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Miramar hotel by windsor
It’s hard to beat the location of this modern, five-star spot, which sits just across the road from Copacabana Beach and offers head-turning views across it. The vibe is trendy, with a rooftop infinity pool and bar overlooking the ocean, plus light, elegantly decorated rooms and apartments featuring local paintings. There’s a beach service with private sunbeds and parasols for those wanting to kick back, and a good restaurant serving Italian dishes against a backdrop of shimmering blue for those wanting to indulge. Book it: Rates start from £77 per room per night.
miramarhotelbywindsor.com.br
DAY ONE
10.00: Start the day with a visit to Rio’s premier icon: Christ the Redeemer, the 30m-tall statue set atop Corcovado mountain. Reached by car, train or hike, this towering stone behemoth took nine years to build and offers commanding views over the city and its surrounding hills, as they rise up from the ocean in hazy, forested humps.
12.00: Venture over to Lapa to glimpse the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian – a pyramid- shaped, modernist feat inspired by Mayan design that is reminiscent of a giant Dalek. It’s attention- grabbing on the outside, but it is the inside that’s really mesmerising, with a series of colourful stained- glass windows through which light glimmers like a giant kaleidoscope.
13.00: From there it’s a five-minute walk to the famed Escadaria Selarón (Selaron Steps), a strikingly colourful outdoor staircase made from 2,000 mosaic tiles and mirrors
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by Chilean artist Jorge Selarón as a “tribute to the Brazilian people”. Now it’s a gathering point for Cariocas as well as visitors, with musicians strumming guitars on the steps and tourists snapping pictures against the sparkling ceramic walls. Pharrell Williams and Snoop Dogg even chose it as the setting for the video of their song Beautiful.
14.00: Take a stroll around the surrounding Santa Teresa neighbourhood to glimpse its steep, cobbled streets, where artists’ studios and boutiques meet historic mansions and markets. Often referred to as the Montmartre of Rio, this laid-back, bohemian area is a hotspot for artists, who gather to display their works every Sunday morning, and it makes an inviting stop for lunch. Try Espirito Santa for modern Brazilian dishes in a historic colonial building, or Café do Alto for more-traditional, well-priced plates inspired by Brazil’s northeast.
16.00: Head up on the cable car to reach Rio’s crowning glory,
Sugarloaf Mountain, the soaring rock that juts up from the sea and was named for its resemblance to the conical shape in which sugar was distributed at the height of the sugarcane era. The views from the top are spectacular, with a circular platform giving a 360-degree panorama of the city, while the two-stage cable car is a scenic glide above tree-carpeted hills and bright opal ocean.
21.00: When night falls, Rio comes alive, and Lapa is at the heart of the action, with streets turning into one big party and kiosks selling cheap (and potent) caipirinhas. The area isn’t short on buzzing venues, but for something a little different try the Rio Scenarium, a former antique shop that’s now a three-floor, eclectic bar strewn with quirky oddities (dolls, bikes – you name it). Live music performances, local cocktails and tapas dishes are the order of the day, with a mix of ages flocking to sip caipirinhas and dance samba within its grand, mansion-like walls.
travelweekly.co.uk
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