"Bondinho" Sugarloaf Mountain Cable Car Brazil

In 1970, this cable car was already 58 years old.

Inaugurated on October 27, 1912, the Sugarloaf cable car was the third in the world and the first in Brazil — conceived by Brazilian engineer Augusto Ferreira Ramos, who dreamed of connecting Morro da Urca to the summit of Sugarloaf Mountain. At the time it was considered an extraordinary engineering challenge — the country had no technology to build cables and towers of that scale, and the components had to be imported from Germany.

Captured in warm natural tones of brown and tan against the lush Brazilian landscape, this image has the quiet confidence of a place that has always known exactly what it is. No snow, no drama — just a legendary cable car making its unhurried journey above one of the most beautiful cities on earth.

The Bondinho cable car system has been operating since 1912, making it one of the oldest continuously running cable car attractions in the world and an enduring part of Rio's cultural and engineering history. This slide captures it in its element — timeless, warm, and completely at ease above the bay.