Our Definitive Guide to

A soccer match at Maracanã Stadium, three miles from downtown Rio. All eyes are on the Cidade Maravilhosa—host of this year’s World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games—where a citywide rejuvenation effort has infused Rio’s neighborhoods with newfound energy. Colin Barraclough discovers a city reborn. Photographed by David Nicolas

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brazil brasÍlia centro guanabara niterÓi bay

rio de janeiro santa teresa

botafogo corcovado sugarloaf mountain mountain From left: The

atlantic Loft Suite at Copacabana ocean jardim Rio’s Hotel botÂnico Santa Teresa; N the open Ipanema 0 1.5 mi (2.4 km) terrace off the lobby of Casa Mosquito. Lay of the Land Botafogo Come here for Rio’s designer boutiques, art galleries, and views of Sugarloaf Mountain.

Centro Colonial-era structures and glass-and-steel office buildings fill the city’s commercial heart. Stay

Copacabana Rio’s stylish new hotels—and classics we love. With its world-famous beach and raucous Casa Mosquito million makeover, the and 1960’s Sergio from Minas Gerais and nightclubs, Copacabana is Opened in 2011 on a 145 contemporary Rodrigues chairs; at the floors of glossy ipe Rio’s touristy epicenter. hill above Ipanema, rooms are done up ground-floor Fasano hardwood. Ask about this 1940’s retreat is in French fabrics and al Mare restaurant, staff-led tours of the Ipanema a mise-en-scène of vibrant Brazilian chef Paolo Lavezzini on-site art collection, This trendy district draws tropical languor: palm- artwork. Food is a prepares scallop risotto which includes crowds but is calmer than inspired print pillows; highlight: the property’s and an outstanding rock sculptures by such Copacabana. Outdoor cafés polished parquet; six-seat chef’s table lobster with broccoli notable artists as Rock line the leafy avenues. orchids everywhere. at Cipriani Restaurant soufflé. What we love Lane. santa-teresa- Sliding doors in the is one of the hottest most: the rooftop pool, hotel.com. $$$$ Jardim Botânico lobby open up to a spots in town, while with its knockout views The elegant Jardim Botânico sun-dappled patio the Sunday brunch at of Ipanema’s crescent- Mama Ruisa edges the botanical that looks out over Pérgula is perennially shaped beach. fasano. Set in a colonial- gardens and hums with Copacabana’s rooftops; packed. copacabana com.br. $$$$ style town house, buzzy restaurants. upstairs, the four palace.com.br. $$$$ the seven-bedroom rooms are decorated hotel santa Mama Ruisa is a study Santa Teresa with paintings by local Hotel Fasano teresa in quiet refinement: Artists flock to this hilly artists and have wide, Rio de Janeiro If you’re looking for an cedar shutters; French area for its bohemian bars private terraces. casa The second branch of intimate hideaway in doors; illustrations by and Guanabara Bay views. mosquito.com. $$ restaurateur Rogério sprawling Rio, this is it. Jean Cocteau. The Fasano’s understatedly There’s a lush garden colonnaded veranda Safety & Getting Around Copacabana chic brand appeals with swooping, colorful is the perfect place Be wary of pickpockets, Palace to both fashionable birds; a mosaic-tiled for a breakfast of especially near major tourist Rio’s Neoclassical São Paulo senhoras eco-spa; and a quiet fresh Brazilian fruit sites. We recommend grande dame has lost and European hipsters. hilltop location in and gourmet cheeses, traveling by taxis, which can none of her stateliness Philippe Starck– charming Santa Teresa. with the Guanabara be hailed on the street. since the 1920’s glory designed rooms have Rooms incorporate Bay as your backdrop. days. Fresh off a $20 billowing silk curtains indigenous handicrafts mamaruisa.com. $$ rio de janeiro

Standout boutiques Shop with Carioca flair.

Ausländer Local designer Ricardo Bräutigam 1creates street clothes with serious attitude— semitransparent black-silk vests; T-shirts emblazoned with rebellious slogans—that are a hit among Rio’s young and stylish set. auslander.com.br.

Maz With pop-up stores across the city and 2 flash promotions around the world, designer and entrepreneur Juliana Hemerly Silva’s line has developed a cult following with its zany, colorful sneakers, made of foldable nylon and completely customizable. mazbrasil.com.

Toca do Vinicius Bossa nova aficionados will 3 love this tiny Ipanema store—a temple to Brazil’s jazz-samba culture—packed with CD’s, vinyl, sheet music, and multilingual books that draw musicians of every skill level. The shop also hosts in-house concerts once a month, featuring leading bossa nova acts. tocadovinicius.com.br.

Gilson Martins High-end-souvenir seekers 4won’t want to miss Gilson Martins’s namesake flagship in Ipanema. The Rio-born designer uses the city’s landmarks (Christ the Redeemer; the Lapa arches) as inspiration for the stylized patterns on his inimitable satchels, wallets, and handbags. His items From top: Inside Ausländer; are so iconic, they’ve been shown at the Louvre and the Gilson Martins Milan Design Week. gilsonmartins.com.br. storefront in Ipanema.

Five essential stops for See+Do soaking up Brazilian culture. Casa Daros built for the 1950 World Cup, Zurich-based art collector the Maracanã will host the São Bento Ruth Schmidheiny just tournament’s championship Monastery unveiled her 1,200-piece game for the second time Behind the 17th-century Latin American art collection this year. Guided tours are monastery’s austere façade, in Botafogo following a available on non–game days. you’ll find such treasures six-year renovation of the suderj.rj.gov.br. as colonial-era panels, 1866 building. Inside are massive silver chandeliers, works from more than 100 Museu de Arte and an intricately carved, talents, including native do Rio gold-plated altar. Don’t sculptor Iole de Freitas and Rio’s newest art museum miss Sunday morning Mass, Argentine kinetic artist is the anchor of the Port when resident monks sing Julio Le Parc. casadaros.net. district revitalization project. Gregorian chant. osb.org.br. Eight exhibition halls in the Maracanã Stadium 20th-century palace feature Teleférico do Few activities in Rio can rotating shows—watercolors Complexo do rival the thrill of watching a of Sugarloaf Mountain; a Alemão ay match at Brazil’s national colorful brick model of Rio’s Take a cable car ride at ee k

T soccer stadium—a symbol of favelas—that celebrate the dusk to see Rio’s curiously it No Title, 1955, the country’s futebol-centric city’s scenery and diversity, picturesque shantytowns, re d

C by Hélio Oiticica, at the culture—which reopened while art workshops are held with their flickering lanterns in June after a $500 million in the glass-walled annex. and gas lamps. gondola oto Museu de Arte do Rio.

Ph refurbishment. Originally museudeartedorio.org.br. project.com.

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From far left: The communal dining table at Roberta Sudbrack; marinated heart of palm with shrimp and free-range eggs at Roberta Sudbrack; lunch hour at Bar do Mineiro.

Live Lapa Eat Sounds Here’s where to eat in Rio now, from authentic Brazilian Once-derelict Lapa reverberates far into the restaurants to temples of experimental fusion cuisine. night with samba’s percussive beat. Three Bar do Mineiro decamped for Rio, old-world (Art Deco ever-changing menu places to immerse yourself. Santa Teresa residents where he built a four- chairs; ornate ironwork) focuses on seasonal fill this rustic lunchtime restaurant empire with the kitsch (disco ingredients sourced 1 Rio Scenarium favorite to feast on famous for combining balls; fiberglass tables). from local purveyors; Amid a scenic clutter of home-style comfort French cooking The small, shareable options may include esoteric objects and art, food such as pork-and- traditions with local portions are equally slow-cooked lamb with the former antiques gallery black-bean feijoada ingredients. At his first creative—tilapia with chervil and potatoes or turned landmark rocks and chicken-and-okra outpost, Troisgros quinoa and olives; panqueca de doce de out every night to five-act stew—hearty recipes whips up innovative prawns with heart leite. robertasudbrack. musical extravaganzas. from the nearby mining dishes that pack a of pupunha (peach com.br. $$$$ rioscenarium.com.br. state of Minas Gerais. flavorful punch: duck palm)—and pair If the dining room magret with passion well with any of the Satyricon 2 Carioca da Gema is packed, order a fruit; stuffed quail with international wines. You’ll be hard-pressed The pioneering hot spot caipirinha, set yourself onion-and-raisin restauranteouioui.com. to find better (or regularly scoops awards for up at a sidewalk table, manioc farofa. claude br. $$$ fresher) seafood than note-perfect samba and and take in the area’s troisgros.com.br. $$$ at Ipanema’s Italian- jazz shows performed in a artsy scene. bardo Roberta influenced Satyricon. two-story town house. mineiro.net. $$ Oui Oui Sudbrack Choose from the tank’s barcariocadagema.com.br. After Roberta Ciasca’s Self-taught chef stock of live lobster Olympe restaurant Miam Miam Roberta Sudbrack and crayfish, or opt for 3 Circo Voador Following in the culinary put up-and-coming cooked at Brazil’s delicacies such as the Bands from all over the footsteps of his father Botafogo on the foodie presidential palace for just-caught sea bream, world come to play at (who led the nouvelle map, the Cordon seven years before baked in a rock-salt this cultural center; the cuisine movement Bleu–trained chef striking out on her own, crust and served by energy on the dance floor in 1970’s France), pointed her talents opening her namesake waiters displaying the is uniquely Brazilian. Burgundy-born chef toward Oui Oui, a tapas restaurant in charming ideal degree of gravitas. circovoador.com.br. Claude Troisgros place that mixes the Jardim Botânico. The satyricon.com.br. $$$ From left: Pork “carrots” with pepper jelly at Armazém São Thiago; Parque Lage; décor on display at the Novo Desenho shop in MAM Rio.

For a Brazil Local Take itinerary inspired by Travel + Leisure, go to Three natives share their travelandleisure. com/coxandkings. favorite city locales.

RODRIGO NATACHA FINK CARDOSO SERGIO Chef, Espirito Architect, RODRIGUES Santa House in Rio Furniture designer “The village of Santa Teresa, with “On weekends, I like to wander the “The district of Botafogo, where my its winding streets and crumbling tree-lined streets in Jardim Botânico studio is located, has become a mansions, has a bohemian spirit and Gávea. If you enjoy photography, gastronomic hub. My go-to place for unlike the rest of Rio. I love to visit the stop at the Instituto Moreira Salles modern Brazilian cuisine is Irajá atelier of Brazilian painter Carlos (ims.uol.com.br) to see works by both Gastrô (irajagastro.com.br; $$$), Vergara (carlosvergara.art.br; by Brazilian and international artists. run by chef Pedro de Artagão; get the appointment), who now exhibits all Hipódromo (55-21/2270-9720; $$) pirarucu fish with sautéed banana. over the world. You can always catch is a beloved lunch spot packed with For experimental art exhibits, check an authentic music performance at young Cariocas; order the tasty out MAM Rio (mamrio.org.br), in Parque das Ruínas (169 Rua Murtinho picanha beef steak. Afterward, take Flamengo; the museum’s Novo Nobre; 55-21/2215-0621), an open-air a stroll through nearby Parque Lage. Desenho shop sells beautiful jewelry cultural center with amazing views Oro Restaurante (ororestaurante. and housewares. After browsing the of Sugarloaf. For drinks, don’t miss com; $$$$) is great for dinner—try the contemporary furniture at Ipanema’s Armazém São Thiago (armazemsao multicourse tasting menu, made with Arquivo Contemporâneo (arquivo thiago.com.br), a neighborhood favorite fresh ingredients and avant-garde contemporaneo.com.br), head to known by locals as Bar do Gomes.” cooking techniques.” Arpoador beach and watch the sunset.”

Sitio Roberto Burle Marx Petrópolis Niterói Trips Thousands of rare plant Former emperor Pedro II’s Explore the UFO-shaped, Out of species fill the gardens mountainside retreat Oscar Niemeyer– at the farmhouse estate draws summer weekenders designed Museu de Arte Town and studio of Brazilian with its 19th-century Contemporânea (macniteroi. landscape architect Roberto Crystal Palace and verdant com.br), Santa Cruz da Barra Burle Marx, who laid out hiking trails inside Serra fort, and unspoiled beaches Copacabana’s two-tone dos Órgãos National Park. of this city, a 15-minute ferry llustrations by lauren nassef

I beachside promenade. ride from downtown Rio.

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