Copacabana is the most visited neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro and perhaps the most famous in Brazil and it was the place I chose to live. Today I'm going to take a stroll around here and tell you some stories about the itinerary of a perfect day in the little princess of the sea. my name is João Victor and this is Tesouros do Brasil [Music] welcome to Copacabana, I think this is the most famous beach in Brazil, do you agree with me?
I'm from Brasiliense, I moved to Rio de Janeiro in 2011 and most of the time I've lived here in Rio de Janeiro, I've lived in Copacabana. Guys, this is a neighborhood that I really like. Do you see how calm we are here on the beach?
Well, the neighborhood isn't quite like that, Copacabana is the formal neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro with the highest population density, which means, it's the place with the most people per square meter. There are approximately 150,000 inhabitants here , in this strip of just 4. 5 km.
And when I talk about lane, it really means lane, because everyone is squeezed between the sea and the mountains. This is my favorite time here in Copacabana because, in addition to seeing the beach very empty, you see everyone also enjoying the beach as a sports court. There are people doing beach tennis, swimming, running and cycling.
Everyone has their own way of interacting with the beach, but I'm not going to enjoy the beach yet, I'm going to come back here later, I'm going there to get a bike which is one of the best ways for you to get to know the entire neighborhood. The most touristy neighborhoods here in Rio de Janeiro are full of bike paths, so this is a great option for getting around the city, especially here in Copacabana. There are several bike shops here where you can rent a bike by the hour, for the day, or you can use the super practical Itaú bikes.
It's very simple for you to get a bike like this and go around, because there are several stations spread out, so you can take it from one place and return it to another. It's very simple, the first thing you have to do is download the bike Itaú app and when you download the app you have to register and register a credit card. This app is very practical, it shows you where all the stations are and how many bikes are available.
There are two types of bikes at these stations, normal ones and electric ones. The normal one costs R5. 90 for you to walk for 15 minutes.
if you go beyond this time you will pay a little extra money and if you use the electric ones they will charge 60 cents more per minute Now here's a tip Treasures of Brazil, if you want to go for a walk, take a walk, watch Life go by, use the boardwalk, leave the bike path for those who are cycling, running, rollerblading or strolling, use the boardwalk. a short break in front of this icon here in Copacabana. The Copacabana Palace is a hotel that just turned 100 years old and its history is kind of intertwined with the history of the neighborhood.
Copacabana is a more or less young neighborhood, because it is very isolated. In the past, this was just a sandy beach, it began to be populated at the turn of the 20th century when the first tunnels were built, facilitating access from the city center, which is where all the buzz was, to this wonderful place facing the sea. The Copa, for those who are more intimate, is a luxury hotel but there is a way to get a taste of it even if you are not staying.
In front of it there is the Momo ice cream shop and inside there are three restaurants, Pergola, which is located around the pool, Mee, which is a delicious Asian restaurant, and Cipriani, which is a very fine Italian restaurant. There's no way we can talk about Copacabana without mentioning this icon of the neighborhood that is the Copacabana boardwalk, these black and white waves made of Portuguese sidewalk. the first version of this sidewalk was made at the turn of the 20th century by Mayor Pereira Passos, which was just a sidewalk, and it was stuck to the buildings.
and then in the 70s they decided to build a huge landfill to have more or less the configuration we see today, and then they called the artist and landscaper Burle Marx to create a new design. Instead of starting from scratch, Burle Marx saw this drawing of the waves and said "you know what, I'm going to do the following, I'm just going to increase the scale" so he made these waves a little more sinuous and changed the direction to look as if the waves of sea were advancing over the boardwalk, which actually happens during storm surges. And in addition, he was responsible for designing the rest of the sidewalks on this landfill, which is considered one of the greatest works of art in the world and I think it's absolutely beautiful.
[Music] Ready, super practical, I took the bike there at the beginning of Copacabana and now we've arrived here at the other end of Copacabana at Forte Copacabana. Seriously, what a beautiful place. Without a doubt, one of the most popular breakfasts in Rio de Janeiro is breakfast here at Forte de Copacabana, so here's my tip, if you want to come here on weekends, holidays, things like that, if Get ready to get in line and wait.
We are here on a Tuesday for two reasons to avoid the queues and because on Tuesdays entry is free. You just have to follow them @FortedeCopacabana, show your cell phone and you get in for free, otherwise, the full ticket costs R10 and half costs R5, in cash, not worth pix, credit card, nothing like that. Here inside the Fort there are two restaurants, Confeitaria Colombo which is the most famous, it has some blue umbrellas at the beginning of the Fort, and Café 18 do Forte which has red umbrellas.
This one is our favorite because the food here is tastier than there. A lot of people arrive and get stuck there, they wait in line, but they go for us, follow a little, come and eat here at Café 18 do Forte because the food here is wonderful. Even here there are usually fewer queues, and here there is also breakfast in the afternoon , they have afternoon coffee, so if you don't want to wake up early you can come here after 4pm , it works until 7pm.
beautiful view having a few drinks in the late afternoon, this is a great tip, I said earlier that it is very popular here for breakfast, if you want to avoid the queues, you can come during the week, the tip is that come in lunch time, come in the middle of the afternoon and then you can get away from the hustle and bustle because there are times when it's busy even in the afternoon, but it's worth it because the view is beautiful and have a coffee here, a beer with This view is priceless. We ordered breakfast for two, which is very complete, there is a basket of bread with brioche, there is wholemeal bread, there is a slice of cake, cheese bread, there are cupcakes, eggs, guacamole, jelly, yogurt, cake, cheese, turkey breast and butter. Oh and the cafe has two coffees, the drink, the juice had to be a separate item, but everything is very, very tasty.
a time when almost no one comes here at Forte is at the end of the day and it's super beautiful, because you see the sunlight going out and the city lights coming on, you see Copacabana, the buildings all lighting up little by little. It's open here until 7pm, so you can get here at around 5:30 and take in all this moment, drinking a cold wine, sitting here on the wall. And we are here now on top of the Copacabana Fort, which has this incredible view of the entire beach.
This fort was built in 1914, in the middle of the first world war, it was built where a church dedicated to Our Lady of Copacabana used to be. Copacabana is a city on the banks of Lake Titicaca, in Bolivia. And how did that name get here?
Because then, silver traders came here to Rio de Janeiro to buy slaves, they were called peruleiros. During one of these visits, they brought an image of Our Lady of Copacabana and built a chapel for her here, on top of these rocks, then the chapel became a church, which was demolished in 1914 to build this military fortification. Along Copacabana beach you will see structures like the ones here that are called posts.
In Copacabana you have gas stations 2, 3, 4, 5 and the sixth one is not really a gas station, because it is located in the Copacabana Fort. These stations serve as a base for firefighters, so they can act in the event of an emergency, or someone drowning on the beach. Below them there is an infrastructure for bathers, they have bathrooms that cost.
. . I'll put all the prices here, I think it's 3.
50, 3. 10. Wait V, I wrote it down here on my cell phone.
The bathroom costs R3. 50, the indoor shower, if you want to take a shower, apply some soap, really wash, costs R6. 10.
The external shower, just for take a light sand, R2. 20, and a closet that you can use for up to 12 hours, the luggage storage costs R$8. We chose a place here close to Posto 5, close to home.
I chose it because, here it is, our scheme is already set up. I'm absolutely shocked by the sea conditions here in Rio de Janeiro because, guys, here's the thing, you'll never know what the sea will be like, sometimes it's this wonderful color, sometimes the water is more It's dark, most of the time the sea is cold, Bruno is here to prove that he almost never goes in, he hates cold water, right? Never, only in the very high summer, which is very hot there, does the water become inaccessible.
There are times, most of the time, the sea here in Rio de Janeiro is very cold and today there is a swimming pool because there are no waves, it is calm and considering the number of people in the water, I imagine the temperature is also good. I'll go in there and tell you. Man, you don't understand the sea, it's perfect, the temperature is great, the water is calm, it's crystal clear.
Perfect day for me to record for you, to convince you to come here and see Copacabana. The beach huts here in Copacabana, in Rio de Janeiro in general, have a very simple infrastructure, what they do here is rent chairs and umbrellas. We just got this one from here and it costs R$10 each.
R$10 for a chair and R$10 for an umbrella, but there are some stalls where if you arrive and say you're going to drink all afternoon, they don't even charge you anything, they'll just charge you for your drinks, which is another thing they offer. Coconut water, caipirinha, beer and some offer some snacks, but it is not very common if you want to eat something on the beach or you have to buy it from street vendors who pass by selling some very typical dishes here in Rio de Janeiro such as boiled corn, the Globo biscuit, like the mate with lemon, the esfirra, the grilled coalho cheese, or you have to go up to a kiosk, one of the bigger kiosks here, and buy a portion of fries, a portion of shrimp with them, and then you comes down, but the stalls don't sell them. If you notice here around us, it's full of families with children, it's because this area here at station five has a very good structure for those with small children, because at the rescue station there is a bathroom and under the kiosks too, so any In an emergency, you run to the boardwalk.
And also here the strip of sand is narrower, the closer you get to Forte Copacabana, the calmer the sea. At the end, for example, there are several stand up paddle rental stalls . The sea is very calm and you can put a chair close to the water and watch the children playing.
And look, the deal isn't expensive, before you ask for a chair or an umbrella to rent, order a beer, order a coconut water, my tip is: ask the price. It's worth haggling too, you can negotiate and if you don't agree, move on. Go look for another stall at a price you're willing to buy, okay?
Let's not get upset about it. The beach was delicious, but if there's something that makes us hungry in the sun, then we'll look for somewhere to have a post- beach lunch, which is always delicious, and continue drinking a beer too. Look, there's nothing more Carioca or Copacabana than leaving the beach, going up just one block and choosing a bar for lunch, and that's exactly what we're doing.
We came here at the Rio de Janeiro agreement. This one on Rua Santa Clara is super new, it opened at the end of the year, but this is a very traditional bar in Tijuca, it's been there for over 13 years . And it's very nice because, here people, you're not supposed to have any kind of formality, you can come with your feet full of sand, you can sit outside without a shirt, you can sit in a wet bikini, in wet swim trunks, the important thing is that you sit , relax, have a beer, a caipirinha, order a PF to eat and be happy, that is the goal of the perfect Copacabana day.
And there's a really good tip because these bars, normally from Monday to Friday, have PFs with great prices, which is the case here at Combinado Carioca. open shrimp pie with catupiry on top is very popular here in Rio, and their house pepper is delicious. feijoada cake, I love this invention, filled with bacon, cabbage, feijoada, in just one bite.
Bruno ordered a roast beef PF that comes with farofa, rice, beans, and a potato salad. Man, that's a lot of food. And I ordered a ham, also with rice, beans, farofinha, potato salad.
Wow, delicious! I took a bite out of Bruno's roast beef, it's the type we like, the seasoning is well marked, but it's not too salty, super tender. And this ham is also super juicy, moist, their potato salad is super fresh.
Man, what delicious food. Very very good. We stopped eating dessert there because we really wanted to show you this Benza ice cream shop next to our house, and that name is really good!
It's an ice cream shop that specializes in flavors from northern Brazil, but has several other flavors. But just to give you an idea, I'll take a look at the menu here for you: açaí bacuri, taperebá, also known as cajá, Benza, Borogodó, tapioca, which is mine. 100% of the time I come here, I eat the tapioca one.
It's that ice cream that is really creamy. The Cashew one is super fresh, you know that refreshing ice cream? It's delicious, come here and try it.
And it's a danger because it's next to our house, so we're always here, eating ice cream. Hmm, and speaking of how close to home it is, Bruno has a message for you about the best places to stay here in Copacabana. Copacabana has the largest number of hotels in Rio de Janeiro.
From hostels to the city's high-end luxury hotels, there is a catch here in the hotel industry throughout Brazil, which is: the hotels, they don't have an official star rating, there isn't a body that goes there and says how many stars each hotel has, this is self given, stars. For you to really know which hotel is worth the stars it has, someone has to go there and find out, that's what I do. I have been a travel agent for over 13 years and I know more than 20 hotels here in Copacabana because I sell these hotels to foreigners who come to Brazil.
If I were to talk about each of them here we would spend hours on this video, so to make it easier I made a list of all the hotels that I think are worth it, from hostels to luxury hotels, so you can even get an idea location, where to stay here in Copacabana and the best time to stay in each of these hotels. Go to Instagram, follow us @TesourosDoBrasil, send a DM saying "Bruno, send me that list of the best hotels in Copacabana! " We send it to everyone , you can trust it, you can ask any question you want too, we answer everyone on Instagram.
It's already nighttime here in Copacabana and one of the nicest things to do when we're taking these trips to a beach destination is to spend the whole day at the beach, then we go back home, take a shower, take a nap, Put on some fresh clothes and go out on the street. And one of the best places to do this in Rio de Janeiro is Copacabana. I'm walking through the night market right now, it happens literally every day, from Monday to Monday and it's here from Rua Miguel Lemos to which street, roughly Bruno?
Hmm. Then I'll put it here oh, I'll put it here. I think Sá Ferreira, Sá Ferreira, is about three, four blocks away and it's a great place to buy a souvenir, a souvenir, buy some sarongs.
There's everything here, fridge magnets, jewelry, bikinis, everything. It's super cool for you to walk around, do a little shopping and then we'll go down to the boardwalk to choose a place to listen to some music, find a place that has live music and eat some snacks. Let me show you more or less what's on here Man, one of the questions I get most on Instagram is "João, where do I hear live music in Rio de Janeiro?
" One of my tips is simply, come here to the Copacabana promenade, walk and then you can listen to live music in the kiosks, because there are always several bands going on. Oh there's a band there, there's another band there and they play everything. There are places where you will listen to forró, here there is rock, MPB, chorinho, samba, there is everything.
The scheme You come here, walk, choose a place where you like the music and sit there. [Music] and this is the part I like most about Copacabana, this mix of people from all over Brazil, from all over the world. You hear several super different languages, right Bruno?
There were some languages used here now that we were trying to guess if it was Dutch, German, it was completely different. Minimal notion. I love this mix.
And then walking, too, you hear different styles of music. We've already heard forró, Pagode, Samba, funk going on, we're now going to a kiosk that's well known, it's a new kiosk, but it's known for taking music very seriously. he always hires very good musicians.
We know, more or less, who they are because they have a kiosk in Leme called Ginga that always has really good music. Let's meet Areia MPB today [Music] We've already arrived here, we ordered a cold draft beer, delicious, and I have a tip for you because this kiosk here, it's together with Nacho Praia so it's really cool to see it on their Instagram what is the program, before coming here, because some days it is extremely Brazilian music, MPB and everything else, which is what this kiosk proposes and sometimes it is Latin music, which is what the kiosk next door proposes. Guys, what a delicious snack.
We started with shrimp pastry, but in the moqueca sauce we then have Dendê, that bite from Bahia, and now we have. . .
What did they call it Bruno? I don't know what ocean? Ocean.
Okay, ocean. You have two breaded sardines that I haven't eaten yet, plus the shrimp skewer and squid skewer. It's absolutely delicious.
Wonderful combination, cold draft beer, seafood, good music, Copacabana. Is there anything better? [Music] Out of nowhere it started to rain, a very light summer rain, for now, but I hope you liked this video, it was an itinerary for a perfect day in Copacabana, we love living here, we wanted to share a a little bit of our neighborhood with you.
My name is João Victor, my name is Bruno and this was Tesouros do Brasil. to the next. Until later.
