there are many trails in the tijuca forest, with the two most important being the trilha circular externa major archer and the trilha circular interna castro maia - at times overlapping, both trails give a spectacular tour of the forest, reaching many of the most famous points of interest along well maintained routes with clear signage. major archer trail stetches over 35 km at a higher altitude then the shorter castro maya track, which is only 15 km long.

For many visitors to the forest da tijuca, the highlight is the chance of seeing some of the animal life of the mata atlânticain a convenient urban setting. Some 1600 species of plants are within tijuca's boundaries, with close to 450 of these being on the endangered list.