Rio De Janeiro Nightlife
If you're lucky enough to be arriving in Rio de Janeiro during February, then your nightlife options are quite simple: it's carnival time and an evening's hedonistic pleasure is guaranteed. Away from this month, Rio is still incredibly vibrant and a wonderful place to unwind of an evening.
Those who want to try the famous and potent cachaça liquor should head to the Academia da Cachaça on the Rua Conde de Bernadotte. Here you can try some 500 different varieties of the stuff and it is served with honey or lime or in part of a caipirinha. Try the passion fruit batida if a morning with a hangover is the aim.
Bar Lagoa, which overlooks the lake from which it takes its name, is a classic bar that attracts a youthful crowd. The establishment has changed little since it was founded in 1935 and you can expect rude waiters, excellent beer and a lively evening.
Meanwhile in Lapa, try the Cosmopolita if you fancy finding yourself in an old style saloon with customers lined up along the bar. The drinks are slightly more upmarket than they are in the movies and you are expected to drink long into the night as the sun rises.
Rio's gay scene is legendary and it is the top gay holiday destination for many South Americans. There is an enormous number of bars, clubs and beaches to enjoy, with Bunker in Copacabana and Dama de Ferro in Ipanema among the most popular establishments.
Down in Copacabana there are a variety of waterfront bars to try. The Skylab Bar in the Rio Othon Palace offers great cocktails and wonderful views of the coastline from its vantage point 30 floors up.
Meanwhile, for live samba music, the nearby Bip Bip bar is a good option ? although it is at the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to refinement. It's beer and live acts all the way here, late into the evening. This is the place locals come if they are after live samba fun. What the bar lacks in style it more than makes up for in ambience once the punters are spilling out onto the street, dancing away to the band.
Back in the early years of the last century, the Casa Rosa was one of the city's most infamous brothels. Today, it's one of the top places to go to really let your hair down and dance until dawn, with a variety of bands playing on the joint's different floors. Saturdays are the most popular night although samba fans should come down on Sundays for the busy roda de samba party.
If after all the partying you are after something a little less hectic one evening, see what is happening at the Municipal Theatre, where the country's finest opera, ballet and classical music productions are put on.
|
Nightlife
