The Best Rooftops For Incredible Views In Rio De Janeiro

Galani restaurant is the rooftop bar and eatery at the top of Cesear Park Cesear Park hotel in Ipanema. It’s open to the public year round and offers panoramic beach views over Ipanema as well as Leblon. Once you’ve seen the view from the bar you’ll see why it’s hard to imagine a better backdrop to enjoy good Brazilian food and a wide selection of drinks.

Bossa Lounge is located on the rooftop of the famous Porta Bay Rio Internacional Hotel. With its ample space carefully decorated with wide, white sofas, pastel-colored cushions and soft wooden details, the lounge alone is beautiful. And then there’s the view, a wide sweeping visual across Copacabana beach and the endless ocean. The lounge is fantastic as a breakfast spot to start the day with an uplifting background.

One of the most luxurious hotels in Rio de Janeiro unsurprisingly comes with a sensational view. Located at the east end of Ipanema, the rooftop overlooks Ipanema and Leblon with the wide ocean stretching into the background. One of the best parts about this view is that it can be enjoyed from lounging in the cooling rooftop pool.

This is another hotel rooftop with stunning views over Copacabana and Leme. You’ll see Copacabana Fort to the right and the Leme Hill to the left with plenty of expansive ocean in between. The rooftop has a bar, allowing guests to get a classic Brazilian caipirinha, pull up a comfy chair and admire the view in awe. The mornings are some of the best moments for this view with the sky turning a pale, soft pink as the sun slowly rises.

Located right at the top of the favela Vidigal is the hostel Alto Vidigal. It’s renowned as a tourist hotspot for backpackers seeking cheaper, alternative accommodation in Rio and also for its weekend parties that start late and finish only when the sun is well and truly up. The rooftop view is arguably one of the best in the south zone of Rio with a broad view over the ocean and overlooking Leblon and Ipanema in the distance. Thanks to its ample perspective, it’s the perfect spot to see the rustic orange and deep red hues of the sunsets and sunrises.

Situated on the top of the Santa Teresa hill, the rooftop of this hotel does just about everything right. The decorations of wooden decking with low seating instantly exudes a luxurious flair and is topped by the incredible views over Guanabara Bay with the Sugarloaf mountain in the background. Add to all of that one of their flawless caipirinhas and you get a model example of everything a rooftop hangout should be.

The view from the rooptop in Maze is one of the most breath-taking in Rio. Located at the top of a favela in Catete, this fresh and funky guesthouse offers the finest views across Guanabara Bay and the Sugarloaf mountain. Its labyrinth staircases and corridors rightly earn it the name, Maze, and it’s a hotspot for jazz nights and curry nights.

A stunning rooftop complete with a swimming pool and bar that offers extensive views over Copacabana and Leme is not one to be missed. Located at the top of the Pestano Hotel, this rooftop is open to the public and although it closes relatively early to avoid noise pollution in the residential area it’s located in, it opens long enough to enjoy wonderful views whilst drinking cocktails to the sound of a live DJ set.

The rooftop from Babilonia Hostel overlooks the Atlantic Ocean, offering all-embracing views of the sea, across to Leme beach and over to Copacabana. It’s located in the Babilonia favela right at the top of the hill. The only way up is by climbing a long set of stairs and steep alleyways but the view at the top is totally worth it.

Copacabana Palace is a classic, historical building in Copacabana that attracts tourists all year round to stay within its stunning walls or simply to take photos outside. The rooms right at the top of the building offer spacious balconies that give rooftop-views across Copacabana beach and the seemingly never-ending ocean. This is definitely one of the most stylish ways to catch a great view in Rio.

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