Copacabana Beach and Promenade

Copacabana is the most famous beach in Brazil and one of the most famous in the world, the Princesinha do Mar or little princess of the sea. Together with Leme at its northern end, the beach runs for a little over four kilometres in a long curve between two forts, with the rocky bulk of Leme and Sugarloaf beyond one end and the Copacabana Fort at the other. Along it runs Avenida Atlantica and its promenade, paved in the black-and-white Portuguese stone mosaic with the wave pattern that Roberto Burle Marx used in his redesign of the seafront, and that has become a symbol of the city. Life on Copacabana is organised by the numbered lifeguard posts, or postos, which locals use as addresses: each stretch has its own crowd, its own beach tents and its own regulars. The beach is busy from first light, when runners, cyclists and older residents take their morning swim, through the long hot middle of the day, when vendors walk the sand selling everything from grilled cheese on a stick and cold mate tea to sarongs and sunglasses, to the evening, when the kiosks along the promenade fill with people drinking chopp and coconut water and the floodlit courts host games of volleyball and footvolley, the Brazilian hybrid of football and volleyball that was invented on these sands. Renting a chair and an umbrella from one of the barracas, the beach tents, is easy and cheap, and the tent staff will bring you drinks and keep an eye on your things. The Copacabana Fort at the southern end, run by the army, has a museum, gun batteries and a famous cafe with views back along the beach, and is open to visitors for a small fee. On New Year's Eve the beach hosts the Reveillon, when well over two million people dressed in white fill the sand for free concerts and a fireworks display launched from barges offshore.

Copacabana grew up after a tunnel connected it to the city centre in the late nineteenth century, and the opening of the Copacabana Palace hotel in 1923 made it the glamorous heart of Rio for decades. Today it is denser, older and more mixed than Ipanema or Leblon: apartment blocks, budget hotels, juice bars, botecos and churches line the streets behind the beach, and the neighbourhood is home to a huge cross-section of the city. That mix is part of its appeal, and it also means the beach is less exclusive and more lively than its neighbours to the south.

How to visit well: take only what you need to the beach — cash for the day, a towel and sunscreen, with your phone kept out of sight — and leave passports and valuables in the hotel safe. Thieves work the sand and the promenade, and the US State Department warns travellers to take particular care on beaches at night. Swim near a lifeguard post, respect the red flags, and be aware that waves can be strong and the shelf steep. The best days are weekdays; Sundays are packed, and the seafront road nearest the sand closes to traffic so the whole city can walk, cycle and skate. The two ends are calmer: Leme, under the hill, is a family favourite, and the Posto 6 corner by the fort is where fishermen still bring in their boats in the morning.

Who it suits: first-timers who want the full Rio beach experience, families who like the calmer Leme end, and anyone who enjoys people-watching on an epic scale. Couples should walk the promenade at sunset towards the fort and finish at one of the kiosks. Football fans should join the crowds watching the evening games of footvolley, which are often astonishingly skilful.