Cocoa Beach vs Daytona Beach

If you decide to go to Rio, you should think about what you hope for from a holiday in the beautiful city. Do you want tradition, do you just want to enjoy the beach or do you just want to drink a cocktail on the beach? We wanted to explore the city, enjoy the beach and of course see as many of the highlights as possible. So we thought we’d just take accommodation at the world-famous beach. In addition to Copacabana, there is the world-famous Ipanema Beach.

Copacabana Beach

Copacabana Beach is much more than just a beach. It is arguably the most famous beach in the world. You know it from songs, from videos from movies and football World Cup broadcasts. And it really is a beautiful, clean and worth seeing beach. Here the bikinis are scarce and the caipis huge and every minute another beach vendor comes and tries to sell you something. You can even get grilled shrimp at Copacabana while lying on the fine sand. We have been to Copacabana a few times because we had our accommodation there and we can now also confirm that it is probably one of the most beautiful city beaches in the world. The beach is much wider than the beach of Ipanema and many people play football or beach volleyball here. There are countless stalls where you can rent an umbrella or a small folding chair and of course snacks, drinks and other fun things that are sold right on the beach.

Ipanema Beach

Ipanema Beach is slightly shorter than Copacabana and also slightly narrower. However, there is a beautiful view due to the great rocks around the beach. Ipanema Beach was actually made famous by a song that appeared in the 60’s. At that time, Jobim composed a song The Girl from Ipanema. Then the beach was just overrun by tourists. However, Ipanema Beach is not a good bathing beach. Ipanema means turbulent water and that describes the currents on the beach. During our entire stay in Rio de Janeiro, we never experienced people actually being in the water. There are also fewer chances to buy drinks and food at Ipanema. Here the infrastructure of the Copacabana is much better.