RIO DE JANEIRO — It's been a rough stretch for Rio de Janeiro, and Brazil in general.

Zika virus. Economic recession. Political turmoil and corruption. Pre-Olympics unpreparedness.

The world's fifth-most populous country and its Cidade Maravilhosa, or Marvelous City, can't seem to catch a break.

Despite Brazil's well-publicized struggles, hundreds of thousands of people will travel to Rio for the Summer Games in August, and many of them will be visiting Brazil for the first time. So, what's a rookie visitor to Rio to expect?

My wife and I were pondering the same question when we arrived in Rio for a three-night stay in May.

What did we find? No swarms of mosquitoes. No overabundance of chaotic construction sites. No political protests. Few banners, billboards or other advertisements for the Olympics.

Instead, we were swept away by the same magic that has enchanted countless first-time visitors — jungle mountains plunging into an impossibly blue sea, locals strolling along some of the world's most famous beaches and sipping their beers and caipirinhas outside laid-back bars, couples enjoying quiet dinners on exquisite sidewalk patios, and samba dancers of all ages partying deep into the morning, all under the watchful gaze of Rio's iconic Christ the Redeemer statue.

One of the most difficult aspects of visiting Rio for the first time is knowing where to start. Do we head straight for the top of Corcovado, the mountain where Christ the Redeemer stands? Buy a ticket for the cable car ride to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain, perched between the Atlantic Ocean and Guanabara Bay? Or make a beeline for one of the city's white-sand beaches?

We decided to keep it simple. On our first morning, we hopped on bikes and pedaled east along Ipanema Beach, awed by the forest-green mountains jutting out of the ocean along the coast. Rio's renowned beaches — Leblon, Ipanema, Copacabana — are linked by a paved biking and pedestrian trail that runs parallel to a wide sidewalk. Snagging a bike for a leisurely ride is simple in Rio. Bike rental shops abound in the neighborhoods just off the beaches, and the city also has an easy-to-use bike-share program.

Although it was tempting to ditch the bike and spend the rest of our time in Rio lounging on the beach, we knew we first needed to conquer the city's two main tourist attractions, Sugarloaf Mountain and Christ the Redeemer.

Sugarloaf offers panoramic vistas of this city of 6 million, as well as a direct sightline to Christ the Redeemer across town.

We arrived at the base of Sugarloaf in the late afternoon. Within minutes of buying our tickets, we boarded a Plexiglass-enclosed cable car that whisked us to the top of a smaller mountain, where we switched to another cable car that took us to the top of Sugarloaf. After enjoying a stunning sunset, we bought tropical drinks and watched as Rio's lights came to life.

By 9 a.m. the next day, we were riding the rickety train that takes tourists to Christ the Redeemer at the top of Corcovado.

From the train station near the top of the mountain, a short walk up a few hundred stairs (or an escalator or elevator ride) takes visitors to the base of Christ the Redeemer. The plaza at the foot of the statue was a gaggle of tourists, but the chaos couldn't detract from the close-up view of the mammoth statue or the top-of-the-world views across the city.

After descending Corcovado, we shifted out of tourist mode and headed for Leblon Beach, where we rented chairs and an umbrella from one of dozens of vendors and joined the locals in simply enjoying Rio's natural beauty. The beach in Leblon, Rio's ritziest neighborhood, also offers a firsthand look at the startling economic inequality that is a fact of life in Brazil. Just west of the beach, Rio's Vidigal favela, a poor, densely populated neighborhood, sprawls down a seaside mountain.

The favela was a reminder that the experiences of most tourists who visit Rio don't come close to capturing the full complexity of this complicated city. The real suffering inflicted by Brazil's economic struggles and political corruption is unsettlingly easy to ignore at the city's beaches, trendy neighborhoods and top tourist attractions. That's the case in many cities.

There's no doubt that Rio's challenges are real, but my first visit left me convinced that the doom-and-gloom stories that have proliferated in the media give an overly negative view of the city.

Ryan Haggerty is a freelance writer.