Printable destination guide
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Rio De Janeiro
Brazil
- Cityscape
- Megacity by sea
- City Life
- …is, almost literally, a beach
Rio is one of the most spectacular spots on earth, where lush mountains plunge into the tropical sea. From Sugar Loaf mountain you can survey the skip-a-beat views down to the world-famous beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana.
If you want to party, it’s hedonism central. A melting pot of African, European and Indian cultures, the Cariocas (as the locals are called) ooze passion from every pore. The city’s frantic rhythm builds to a crescendo during the jaw-dropping, heart-racing Carnival in February. Keep your energy up with the super-strong coffees or better still a local purple-Amazon-berry acai shake with a scoop of guaraná. Delicious, nutritious and like rocket fuel.
Pictured: La Suite
Our round-up of the hippest hideaways and boutique hotels in Rio De Janeiro
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Planes, trains, automobiles, or maybe even helicopter – we tell you the best way to go.
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Highlights the best Rio De Janeiro has to offer, from art and culture to fun-packed activities; we've even found the most inspiring place to enjoy the views from.
more
We've tracked down the best cafés for people-watching, the bars with the coolest cocktails, the most accomplished restaurants and the liveliest local nightlife in Rio De Janeiro. All you have to do is make sure you've packed your favourite threads…
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Here is the map of Rio De Janeiro; each Mr & Mrs Smith hotel is marked by a flag; click it for more details.
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Local knowledge
- Taxis
- Taxis are plentiful and cheap; you should be able to hail one at any time. Unless you are confident with your Portuguese, write down the address.
- Tipping culture
- Ten per cent is usually added to restaurant bills. General gratuities are not expected but waiting staff on minimum wage will certainly appreciate the gesture.
- Siesta and Fiesta
- Be ready to party late, especially at Carnival time.
- Packing tips
- Your teeny-weeniest bikini, most stalwart dancing shoes, and a Carioca attitude to enjoying life and showing off. Leave behind: your best jewellery, your inhibitions.
- Recommended reads
- Death in Brazil by Peter Robb; The Scorpion's Sweet Venom by Bruna Surfistinha.
- Cuisine
- Cariocas fuel up on thimble-sized, super-strong and -sweet coffees. Exotic and nutritious fruit smoothies are also ubiquitous and cheap. Rice and beans are the staple, plus a variety of stews, including feijoada and moqueca. Good fresh fish, such as sea-bass or badejo, and churrasco steaks, straight off the southern plains, are also good.
- Currency
- The Brazilian real (plural: reais). At today's exchange rate, you get R$3.80 to £1 sterling.
- Dialing codes
- Country code for Brazil: 55. Rio de Janeiro: 21.
- Do go/don't go
- High season and summer in Brazil is December to February. Long days on the beach buzz with excitement that builds up to carnival festivities. In winter, Rio is a calmer, cooler affair, but only just…
Getting there
Planes, trains, automobiles, or maybe even helicopter – we tell you the best way to go.
- Planes
- Rio is 12 hours from London, with most flights passing through São Paulo and arriving at Antonio Carlos Jobim airport, aka Galaeo. A 40-minute airport taxi to the Zona Sul area should cost R$80.
- Trains
- The metro system serves a limited area, north through the centre from Copacabana.
- Automobiles
- Getting around on Rio's roads can be slow and/or nail-biting, thanks to congestion and so-so road surfaces. As for taking the wheel yourself, have a go if you think you're hard enough: the main thoroughfare isn't called Avenida Ayrton Senna for nothing. Traffic lights aren't as significant as you may be used to in Europe. Buses are cheap and plentiful, but tourists, as ever, need to take care of their effects.
Worth getting out of bed for
Highlights the best Rio De Janeiro has to offer, from art and culture to fun-packed activities; we've even found the most inspiring place to enjoy the views from.
Remarkably Rio De Janeiro
Floresta da Tijuca is the world's biggest urban rainforest, and home to hundreds of rare species of plants and wildlife. It is also crammed full of historical attractions, from the obvious Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) to the gem-like Mayrink Chapel, adorned with murals painted by one of Brazil's best-known 20th-century artists, Cândido Portinari.
- Viewpoint
- Take a thrilling cable-car ride up two stages to reach the peak of the granite dome 369m above Rio. The vista is dazzling: the whole of Guanabara Bay, with sweeping views of the city from Botafogo Beach all the way to Copacabana and beyond.
- Something for nothing
- Stroll through Parque Lage, where a 1920s mansion now houses the Escola de Artes Visuais. You can catch an exhibition and enjoy the gardens.
- Shopping
- In the streets in and around Leblon and Ipanema are scores of interesting boutiques, fashion stores and shopping centres, with generous sprinklings of cafés and restaurants. Feira Hippie on Saturday in Praça General Osório is great for gifts and jewellery. In Centro, with its wealth of bookshops and music emporia, bargain-hunters crowd the narrow pedestrian streets around Saara, where anything and everything is for sale. The amazing Urugyana Market is a labyrinth of small stalls selling baile funk, designer knock-offs and much more. Rua do Lavradio, Lapa, is home to antique shops and ultra-modern furniture stores alike.
Diary
- 31 December Reveillon: a spectacular sight, with two million people dressed in white packed onto Copacabana beach. Live music, fireworks and raucous partying ensue. 20 January Dia de São Sebastiao, patron saint of Rio, commemorated with a procession through the city and a huge concert on Copacabana beach (the Rolling Stones played to a crowd of 1.2 million in 2006). February Carnival! Rio hosts the biggest party in the world. Need we say more? Last weekend in July Arte de Portas Abertas, when the local community of artists in Santa Teresa, open their doors to the public. September–October Rio de Janeiro Film Festival, the most prominent in South America, with screenings held all over the city. October Rio Free Jazz Festival, with local and international acts performing in a three-day musical marathon of jazz, bossa nova and samba.
Eating, drinking and dancing
We've tracked down the best cafés for people-watching, the bars with the coolest cocktails, the most accomplished restaurants and the liveliest local nightlife in Rio De Janeiro. All you have to do is make sure you've packed your favourite threads…
Restaurants
Zuka
Highly recommended, this restaurant on Rua Dias Ferreira has marbled walls and a sunken kitchen area where food is grilled in front of your eyes, then doused in mouthwatering sauces. It also produces best tortellini in the country, and a huge range of cocktails.
(+55 (0)21 3205 7154)
Sushi Leblon
The Japanese diaspora is big in Brazil, so competition for the finest sushi restaurant is stiff. This hugely popular restaurant at 256 Rua Dias Ferreira attracts a stellar clientele, and queues can be long, but it is worth the wait to sample its famous shrimp and foie gras.
(+55 (0)21 2512 7830)
Olympe Restaurant
A little off the beaten path but just great is quirky, this art deco restaurant in Jardim Botánico, 62 Rua Custódio Serrão is where French superchef Claude Troisgros conjures up French cuisine using fresh Brazilian ingredients.
(+55 (0)21 2539 4542)
Bars and clubs
Academia da Cachaça
This bar at 26 Rua Conde de Bernadotte in Leblon sells more than 500 examples of the national tipple, and make the best caipirinha in Rio.
(+55 (0)21 2529 2680)
Devassa
This company created the first microbrewery beer in Rio in 2002. With five bars in Rio, including on Farme de Amoedo, Ipamema, this a hot spot for the young and beautiful of Rio.
©2008 Mr & Mrs Smith
