Perhaps the most famous beach in the world, Copacabana stretches four kilometres in a wide arc along Rio's Zona Sul. The distinctive Portuguese wave-pattern pavement along Avenida Atlantica is an icon in its own right. The beach is divided into postos (sections marked by lifeguard stations), each known for a different crowd -- families, athletes, artists.
The name comes from a Bolivian village on Lake Titicaca, via a chapel to Our Lady of Copacabana that once stood where the fort now sits. Until the late 19th century this was a remote area of sand dunes -- the neighbourhood only grew after the Tunel Velho connected it to Botafogo and downtown, and the Copacabana Palace Hotel opened in 1923.
Today Copacabana is one of Rio's most democratic and eclectic neighbourhoods, mixing million-dollar penthouses with tiny studio apartments. Near Forte de Copacabana you will find a fishermen's corner with over a hundred years of tradition -- come before sunrise to watch them pull in the nets. The New Year's Eve celebration here draws over two million people.