Recreation in Rio de Janeiro

Beaches

With over 50 kilometers of oceanfront, Rio will absolutely spoil you during your stay.  Whatever other beaches you do or don’t visit on your medical tourism holiday, there are two that absolutely have to make it on your list – the 3 mile long Copacabana and Ipanema Beach.   

Copacabana beach is located in the Copacabana district, a mini city of close to 160,000 people.  This is where Brazilians go to ring in the New Year – every December, close to 2 million people pack the sands of Copacabana for the party of the year.  In fact, if you choose to visit Rio in December, make a party of it by scheduling your medical tourism vacation close to the end of the year.  Just be sure to book your hotel well in advance.    

Lauded in song and immortalized in photographs, Ipanema Beach has remained a central feature of Rio's social scene even before the first 2-piece swimsuits debuted there in 1948.  The subsequent tanga bikini craze of the seventies and the arrival of the wedge bikini only helped to solidify Ipanema's reputation as the undisputed capital of hot swimwear.  Whether it’s the bronzed women in their dental floss bikinis or the men playing foot volleyball (an impossibly difficult game in which you kick the ball over the net), Ipanema is everything you’ve imagined it would be, and more. 

If you’d like your own slice of Rio waters, head to the less crowded Barra de Tijuca where surfing enthusiasts practice their skills. Botafago beach is the scene of many light and sound shows, while Grumari is one of the last unspoiled beaches in Rio. 

On weekends, the streets outside Ipanema and Copacabana beaches are closed to vehicles and turn into one giant playground. There are tattooists, freeze artists, jugglers, magicians, hawkers, fire eaters, and assorted tricksters and merchants.  It’s a great place to people watch and also a great time to see Brazilian families in action.   

Neighborhoods

The Ipanema and Copacabana districts offer plenty of opportunity to eat, drink, shop, walk, sun worship, and gawk.  But Leblon is also becoming a popular haunt for the locals, which means plenty of opportunity to meet and greet.  For those arriving from the West on medical tourism, Copacabana can seem dizzyingly exotic, so if you’re looking for a chance to meet the locals in less overwhelming surroundings, head to Leblon.

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