Parque Lage

A garden at the foot of Corcovado

Parque Lage sits on Rua Jardim Botânico, at the bottom of the forested slope that climbs to Corcovado, with Christ the Redeemer above the treetops. It covers more than 52 hectares of garden and forest, and since 2004 it has been part of the Parque Nacional da Tijuca.

At its heart is a 1920s mansion, long the home of a well-known art school. The mansion is closed for restoration for now, and the garden around it is open every day, with paths winding through an older romantic garden with grottos, an aquarium, a pond, fountains and tall imperial palms.

Parque Lage is also the starting point of one of the city's classic hikes, the trail up to Christ the Redeemer, covered below. Entry is free, and the park opens daily at 8 am and closes at 5 or 6 pm, so check the hours before you go. From the villa it is about 15 to 20 minutes by car, through Gávea, which makes it an easy morning on its own or a pairing with the Jardim Botânico nearby.

From sugar mill to romantic garden

The land began as a sugar mill in colonial times. In 1811 Rodrigo de Freitas Mello e Castro took over the old farm, and in 1840 the English landscape designer John Tyndale laid out a romantic garden here, with an elaborate artificial grotto.

The Lage family acquired the estate in the nineteenth century, and the park still carries their name. Visitors can see traces of the colonial years, such as the Lavanderia dos Escravizados, the laundry of the enslaved, a reminder of who did the work on the estate. The Cavalariças, the old stables, are now where the art school works while the mansion is closed.

Henrique Lage and Gabriella Besanzoni

The house you see today belongs to the 1920s. Henrique Lage, an industrialist and the grandson of Antônio Martins Lage, had the mansion remodelled in an eclectic style by the Italian architect Mario Vodret, for his wife, the Italian opera singer Gabriella Besanzoni. The couple married in 1925.

Besanzoni was a great hostess, known for magnificent parties for Rio society. Lage's debts to the Banco do Brasil later forced him to give up part of his property.

IPHAN, the national heritage institute, listed the park on 14 June 1957. In 1960 the businessman Roberto Marinho bought part of the land to build the headquarters of TV Globo, but the whole property was later expropriated and turned into a public park. The city restored the grounds in 2002, and the mansion's own restoration, announced in 2019, began in May 2025.

The art school and the mansion

An art institute moved into the mansion in 1966, and in 1975 it became the Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage, the EAV. The artist Rubens Gerchman ran it between 1975 and 1979, and the school has trained artists and hosted exhibitions ever since, reaching its fiftieth year in 2025.

Today the EAV runs courses, exhibitions and talks, along with Cine Lage film evenings, and its website lists what is on. While the mansion is closed, the school works from the Cavalariças, the old stables in the park.

The restoration began in May 2025, and the state government expects the mansion to reopen in April 2027. How visits will work afterwards has not been decided, so check the school's website if you travel in 2027. The café and the shop in the mansion are closed during the works, so plan lunch elsewhere.

The school lists a guided public visit on Tuesdays at 2 pm. It needs at least ten people and is cancelled if it rains, so ask the school whether it is running during the works.

Grottos, aquarium and the pond

Children make for the garden first. Tyndale's artificial grotto still stands, and a second grotto holds a row of twelve aquarium tanks, set into mortar shaped to look like rocks and tree trunks.

Around them, small bridges, gravel paths and a duck pond, the Lago dos Patos, lead through the trees, with fountains and benches along the way. Beyond the garden, most of the park is forest, with steep trails, steps and uneven ground.

The garden is accessible, but the park as a whole is not fully accessible for people with reduced mobility, since most of it is forest with steps and uneven ground. Plan the route ahead if a grandparent or a pushchair is coming.

On film

The mansion has a second career on screen. Glauber Rocha used it as the seat of government in his 1967 film Terra em Transe, and Snoop Dogg and The Neptunes filmed scenes for the video of Beautiful here in 2003.

Photographs for personal use, on a phone or camera, are welcome. Shoots with tripods, flashes, lights or clothing racks need prior permission from the school, and selling photographs taken in the park is not allowed. The mansion has hosted sporting guests too, serving as the British Olympic team's hospitality house during the 2016 Games.

A morning in the park

A good loop takes a couple of unhurried hours. Follow the paths through the garden to the grottos, the aquarium and the duck pond, past the fountains.

If the group wants a taste of the forest without the full climb, walk the first stretch of the Corcovado trail to the small waterfalls and turn back there. The rocks around the falls are wet and slippery, and the park asks bathers not to use soap or other products in the water.

Picnics are welcome as long as they stay simple, without tables, chairs or other set-ups. Food and drink cannot be sold inside, pets are not allowed, and party balloons, confetti and coloured smoke are banned.

The trail to Christ the Redeemer

One of the classic hikes in Rio starts here. The trail climbs from Parque Lage through the forest to Paineiras and on up Corcovado, about 700 metres high, and since December 2024 it has joined the Paineiras to Corcovado trail, a final 1.15 km with 260 metres of climbing and a stretch of masonry path; the Paineiras trail forms part of the Transcarioca.

After the waterfalls the slope steepens. There is no climbing as such, but some sections are very steep, and the park says the walk can take up to four hours, depending on fitness. It does not recommend the trail for children under 10 or for people who are not used to hiking.

The trail itself is free, and the last start from the Parque Lage checkpoint is at 3 pm. At the top you buy a ticket for the monument at the Trem do Corcovado box office, around R$ 58 for adults in 2026, with reduced prices for children aged 7 to 11, students and over-60s, and the way down by train is a separate ticket, around R$ 35. Check current prices before you go, and check on the day that the trail is open, since the park can close it in strong wind or other risky weather.

Start early, carry plenty of water and go with a guide if the group is not used to steep forest trails; ask the concierge whether one can be arranged. In an emergency on the trail, the fire service number is 193. For the other ways up, see Christ the Redeemer.

Visiting from the villa

The driver drops the group at the main gate at Rua Jardim Botânico 414, the only way in, since cars are not allowed inside. Visitors have an hour after closing time to leave the grounds.

A morning here pairs well with the Jardim Botânico, a walk or cycle around the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas or a drive up to the Vista Chinesa. All are a short drive apart, and the villa is close enough to be home for a late lunch by the pool. Bring insect repellent and water for the forest paths, and wear shoes with some grip if you plan to walk beyond the garden.