Quick Overview Area by Area of the Marvelous City

Cidade Maravilhosa: a Quick Overview By Area.

Whether you're right now in Rio on your first or 2nd trip or about to travel to the Marvelous City, you want to know more about each district and area in Rio and the points of interest in each part. You've come to the right place as this entry is all about giving you that basic yet crucial backround info about the various areas of Rio. I will cover in a separate upcoming entry, each area with more details. Rio is divided into 4 main areas, or zones. Clockwise, they are Centro or Downtown, Zona Sul or South Zone, Zona Oeste or West South and Zona Norte or North Zone.

In North American cities, Downtown is where most trendy clubs, bars and lounges as well as posh shopping centres are located. Not so much in Rio de Janeiro and Brasil generally speaking. There, downtown is mainly the business area, where most white collar workers earn their daily bread. It's also in Centro that cultural points of interest are to be found such as museums, colonial architectures and churches. The downtown area is very active and buzzing with life during the day, however, at night, most of these areas are best avoided as they get filled by night fall with transvestites, prostitutes and other shady characters. The only exception to that is the Lapa district which is one of THE best places for Rio nightlife. The other main points of interest in Centro, are the bohemian and artists' quarter of Santa Teresa and its beautiful colorful houses in cobbled streets hills; Gloria district, a quit residential area and the regional and very scenic airport of Santos Dumont.

Further south of Centro area, is the Zona Sul or South Zone, which is the main area of interest to us. This is where the nicest, wealthiest, poshest and most beautiful along some of the true landmarks of Rio are located. Areas such as Flamengo, Botafogo, Urca (where the Pão de Açucar/Sugar Loaf is located), Leme, Copacabana, Ipanema, Lagoa (the Lagoon), Leblon, Gavea and its very posh and exclusive Jockey Club are in the Zona Sul/South Zone. This is where some of the best beaches in Rio are located, mainly in Ipanema and Leblon. Other main landmarks in the Zona Sul are the Arpoador beach, the Jardim Botanico and the world famous Corcovado (Christ Statue). 

West of Leblon, we have São Conrado, a nice and elegant residential area and Barra da Tijuca, simply known as Barra. This is a newer middle to upper class neighborhood, with wide avenues, big shopping malls. In other words, a copy cat of any North American suburb. All in all, the only points of interest in Barra are the beautiful Praia do Pepe (Pepe Beach), Praia de Joatinga (Joatinga Beach), Barra Shopping mall and one of the trendiest clubs in Rio, Nuth.

Finally, coming full circle, we have Zona Norte/North Zone. This is an area which is predominantely comprised of poor neighborhoods. The only points of interest are the Maracana Stadium to catch a football match which is a must do experience in Rio, specially in a big match; visiting the Tijuca Forest, the biggest urban forest in the world and finally, another must do experience, attending the Salgueiro samba school's rehearsal, on Tuesday and Saturday nights, starting at around 11pm. Be warned tough that this is a seasonal thing, which runs from August to Carnaval (usually February, but sometimes, March; more on that in more detail in an upcoming post!).

As mentioned before, this is a very general and brief overview of the different areas of the Cidade Maravilhosa, Rio de Janeiro. Needless to say, I will cover in more depth, the points of interests in each area in a future post. Quite honestly, even with 1 full post dedicated to each area is not enough as there are so many great things to do and places to see in Rio, a truly a fascinating city of endless faces. The more time one spends in Rio, not only the more one falls in love with this city, but more importantly, the more one realizes how rich, beautiful, elegant, alluring, fascinating yet simple and non-chalant the Marvelous City is. In other words, a very addictive place!