Rio de Janeiro: Ipanema

My hotel in Rio is located right in the heart of the area Ipanema, which is one of the neighbourhoods in Rio, famous for it’s beach (the Ipanema Beach). The day I arrived (May2nd), after checking into my hotel, I decided to take a walk around the area, and especially down to the famous beach.

The beach was beautiful! You could see views of the mountains and the city. I was surprised however at how early the sun went down! I went for my walk around 5:30pm and it was in the midst of setting! It made for a beautiful photo though:

The following day (May 3) I spent the majority of the day on this beach! The views from the daytime are amazing:

I decided to climb the rock (seen at the end of the beach on the right in the photo above) to get a better view of the area:

I’ve noticed that there are a lot of people exercising by the beach. While walking along the beach I saw many runners jogging in the sand, and along the paved path (next to the road) I saw lots of people on bicycles. There are even workout stations outdoors where people can lift weights or do pull-ups and other exercises. See below for a workout station right by the beach:

This is Rio’s version of the Bixi Bike (rent a bike):

I also took some time to explore Ipanema’s streets. There are tons of stores, restaurants and cafes, and the area is bustling with people. I found my way into a street market and sampled a few different fruits (all delicious by the way!).

So far I’m loving Rio! Tomorrow I’m doing some more sightseeing in Rio and then I’m heading to Buzios (a beach city in Brazil, 3 hours from Rio) for the weekend. I’ll be returning to Rio on Monday (May 6) to finish exploring the city.