up a winding road, and not every driver knows where to go.
Download this before your trip. It's basically Brazilian Uber and often cheaper for short rides in Rio. Type ‘Rampa de Voo Livre Pedra Bonita’ as your destination. Took me 25 minutes from Ipanema and cost about 35 reais.
99: Rides, Food, Pay - Apps on Google Play
Use Uber as your backup. Works fine in Rio but surge pricing near tourist areas can spike hard in the morning. I compared both apps side by side and 99 was cheaper 3 out of 4 times for the Pedra Bonita route.
Programa un viaje con antelación en Branson
Ride the metro to São Conrado if you want to save money. From there you'll still need a short car ride up the mountain, but it cuts the overall cost significantly. The station is clean, air-conditioned, and runs frequently.
Rio de Janeiro metro stations guide for tourists
Know that you're entering a national park. There's no entrance fee for the hang gliding access road, but traffic can back up on weekends. Weekday mornings are smoother and the pilots are less rushed too.
Parque Nacional da Tijuca
Download the Rio map offline before you head out. Cell signal drops in parts of Tijuca forest and you don't want to lose navigation halfway up a mountain road. Saved me when my driver took a wrong turn and we both lost signal simultaneously.
Download areas & navigate offline in Google Maps
Preparing Mentally If You're Scared of Heights
Standing on that wooden ramp looking down at the city 520 meters below made my knees buckle. Here's what helped me not freeze at the worst possible moment.
Use the 5-minute anxiety session on the drive up. Sounds corny, I know. But my heart rate was through the roof and the breathing exercise genuinely brought me down a few notches before we arrived at launch. Free trial is enough.
Headspace
Read this in the weeks before your trip. It's about how fear works in your brain during extreme sports. Gave me a framework to understand why my legs were shaking and how to work with it instead of fighting it. Short chapters, easy read.
The Fear Project: What Our Most Primal Emotion Taught
Grab this for the flight down to Rio. Not directly about hang gliding but the whole ‘following your personal legend’ thing hit different when I was actively terrified of jumping off a cliff the next morning. Light enough to finish on the plane.
Summary of The Alchemist by Coelho | PDF
Watch three or four of these before your trip. Seeing exactly what the launch, flight, and landing look like took away a huge chunk of my anxiety. The unknown was scarier than the actual experience. Search ‘Pedra Bonita tandem hang gliding POV’ and s...
Pedra Bonita: Hidden Gem or Tourist Trap in Rio? 🇧🇷
Wear this during the flight to track your heart rate. Mostly for fun, honestly. Seeing that my heart hit 156 BPM at launch and dropped to 90 during the glide was the coolest data point from the whole trip. Great conversation starter too.
No smart alarm feature - Venu 3 Series - Health & Wellness