Escadaria Selaron

The Escadaria Selaron is one of the most photographed places in Rio and one of its most personal works of art. The staircase climbs 215 steps from Rua Joaquim Silva in Lapa up to the Convento de Santa Teresa, linking the nightlife district below with the bohemian hilltop neighbourhood above. In 1990 the Chilean-born painter and ceramicist Jorge Selaron, who lived in a house beside the steps, began to cover the crumbling stairs with fragments of tile in the green, yellow and blue of the Brazilian flag. What started as a small project for his own street became an obsession that lasted the rest of his life. He paid for the tiles by selling his paintings, and as the steps became known, travellers began to send and bring him tiles from their own countries, so the walls and risers now hold more than two thousand pieces from more than sixty countries: Delft blue from the Netherlands, azulejos from Portugal, souvenir tiles from cities around the world, football club crests, and many hand-painted tiles of his own, including a recurring image of a pregnant African woman. Selaron called the staircase his tribute to the Brazilian people and said it would only be finished on the day he died. He was found dead on the steps in January 2013, and the staircase has since been protected as part of the heritage of the city. Today it is a free open-air gallery, busy with photographers, musicians, street vendors and couples posing for wedding pictures. In 2026 the city announced a project, which it called the Boulevard Selaron, to widen the pavements and improve accessibility around the foot of the steps, so expect some changes to the surrounding streets.

What to look for: the steps are not just colourful but full of jokes, stories and messages. Look for tiles from your own country, the many depictions of the pregnant woman that Selaron said represented a personal problem he would not explain, the bright red tiles he favoured in his later years, and tiles commemorating places and people he loved. The lower section is the most famous for photographs; the upper section, nearer Santa Teresa, is quieter and has more detail.

How to visit well: go early in the morning, ideally before nine, when the light is soft and you can photograph the steps without a crowd. By late morning and on weekends the lower flights are packed, and you will wait for a clear shot. Lapa is the nightlife district, and the area around the steps is busier and edgier than the beach neighbourhoods; visit in daylight, keep your phone close, and take a ride-hailing car to the foot of the steps rather than walking from elsewhere in the centre. Combining the steps with Santa Teresa is easy: climb the staircase to the top and continue uphill into the neighbourhood, or come down the steps at the end of a Santa Teresa visit. The Lapa Arches, the eighteenth-century aqueduct that carries the Santa Teresa tram, are a few minutes away.

Who it suits: photographers, art lovers and anyone with a soft spot for outsider art and one man's obsession. Children enjoy hunting for tiles from their own country. It is a short visit, so pair it with the arches, Santa Teresa, or the historic centre and the port.