Rio de Janeiro
Drone photo & video · Rio de Janeiro
In short
Drone photo & video in Rio de Janeiro starts at $300: 60 min on location with a photographer who works in Rio de Janeiro, and 25 edited photos + a 1-minute edited film delivered to a private gallery within 7 days.
Why choose drone photo & video in Rio de Janeiro?
Rio looks like it was designed for a drone: mountains dropping into the sea, a bay full of islands, beaches curving for kilometres. In practice it is one of the most restricted places in Brazil to fly. Most of the famous views sit inside a national park with its own drone rules, a religious sanctuary that bans them in visiting hours, or the approach paths of the Santos Dumont airport in the middle of the city.
Worth knowing about Rio de Janeiro
The Tijuca park protocol bans recreational drones at Corcovado and Sumaré, requires the park's prior authorisation at Mirante Dona Marta, Paineiras and Parque Lage, and gives the Clube São Conrado de Voo Livre the say at Pedra Bonita and Pedra da Gávea. Any non-recreational flight in the park needs ICMBio's authorisation, and the Santuário bans drones during visiting hours.
What does the session in Rio de Janeiro look like?
- Joatinga and Barra da Tijuca beaches
- Open sand away from the park and the central airport, flown at an empty hour.
- Pedra Bonita (Parque Nacional da Tijuca)
- Only with the hang-gliding club's prior authorisation and the park's rules.
- Ipanema at sunrise
- Empty beach and soft light, with the 30 m distance from bystanders easy to keep.
What does drone photo & video in Rio de Janeiro include?
- 60 minutes on location, with the time in the air set by batteries, wind and airspace
- 25 edited aerial photos
- A 1-minute edited aerial film with licensed music
- Flown under third-party liability insurance, with the drone registered in ANAC’s SISANT and the flight authorised in SARPAS
- Photos and film delivered within 7 days
Permits at these locations: Pedra Bonita (Parque Nacional da Tijuca): No entry fee in the park protocol; the vehicle gate opens 8:00–17:00 (to 18:00 in summer), and a shoot outside those hours needs ICMBio's special authorisation
FAQ — Drone photo & video in Rio de Janeiro
Can a drone be flown at Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro?
No, not for photos during visits. The Parque Nacional da Tijuca protocol bans recreational drones at Corcovado, and the Santuário Cristo Redentor prohibits drones during visiting hours, allowing them only at celebrations outside those hours that it has approved in advance. Drone photo and video in Rio is flown over the beaches instead.
Does the Santos Dumont airport limit drone flights in Rio de Janeiro?
Yes, for much of the Zona Sul and the Centro. Santos Dumont sits on Guanabara Bay between Flamengo and the Centro, a short distance from Urca and Sugarloaf, and DECEA's ICA 100-40 places a restriction zone around it. Flying inside that zone in Rio means filing a Termo de Coordenação in SARPAS 4 calendar days or more before the shoot, so beaches further west are easier.