City Guide: Rio de Janeiro

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Rio has always drawn travelers with its sexy beaches, lush tropical forests, and curvy mountains. Lately, it’s added the renewed charm of Botafogo, a traditional beachfront neighborhood now attracting creative types and alive with cool restaurants and shops. And throughout the rest of the city, restaurants are redefining the culinary scene with contemporary flavors.

Eat

Sustainable ingredients, vegetables grown in its own gardens, and dishes such as pork belly with roasted pumpkin make dining at one-Michelin-starred Lasai in Botafogo a memorable experience. Its two tasting menus (and optional wine pairings) are served in a historic 1902 house with modern decor and terraces.

Also in Botafogo, Oteque, with its contemporary cuisine and sophisticated setting, highlights fresh local seafood – including picks from the dining room’s own aquarium. The eight-dish tasting menu offers daring combinations, such as onion stuffed with uni and topped with a mussel emulsion.

In a three-level house surrounded by a garden and wrapped with balconies in the Jardim Botânico neighborhood, Puro brings Brazilian dishes with bold touches to the table. Try the pupunha-palm lasagna with mushrooms and fresh herbs or the caramelized oxtail rice with kimchi, watercress, and fried egg.

Drink

For more than 60 years, Jobi, in upscale Leblon, has captured the city’s essence. A typical Brazilian boteco (simple bar) with a down-to-earth atmosphere, it’s known for its chope (draft beer with a creamy head) and tasty petiscos (finger food), such as cod fritters.

At another boteco-style Carioca institution in Leblon, Bar Bracarense, patrons wash down the famous cassava shrimp balls with ice-cold chopes.

An event in itself, Casa Camolese encompasses a restaurant, cocktail bar, brewpub, coffee shop, and jazz club, and gives visitors a view of the Jockey Club racetrack.

Shop

Stop by Farm Rio for breezy printed dresses and other colorful pieces. The Ipanema flagship is an ode to summer, but there are Farm stores all around Rio.

Fashion-world favorite Nannacay recently opened its flagship store at the Shopping Leblon mall, where patrons stock up on the brand’s beloved handbags and accessories, made of straw and other natural fibers by female artisans around the globe.

Stay

At Hotel Fasano Rio de Janeiro, views of Ipanema and Arpoador stretch out beyond the pool bar. Inside, Philippe Starck-designed spaces and 89 rooms with private terraces beckon. Don’t miss sunset drinks at the newly opened Marea beach bar. Virtuoso travleres receive breakfast daily and a $100 spa credit.

In Barra da Tijuca, where the Atlantic’s white-sand beaches meet the Marapendi Lagoon, Grand Hyatt Rio de Janeiro’s 436 balconied rooms are decorated with Brazilian accents. Virtuoso travelers receive breakfast daily and a $100
spa credit.

The 90-room Emiliano Rio brings contemporary flair to Copacabana Beach, with its striking white cobogó facade standing tall against Rio’s famous zigzag boardwalk. Floor-to-ceiling windows, lush vertical gardens, and the terrace bar with its infinity pool overlooking Copacabana and Copacabana Fort complete the experience. Virtuoso travelers receive breakfast daily and a $100 dining credit.

The white, art deco Belmond Copacabana Palace, perched on its namesake beach, houses 239 elegantly appointed rooms. A drink at Pérgula, the chef’s table at Ristorante Hotel Cipriani, and the Michelin-starred pan-Asian fare at Mee are de rigueur. Virtuoso travelers receive breakfast daily and a $100 spa credit.