Ipanema Beach

Ipanema Beach has long been the first choice of the young and hip Cariocas, today it is also becoming the more and more popular with tourists. What is it that make this strip of sand so good?

Setting
Rio de Janeiro is generally considered as one of the more beautiful cities in the world. Beautiful beaches wedged between hills covered in lush green Atlantic Rainforest in a urban setting are images spread around the world. Nowhere else is that scenery more present than in Ipanema. In fact only Copacabana can challenge in that category.

Copacabana
Copacabana beach was long synonymous with Rio de Janeiro outside Brazil. It was the neighborhood and the beach that put Rio on the map. It all became in the 1930´s when the luxury hotel Copacabana Palace had Hollywood stars visiting on a regular basis. It grew in popularity and got constructed fast. When the neighborhood slowly decayed with crime, beggars on the street and open prostitution – the reputation still kept most tourists in that area. With the years people started to discover the neighboring Ipanema and today foreigners are common.

Ipanema
Ipanema has since the beginning of the 1900´s been a quite affluent neighborhood. It has subsequently developed a more sophisticated outline. Traditionally the beach in Ipanema is where the different "tribes" of the city meet. During the dictatorship leftist intellectuals gathered around Posto 9 (Posto = lifeguard tower), close to Posto 8 you have the gay section and on the end close to the rock Arpoador, the surfers. This division creates a curious culture that make it very interesting to visit.

Ipanema vs. Copacabana
The advantages of the beach in Ipanema are quite few. First: It has a more genuine feel to it, Copacabana is clearly touristy with a larger number of scoundrels, the chances of getting harassed is a lot smaller. The big majority that frequents Ipanema Beach are locals from young to old, on Copacabana you for the bigger part get senior citizens, tourists and working girls. Second: It for most of the time has cleaner water, being more exposed to open sea it naturally get a better flux of water, in Copa it is many times down right filthy. Third: The actual angle of the beach grants more sun hours and for a big part of the year sunsets, the towering buildings along the waterfront in Copacabana also put the beach in shade earlier. The one big advantage Copacabana Beach has at night - Ipanema closes down and only a few quiosques remain open – the former is awake at night. When the beautiful crescent of Copacabana Beach is lit up at night it is truly beautiful, a perfect place to have a Caipirinha.

Gringo-Rio Ipanema Beach
This is the page about Ipanema Beach on the Rio de Janeiro travel site Gringo-Rio.