Go to Rio

The 4-star Plaza Copacabana Hotel is located in a modern building within walking distance of Copacabana beach, cinemas, theatres and shopping malls. It is operated by Windsor Hotels, a good company with four other hotels in Copacabana and several others in other parts of Rio and elsewhere throughout Brazil. Buses from downtown pass the door and the local metro station offers easy access to downtown. While it is not directly opposite the beach (which is why tourists stay in Copacabana), the shops and other facilities immediately surrounding the hotel are some compensation.

The hotel has 237 apartments and suites which have modern facilities. My impression was that this is set up as a business hotel and I rather like that because it usually means that the service is slick and efficient. The suites have luxury bathrooms, equipped with sauna and jacuzzi. Our room had air conditioning, cable / satellite TV, ensuite with a bathtub, hairdryer, mini bar, radio, safe and telephone. There were no surprises, just good reliable facilities.


The Plaza Copacabana's restaurant serves a good breakfast and one of the best executive buffets in Rio de Janeiro. You have a choice of the buffet or you order a-la-carte. It offers various dishes of international and Brazilian cuisine. Prices were on the high side. There are plenty of eating options in the area. We had a meal one night at Temperarte (Tel: 2543 1053) a buffet-style place at Av. Nossa Sr de Copacabana 266. Also very popular is Alpo & Alpim, a chain of ‘food-by weight’ restaurants which has three outlets on the same street (Nos 391, 605 and 920). We found this system simple, efficient and cheap after it was explained to us.

Hotel facilities include a bar / lounge, business centre, gym / fitness facilities, internet access, laundry facilities, car parking, room service, sauna and smallish outdoor swimming pool. There are also conference facilities, disabled facilities and a babysitting service. We didn’t use any of these services because we were here to see Rio and hence used the hotel purely as a place to sleep and to have breakfast. If this is what you intend to do, this is quite a nice, friendly place with good service and a certain charm.

There are probably more hotels in Copacabana than any other part of Rio. They cover almost the whole range from semi-budget to luxury. If you are into luxury, there is only one place to stay and that is right on the beach. Here are three suggestions, all on Avenida Atlantica.

Rio's magic can be enjoyed from the rooftop pool at the JW Marriott Hotel Rio (Tel: 2545 6500; Fax: 55 21 2545 6555), with sweeping views of Sugar Loaf and Corcovado. Copacabana's newest 5-star hotel, offers luxury accommodations wired for high-speed Internet access and designed for supreme comfort. There is a Spa & Fitness Center and temptation awaits at Terraneo with Mediterranean cuisine(breakfast, lunch and dinner)or at the stunning setting of Taiyou Sushi Bar Lunch and dinner) one of the best Japanese restaurants in Rio de Janeiro.

Even if you are not staying in the hotel you could be tempted to visit the American-style Terraneo where you can relax over drinks, beers, or order a Caipirinha Sampler to enjoy with traditional tapas. The simple Cafe da Praia which has snacks, sandwiches, sodas & delicious Brazilian coffee is a further option.


The Copacabana Palace Hotel (Tel: 2548 7070) is the most renowned hotel in Rio de Janeiro and has welcomed the rich and famous since 1923. A glamorous icon of the city of Rio, this Orient-Express hotel has a reputation of exemplary service, superb cuisine and opulent luxury which matches any of these great properties around the world. Ever since Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' danced together at the Copacabana Palace in the celebrated movie Flying Down to Rio, the hotel has been the place to stay when visiting Rio de Janeiro. Guest rooms have been updated and now provide all the modern luxuries you would expect.

The full-service spa features massage and treatment rooms. In addition to an outdoor pool, Copacabana Palace Hotel provides a tennis court, a health club, a spa tub, and a sauna. Business-related amenities include complimentary wireless Internet access, complimentary high-speed (wired) Internet access, a business center, and a technology helpdesk. There is also a fitness facility, a steam room, and a concierge desk.

Sofitel Rio de Janeiro Copacabana (Tel: 25251232) is considered one of the most prestigious Rio de Janeiro hotels. There are 388 rooms with balconies, 66 rooms with Club Millésime services, and outstanding cuisine at this hotel. You will also discover a Convention and Business Center, 2 pools, a gym, 2 saunas, and direct access to beauty salons and shops.

One of the hotel’s highlights is dining. Restaurante Atlantis is located on the first floor and features a beautiful balcony area overlooking Copacabana beach. It has buffets with special themes at lunch and a la carte dinner. Restaurante Le Pre Catelan is renowned as one of the top 10 hotel restaurants in the world by Hotel World magazine. It has modern decor and views of Copacabana. The menu changes fortnightly and it only opens for dinner.

The Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro is the seat of the cardinal archbishop. It is dedicated to Saint Sebastian, the patron saint of Rio de Janeiro. The current church was built between 1964 and 1979 and replaced a series of old churches that had served as cathedrals since 1676. It is located in the centre of the city. Conical in form and with a 96 metres (315 ft) internal diameter and an overall height of 75 metres, it has a standing-room capacity of 20,000 people. It was designed by the world renowned Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer

When we first arrived and were told that this was a Cathedral we didn't quite know what to say. I thought it was such an ugly looking building, resembling an electricity cooling tower rather than a Cathedral. In other parts of South America we had been into quite a number of the really ornate, ostentatious Catholic churches which were full of gold and silver and we were expecting something similar. Here we were faced with a simple concrete conical building with no decoration outside at all.

Inside it is a different matter although even here there is little decoration. The cathedral's four huge stained glass windows soar 64 metres (210 ft) from floor to ceiling. These immediately took our eye and then we were drawn to look upwards and found that these windows met and created a cross in the top of the building. The altar was simple, no fussy, gold and fancy statues at all. Behind the altar was a smaller chapel which was again, very plain with white walls and no statues

As we walked in we were immediately struck by how cool it was inside. The fresh air comes through openings in the walls that are layered. The architect has designed it in such a way that no electricity is needed for cooling the building. Electricity is not needed to light the building either as usually sufficient light passes through the stained glass windows, the vents and the large doors. By the time we left the building we had changed our opinion of the structure but still didn’t like the outside.

If you have the chance, take a walk downtown from here. You can easily walk to Praca Floriano which is the heart of modern Rio. This comes to life at lunchtime and after work on weekdays when the outdoor cafes fill with Cariocas. You will be impressed by the neoclassical Teatro Municipal and, just around the corner, the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes. If you now walk north, you will reach the Largo da Carioca, a pedestrian area that gets packed with vendors during the week.

There were three must-see attractions that we were determined to see in Rio – Copacabana beach, Christ the Redeemer statue and Pão de Açucar, or Sugarloaf. Rising sheer out of the sea and towering almost 400 meters above Guanabara Bay, Sugarloaf separates the bay from the Atlantic Ocean. A dizzying two-stage cable car ride takes you to the top of the mountain, where the views are nearly as spectacular as those from the top of Corcovado Mountain. As condors soar past you, you will be able to look out over the mountains and forests of Corcovado and Tijuca, and over the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema. More than a million tourists come here every year to enjoy breathtaking views of the entire region.

A cable car joins both hills with the base station with the first hill while a second goes from here to the top. The ground station is located on Pasteur Avenue, in barrio de Urca. Access to the cable car is located across the General Tiburcio square and tickets for both legs are sold at the ground station for $8 per person. The base station has souvenir stores, toilets, an information office, schedule boards and photographs of the cable car history. The service runs every 30 minutes from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm.

The first leg of the ride ends at Morro de Urca. The totally glazed cabin of the cable car allows you to get a fantastic aerial view of the region. An Urca there is a wide platform with trails through vegetation and natural observation posts are located at different heights. From there, you can see Copacabana beach, the port, the Christ statue, Guanabara Bay and Niteoroi. There are restaurants, fast-food bars, souvenir stores and toilets here.


The second leg goes to the top of the Sugarloaf. It is also a marvellous ride with even more breathtaking 360-degree views over the region. There is a trail with native forest around the top of the hill and, as in Urca, fast-food shops, souvenir stores and toilets can be found on this platform. Prices are moderate, so you can sit down and enjoy the view while eating or drinking. The views from here are great and they are different from Corcovado

After you have been to the top its worth looking around this area before racing off. At the bottom of the mountain you will find the small but perfectly formed Praia Vermelha beach, a military barracks (making this perhaps the safest neighborhood in Rio) and a delightful short trail that will take you along a path overhung by trees. The Urca residential area has shaded trees with an eclectic mix of architecture of everything from art-deco to modernist houses backed by manicured gardens. Walk north and you will see fishermen casting lines from the seawall

A city tour bus called Turisto City Rio -orange and blue line- has a stop at General Tiburcio Square, across from the station. Several public buses also serve this area. There are also numerous companies running half day tours which collect you from your hotel and also usually include a central city tour before heading for Sugarloaf. These are very convenient and because of the competition are reasonably priced.

Christ the Redeemer is a statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro. The statue stands 40 metres (130 ft) tall, including its 9.5 metres pedestal, and 30 metres wide. It weighs 635 tons, and is located at the peak of the 700 metres Corcovado Mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park overlooking the city. It is a truly magnificent sight and the trip here, including the train ride, is my top experience in the city. At night, the statue is floodlit and is visible from almost every part of the city.

The idea for erecting a large statue atop Corcovado was first suggested in the mid 1850s, when Catholic priest Pedro Maria Boss requested financing from Princess Isabel to build a large religious monument. Princess Isabel did not think much of the idea and it was completely dismissed in 1889, when Brazil became a Republic, with laws mandating the separation of church and state. The second proposal for a large landmark statue on the mountain was made in 1921 by the Catholic Circle of Rio. The group organised an event called Monument Week to attract designs, donations and collect signatures to support the building of the statue. The statue of Christ the Redeemer with open arms was chosen as the winner.

After much consideration it was decided to build the structure out of reinforced concrete with an outer layer of soapstone, chosen for its enduring qualities and ease of use. Construction took nine years, from 1922 to 1931. It has been a major attraction and the symbol of Rio ever since. In 2007, Christ the Redeemer was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in a list compiled by the Swiss-based The New Open World Corporation.

You can drive to the top of the mountain but the best way to get to the statue is by the Corcovado train. This was the first electrified Brazilian railroad. Inaugurated in 1884, it’s much older than the monument of Christ and was used to carry the parts of the statue to be mounted at the top of the hill. The train operates from 8:30 AM to 6:30 PM, with departures at every half-hour. Trip duration is around 20 minutes. The view from the train was alluring, giving us a keen anticipation of what was to come. The best views are obtained from the right side of the carriage.

The views from the top were just spectacular. The Redeemer’s gaze is directed at Pao de Acucar (Sugarloaf) while slightly to the right is the great Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon, Jardim Botanico and Ipanema. The statue’s left arm points to the North Zone of the city with the Maracana football stadium and the international airport clearly visible. Fortunately it was a bright sunny day and we could even see the Serra dos Orgaos mountain range in the distance.

I had dreamed of walking Copacabana beach for 20 years and now I have done it. One more ticked off my list of ‘must see attractions’! Copacabana is an area in the southern part of Rio de Janeiro, known for its 4 km beach which is one of the most famous in the world. Unfortunately Copacabana is somewhat the worse for wear. Like much of Rio, in 1960 it went from being the centre of the Brazilian universe to merely a tourist attraction when the capital was shifted from Rio to Brasilia. The city struggled to recover and in my view Copacabana probably had its heyday in the 1960s. That is, except the beach. It is still great and extremely popular.

Copacabana beach stretches from Posto Dois (lifeguard watchtower Two) to Posto Seis (lifeguard watchtower Six). There is over 4kms of pristine, spotless, wide white sand to relax on and plenty of activities to watch. Activities on Copacabana beach include volleyball, water sports, girl watching and all night partying! Copacabana is also the home of foot volleyball. There is an historic fort, Fort Copacabana, built in 1914, at the western end of the beach. This contains a museum and a great restaurant with awesome views and you can see the original 12 metre thick walls which defended the original cannons.

We started at one end and walked the beach to the other end then turned around and walked back on the black and white mosaic footpath along Avenue Atlantica which is the wide boulevard that fronts the beach. Walking the beach was pure fun. The surf was crashing in, there were no crowds, we stopped to watch a couple of volleyball games and just enjoyed having our feet in the sand. Walking back on the footpath was entirely different. We mingled with roller skaters, strollers, power walkers with MP3 players and some other tourists, stopped to buy a drink and snack, were intrigued by the sand sculptures, gazed at the hotels, restaurants and shops across from the beach and enjoyed the sun on our backs.

Hotels, restaurants, bars, night clubs and residential buildings dot the promenade. There is plenty of luxury accommodation like the historic Copacabana Palace or the modern Marriott and Sofitel but there is also plenty of local accommodation available at very affordable rates. We thought the coconut juice or freshly squeezed fruit juice that is available everywhere was reasonably priced but were told that restaurant food was overpriced and we should eat elsewhere.

Rio has a reputation for violence and we were warned by the hotels, tourist operators and even the airline to be careful in Copacabana. This is the most densely settled area of Rio and there is certainly an undesirable element on the streets. There are areas where we didn’t feel completely safe at night. We were told that Copacabana beach can get very crowded, and with it a certain level of petty theft occurs. We were constantly reminded not to take any valuables to the beach and not to go there at all after dark even though it is well floodlit. This safety issue and the run down nature of some streets was a disappointment and I think if I returned to Rio I would stay at Ipanema next time.