Copacabana still remains a place of Brazilian ethnic, cultural and social diversity. This alone makes it all interesting.

Est. Total Time(T): 8h  Est. Total Cost(C): R$130  Best on: Sunny Weekday

Breakfast

Start off with a hearty breakfast (in case you missed yours at your hotel) at Colombo, in the Copacabana Fort, on the extreme right of the beach, where you can absorb the view. R$2 to enter to the fort.

Posto 6

Walk to the beach and get a chair and bask in the sun for a few.

Walk and Watch

After this, you can walk up and down Copacabana’ s sidewalks.

Late Lunch

Once you get to IberoStar Hotel, head in three blocks and ask for Cervantes. Sit down at “Galero Sats” (the grungy restaurant next to Cervantes) and there you will enjoy another Brazilian meal: game hen in lemon sauce. Ask for “batata portuguesa” as a side dish, farofa, pão de alho and “vinaigrette”.

Massage

After your lunch, walk along Copacabana beach looking for a shiatsu massag specialist. They do a great job at a cheap rate (roughly $60 an hour).

Lounge

Then head over to Modern Sound, one of Rio’s largest and most complete record stores. They have a good happy hour there every day, although it can sometimes be packed with older people. Since it’s free, it is worth checking out.

Email

Check your email next door and head back to your hotel.