Copacabana Palace, A Belmond Hotel, Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro, Brazil

The ocean-cradling, mountain-spiked city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is known for everything from resplendent samba to the beautiful game (soccer) to its brilliant and diverse Carioca spirit to being a global pop culture icon (The Girl from Ipanema, the 2016 Summer Olympics, et al). It’s impossible to capture its complexity quickly, but, in an attempt: Rio is coruscating, complicated, extreme and tranquil as a humid morning, all gliding between its vaporous summits and shaded lagoons.
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"Its Icons

Rio de Janeiro is full of icons, from Cristo Redentor (the 98-foot-tall statue of Jesus Christ that towers over the city from its perch on Corcovado peak) to Pão de Açúcar (the double-topped mountain also known as Sugarloaf at the mouth of Guanabara Bay) to the wavy retro-tiled boardwalks of Copacabana and Ipanema beaches to the lushness of the Jardim Botânico to the Copacabana Palace, the grand dame of Rio de Janeiro hotels that will soon turn 100 years old. Rio has a decent amount of luxe lodging options, but the Palace is a standout because of its longevity—after so many decades, it is still a social hotspot (it recently hosted its 96th annual Baile do Copa, and superstar models Caroline Trentini and Jhona Burjack could be seen relaxing poolside between Carnaval festivities). The hotel opened a Michelin-starred restaurant last year, called Mee, and will soon offer an exclusive, only-through-the-property experience: sunrise or sunset on Sugarloaf, which is otherwise closed to visitors at these times. Though you may not want to wake up at dawn if you’ve been drinking caipirinhas all day prior, a Rio sunset is among the best in the world…"

 

• Swimming pool of Belmond Copacabana Palace