Rio de Janeiro: The Gem of Brazil
This post is dear to me because I absolutely loved Rio de Janeiro when I went. Granted this post is from a trip I took two years ago, but everything still holds true even now.
Where to stay…
We stayed at the Miramar Hotel by Windsor, which is still one of my favorite hotels and rooms. Since we were staying right on Copacabana beach, I really wanted an ocean front room and that’s exactly what we got! From the moment we walked into the hotel to the moment we checked out, we had 5-Star treatment, which is what I would expect from a 5-Star hotel. Despite Rio getting a bad rep for violence, I felt very safe there and I liked how our hotel advised us on how to be safe: telling us to keep cell phones hidden and advising us on which areas to avoid. Apparently when we went in the summer of 2017, there were issues between the drug lords and the police so things were a bit heated. Despite this, I felt safe walking around Copacabana and Ipanema, even at night, because there were a lot of tourists and locals around, in addition to police. BUT I would say to be cautious and to listen to advice from the hotel staff regarding safety.
And now, back to Miramar. The location was in the safest part of Rio for tourists: Copacabana on Avenida Atlântica.
Another reason why we loved our hotel is that we could see the beautiful sunrise from our room and even the sunset because the sky always turns beautiful colors for sunrise and sunset, assuming there is no rain. When we woke up on our first morning in our hotel, we ran out to the beach to see some beautiful sunrises!
The many beautiful sunsets:
Although we loved our location and hotel, we couldn’t help but notice that the favelas were so close by. I thought they looked beautiful up in the mountains in the distance, but to see them so close and yet so far from our hotel also filled me a sense of sadness. After visiting Brazil, I definitely noticed that depicting the favelas is a form of art for purses, sarongs, canvas, etc. I really appreciated seeing the favelas because I first saw them in one of my favorite films Cidade de Deus (City of God).
Ipanema Beach
A major reason why I wanted to go to Rio is because the film Cidade de Deus! I teach it in my film class and I just love the symbolism, the music, and the experimental editing. In addition, who can forget the famous beach scene?! It’s the one where Rocket kisses Angelica on Ipanema beach under the magical sunset. Rio sunsets=AMAZING!
Where to dine and what to avoid:
As a vegetarian, it was HARD to find good food for me that wasn’t deep fried or filled with cheese. Brazil is VERY meat-heavy. There is pasta available but sometimes even ordering a simple salad was difficult; however, I thought Rio was a lot easier than other parts of Brazil, like the Amazon (sooo hard to find decent veg food there). Note: You should definitely try empanadas in Rio…so delicious! I know they’re not healthy but they were well-flavored, filled with veggies and cheese, and honestly, on vacation, you can splurge :)
Miramar’s breakfast (Alloro a Miramar, formerly known as Sa)
Wow! Talk about luxurious: made-to-order eggs, various pastries everyday, detailed cereal bar, made-to-order coffee and espresso beverages. Mmmm! And all of this was included with our hotel booking.
Sa (aka Alloro a Miramar)
Amazing food, excellent service, and it’s right in the Miramar Windsor Hotel! It also had a Michelin Star when we went in 2017.
They had a gnocchi/stuffed pasta on the menu and it had lobster but the chef made it vegetarian for me and it was really lovely. My boyfriend got a steak and to this day, he said he has not had a steak as good as the one at Sa. The onion bread they gave was delicious (I’m pretty sure we got two baskets, one is pictured below haha). We also split a half bottle of red wine and it was really good! If the current menu has similar dishes, which it looks like it does, definitely give this place a try and please report back to me if it’s still delicious! :)
This place was awful. It looks pretty when you enter, but the food was weird. The tofu was a strange texture, and even some of the meats that my boyfriend ordered were really off. I tried to get dumplings and a couple of veggie dishes but nothing tasted right. Note: when in Rio, have local-ish food, NOT Chinese food. I remember the drinks being good, so that’s a plus. Also, the food is over-priced. We only came here because it was Michelin-rated at the time and it was wayyy cheaper than US prices, but still, I think I would have rather gone back to Sa for another night.
Drinks:
I highly recommend doing cocktails for your whole trip, instead of wine. Wine was good at upscale restaurants, but Brazil is known for its caipirinha, which is made with cachaça, and that comes from Brazil. Mojitos are also delicious here but basically any cocktail drink will be delicious and they definitely don’t hold back on the alcohol, which is always good. Some our our favorite caipirinhas were made right on beach in front of our hotel and they had a TON of buy one get one free deals, plus with the conversion, everything is so much cheaper!
Tours:
We went on two tours when we were in Rio. I recommend doing tours in Rio because although Copacabana and Ipanema beaches are safe, it isn’t super safe to go wandering around on your own. For example, we wanted to go check out this cool live music bar in Santa Teresa with funky drinks, and although we were going to take an Uber there, our hotel advised us not to go, unless we absolutely wanted to because the area wasn’t super safe to walk around, especially for tourists.
Anyway, back to the tours we booked. The first was my favorite and we booked this directly with our hotel. It allowed us to see Corcovado with Cristo Redentor, then the Escadaria Selarón (Selaron Steps), and finally, the top of Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain) at night! Our tour guide was sooo cool and spoke perfect English. He was also fun to chat with when there was down time. I LOVED his tour!
I’m not Christian but seeing Cristo Redentor was an amazing experience. That statue is gorgeous and seeing it sit atop this beautiful “City of God” was unforgettable. There was a cafe there as well where you could grab food and drinks. Although my boyfriend and I grabbed some caipirinhas, I somehow felt kinda sinful for having some delicious cocktails next to Cristo :-/
The Escadaria Selarón were really pretty and different. I loved admiring some of the colored tiles up close and I also loved how the culture of Rio was truly displayed. Once again, the favelas appeared and you could really see how poverty and struggle are a big part of Rio’s past and present. I felt happy to learn more about the history but once again a sense off sadness for those who still suffer.
Our final stop was Pão de Açúcar but by the time we got there, it was already dark. I liked taking the cable car to the top and the views were breathtaking, but my only issue with the tour was that I wish I could have also seen the top of Pão de Açúcar during the daytime or around sunset to truly admire the water and the mountain ranges…maybe next time? :)
The next tour we took was beautiful but so…crazy…long! I guess our first issue could have been that we booked it while walking on Copacabana Beach from a rando tour company, but to be honest, every time we saw an ad for this tour (through our hotel and on the beach, they all seemed to promote it in the same way, of course our hotel was a lot pricier). Note: you can book tours on Copacabana Beach’s Boardwalk for a LOT cheaper than hotels and on online, BUT you may face issues with length of tour and lack of English translator. We booked a tour to Angra dos Reis to Ilha Grande, which is a picturesque beach area about two hours from Rio. When we were picked up for this tour, there were SEVERAL buses that were going there and we all ended up on one boat. We also didn’t have an English-speaking tour guide so every time he spoke, we were pretty lost. What this meant to me is that there were quite a few tour companies that worked together to promote this tour in the same way. So if you book online or through a hotel, they might take you on this same tour so maybe you’re better off just booking the cheaper tour, like we did? (Please report back if you booked a different tour to Ilha Grande and had a shorter bus ride :)).
Anyway, the bus rides there and back were SOOO LONG! On the way there, we were excited and admired the sites as we drove on, but coming back, it was soooo late that we were just crabby and hungry. When we got to the dock, the boat was pretty cool, we finally had an English-speaking tour guide and some English-speaking passengers, and there were cheap and tasty drinks, like caipirinhas, to enjoy! We also loved the snorkeling. The water was so turquoise!
Aside from coming back fourteen hours later and having to eat dinner at 10pm, the island was beautiful.
Overall, Rio de Janeiro is one of the most beautiful places in the world and I highly recommend every traveler to visit at least once. I hope to visit again soon!