Lapa, Cinelândia, and Largo da Carioca
“Coming to Rio today without seeing Lapa, would be like having come to Rio in the fifties, without seeing Copacabana.”—Ruy Castro, author, Rio de Janeiro: Carnival Under Fire (Writer and the City). During Rio’s belle epoque, the restaurants and coffee houses in and around Lapa welcomed intellectuals, samba musicians, and artists. This bohemian neighborhood fell into decay in the 1940s, and only in recent decades has regained its luster. In this walking tour, you’ll pass through Lapa, Cinelândia, and Largo da Carioca. Some areas in Lapa remain seedy; make sure you take this walk during the day.

Centro
The forest-covered mountains and sweeping beaches that frame Guanabara Bay attracted their first foreign visitors in January 1502, when Portuguese navigators weighed anchor here and dubbed the region “Rio de Janeiro (January River).” A colony was later founded—it thrived and in 1763 became the colonial capital of Brazil. In the 19th century, Dom João VI ruled the Portuguese Empire from prosperous Rio de Janeiro (it was the only time a European monarch ruled from a New World colony). This walking tour takes you through the buildings, squares, and alleyways that comprise Rio’s historical center.