The Corcovado train is how people reached this summit before there was a statue on it. The line opened in 1884, hauled the statue’s pieces up the mountain in the 1920s, and still carries more than 1.5 million people a year from Cosme Velho to a platform just below the monument. The train ticket is a return, and entry to the monument is part of it.
Corcovado train tickets
Christ the Redeemer Entry Ticket by Corcovado Train
Best for: A first visit: the classic ride up through the forest
- About 20 minutes each way by train
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead
What’s included and more details
What’s included
- Return ride on the Corcovado train from Cosme Velho
- Entry to the monument and its viewpoints
- Boarding
- On the hour, or a Golden Hour option with a boarding time between 15:30 and 18:00
- The way down
- Not timed, first come first served
- Check in
- At least 40 minutes ahead while visitor numbers are reduced
- Bring
- The original passport or photo ID. Copies and photos are not accepted
- Not included
- Hotel pick-up, food and drink
- Entry to the monument is part of the ticket. There is nothing more to buy at the top
- The ride down is not timed. You join the queue for the next train when you are ready
- Options, child ages and the same ticket from a second seller are on our tickets page
How a Corcovado train visit works
Get to Cosme Velho with time in hand
The station is at Rua Cosme Velho 513, opposite São Judas Tadeu church, and it is not on the metro. Most people come by taxi. The bus routes are in our getting there guide.
Check in 40 minutes before your train
Show the voucher from your email and original photo ID for everyone at the ticket desk. The 40 minutes is the railway’s own rule, and it matters more than usual while numbers at the top are capped.
Queue, board, and ride for 20 minutes
Expect a line for boarding even with a timed ticket, and on busy days a long one. Pushchairs have to be folded for the ride, and there is no left luggage at the station.
From the platform to the statue
Lifts take you up from the train platform. Beyond them, while the escalators are being replaced, the last stretch is about 80 stone steps. That work is scheduled to finish at the end of May 2027.
Come down when you like
Trains down are first come, first served. Allow for a queue, and do not book anything tight for afterwards.
What is the Corcovado train ride like?
The line is a rack railway, with a toothed rail between the running rails that the train grips to climb a gradient ordinary trains could not manage. It is 3.8 kilometres from end to end, all of it inside Tijuca National Park, and nearly all of it under trees.
This is Atlantic forest, thick enough that the city vanishes a minute after you leave the station. It comes back in glimpses through gaps in the canopy, higher and wider each time.
The railway’s history is part of the appeal. Emperor Pedro II opened it in 1884, steam-hauled, as the first railway in Brazil built purely for sightseeing. In 1910 it became the country’s first electrified line. Between 1926 and 1931 it was the construction site’s supply chain, carrying the concrete, the soapstone and the workers up to the summit. Swiss-built electric trains took over in 1979.
Insider tips
Read the voucher, not the booking screen
The time you pick is not quite the time you get. The local partner confirms your boarding time as close as possible to the one you chose, and small shifts happen, so the voucher that lands in your inbox is the one to work backwards from. Boarding at the station is in the order of the times printed on tickets.
Do not plan it for the day you fly
The station has no left luggage and the railway asks passengers to keep hand baggage to a minimum, so a visit on the way to the airport does not work. Leave bags at your hotel and come back for them.
Late light has its own ticket option
The train ticket has a Golden Hour option that boards between 15:30 and 18:00, with the exact time sent to you by the local partner. It suits photographers and anyone who wants the quieter end of the day. In Rio’s winter the sun is down before the monument closes, so dress for a cool, windy summit.
Accessibility on the Corcovado train
The railway has lifts and adapted toilets. The obstacle is at the top, not on the train. While the escalators are out, wheelchair users are carried up the final 80 steps on stair-climbing equipment, which takes standard wheelchairs only and is not used in rain or on wet ground.
The ticket itself warns of temporary restrictions for wheelchair users and anyone with reduced mobility. The full picture is on the overview page.