The Best Family-Friendly Hotels to Book in Rio de Janeiro

The Arena has four hotels on Rio’s two best beaches – Ipanema and Copacabana. All are good for families – with rooftop pools, spacious modern rooms and locations close to the sand. Best of all is Anna Suites, where modern family-sized apartments, in fresh off-whites and tiles, have the advantage of kitchens, laundry facilities, even a generous dining area. Garota de Ipanema park (with skate facilities and playgrounds) is on Ipanema’s doorstep, and Copacabana and Diabo beaches are less than five minutes’ walk away.

This slick, modern hotel sits right over the sand in Barra da Tijuca – Rio’s longest, broadest beach. Oceanside kiosks serve drinks and snacks all day, and there’s a whole stack of things to keep kids happy – from learning to surf to paddle-boarding and cycling around the adjacent lagoon. Rooms and suites (with wall-to-ceiling windows, some with balconied ocean views) can be supplied with cots or roll-out beds; suites have large living rooms, but you didn’t come here to spend your time sitting – not with Ipanema and Central Rio a 10-minute cab or 30-minute metro ride away.

The decor is business-hotel unobtrusive – your retinas won’t be damaged by those pale laminate floors and cream walls (and we love the large workstations). Best of all, the location is terrific – above the sands in Copacabana, with plenty of restaurants and shops all yours just a stroll from the lobby. Take advantage, too, of rapid bus and metro links to downtown and Ipanema. The hotel has ocean-facing family suites with space for up to four; there’s a spa, a rooftop pool with views over the beach and Sugarloaf Mountain, and a fitness center – if you can’t face exercising alongside the buff types by the sea.

Rio may have finer oceanfront locations: the Sheraton sits on tiny Vidigal Beach. But you’re just a five-minute cab ride from the restaurants of up-market Leblon in Ipanema. What’s more, the hotel facilities are hard to beat – you’ll find one of Rio’s biggest pools alongside tennis courts and a kids club. Meanwhile, the views from the oceanfront (family-sized) rooms and suites are dreamy – over sand and palm trees to the bottle-green Atlantic, dotted with the towering boulders of the Cagarras Islands national monument.

There’s plenty to like about the Miramar: a rooftop pool; modern, comfortable suites and rooms with plush carpets or warm wood floors, workstations and generous bathrooms; huge breakfasts; babysitting… But the standout plus point is the location, right on the plushest part of Copacabana Beach. Numerous juice bars, restaurants and shops await your business, all just a stroll away. Views from the upper-floor, ocean-facing rooms are wonderful – along the full stretch of Copacabana to distant Sugarloaf.

Rooms in this Copacabana tower hotel are plain and simple – with whitewashed walls, beige floor tiles and faux-leather furnishings apparently from another era. Crucially, they are excellent value and, with twin or sofa beds and optional cots, they’re the business for families. The hotel has no pool, but there’s a small gym with weights and a few running machines, as well as a games room. The beach is a block away. Family-friendly restaurants lie within five minutes’ walk.

The duplex suites are the rooms to book at this Ipanema hotel, half a block from the beach. Rising over two stories, they’re tailor-made for families. The deal is: a double bed on the ground floor, one or two singles upstairs, and little areas with their own TVs. Decor is contemporary with cool tones: white walls and tiles offset by light woods, muted greys and plenty of sunshine pouring in from floor-to-ceiling balcony windows, bouncing off large mirrors. When parents want a party night, all they need do is book the hotel babysitting service, don the glad-rags and get on out.

The rooms at this beachfront hotel are simple, with dark laminate offset by light creams and splashes of red from counterpanes. Furnishings are similarly minimal, with small work or dining tables and little else. But few hotels in Rio have better views from the upper-floor bedrooms or the rooftop pool and deck: Ipanema Beach and the emerald Atlantic stretch from the end of your lounge chair to the hulking Morro dos Dois Irmãos mountains, where the sun sinks deep-orange in the late afternoon.