With miles of white-sand beach that serve as the city’s playground, Rio de Janeiro is also surrounded by mountains with evocative names such as Sugarloaf and Corcovado poking up their distinctive granite profiles, a rainforest considered Brazil’s largest urban park and a spectacular harbor.

Rio is blessed by geography, topography and a fine climate, not to mention a rich history that has made the city a diverse cultural stew. Throw in some sultry samba; a joie de vivre that characterizes the Carioca, or Rio denizen; and a fabulous selection of clubs, restaurants and bars in which to experience this exuberance; and visitors will find a sophisticated and vibrant city that invites exploration.

While Brasilia replaced Rio as the nation’s capital in 1960, and São Paulo has been the country’s economic engine, Rio remains Brazil’s cultural heart and resort of choice.

First some orientation: From west to east, anchored by a hill at each end, the beaches of Leblon and Ipanema extend to a rocky outcropping called Aproador Point, whose breaking waves create a favorite surfing spot. On the east side of the headland is the historic Copacabana Fort, built as a key defensive position and now a strategic setting for sublime vistas, especially as dusk settles. The view sweeps across the broad crescent of white sandthat forms Copacabana and Leme Beaches, stretching nearly three miles to Morro do Leme, an environmental preserve.

Each beach, and even each section of beach, has a different personality, in part reflecting the neighborhoods it serves. Designed by South America’s most important landscape architect, Robert Burley Marx, the beautifully patterned boardwalk is the stage-set for bikers, skaters, joggers and those out strolling daily, and especially on Sundays, when the avenue is closed to traffic and Cariocas are out en masse enjoying their city.

Leblon and Ipanema, trendier and more moneyed neighborhoods, boast a beach clean and beautiful. Leafy streets with upscale boutiques, and open-air café s and restaurants characterize this part of town, and with nightlife in gear till the wee hours, visitors can feel safe navigating their way. Choices range from elegant glass-enclosed bars with a view at some of the high-rise oceanside hotels, to small clubs and bars or bodegas.

Toca do Vinicius, a small club in Ipanema, is known as the “Temple of Bossa Nova,” offering musical concerts several nights a week that illuminate the history of the genre.

Many of Rio’s best hotels are located in Ipanema, including the city’s newest member of Leading Hotels of the World, the Philippe Starck-signed Hotel Fasano (www.fasano.com.br).  This sleek, 92-room wood, glass and marble temple to the ultra-hip, which opened last year, seeks to integrate itself into Rio’s spirit of casual sophistication. Furnishings reflect Brazilian design from the 1950s and 1960s, the period when bossa nova exploded on the scene. The restaurant, Fasano Al Mare, serves a Mediterranean cuisine based on fish and seafood.

Caesar Park Ipanema (www.caesar-park.com) offers 222 rooms in an elegant setting on the best stretch of Ipanema beach, across from Posto 9.

The 140-room Ipanema Plaza (www.ipanemaplaza.com.br)  is a happening boutique hotel half a block from the beach, in the heart of a lively and safe neighborhood. The hotel caters to a stylish, attractive and generally youthful international clientele.

More than just a historic landmark, the Copacabana Palace Hotel (www.copacabanapalace.com.br),  a member of Leading Hotels of the World and Orient-Express Hotels, is an evocative symbol of Rio’s golden age, welcoming artists, politicians and international celebrities since its opening in 1923. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers danced together for the first time here while filming “Flying Down to Rio.” The sparkling white neoclassical gem is a standout not to be overlooked by anyone walking along Copacabana beach, and is well worth a visit, drink or meal, especially the noted Sunday brunch.

After the beach, the best introduction to Rio is available at 1,200 feet, where the panorama is startlingly beautiful. Atop Pao de Acucar (Sugarloaf), Rio’s legendary promontory reached by a two-stage cable car that ascends two separate mountains, visitors can begin to comprehend the city’s scope and layout, while reveling in the majestic views. Suggest that clients arrive before sunset to grasp the 360-degree panorama that sweeps from the entrance into Guanabara Bay across to Cristo Redentor, the iconic monolithic statue of Christ the Redeemer, with arms outstretched atop Corcovado Mountain. If they do nothing else in Rio, ascending Sugarloaf for a sunset vista is worth the entire trip.

The ascent to Corcovado by cog train is also impressive, as it passes through Tijuca National Park, the huge rainforest within the city. Next to the train station in the neighborhood of Cosme Velho are some lovely old mansions.

A walking tour of Rio’s downtown historic core should include the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, one of Brazil’s finest cultural centers, with exhibitions, concerts and screenings in a beautifully restored building dating to 1906. Catch the opera, symphony or ballet in season at the Teatro Municipal, built during the same period, in the style of the Paris Opera. If not, take a guided tour of its lavish interior.

Continue to marvel at lavish interiors, this time while sampling pastries served in style at Confeiteria Colombo, a Belle Epoque landmark with gilded mirrors, stained-glass windows, marble counters and grand chandeliers.

Plan a weekday walking tour for your clients of downtown to conclude in time for happy hour on Travessa do Comercio, a narrow cobblestone street lined with colonial townhouses, where Cariocas unwind after work.

Or they can hop a ferry from the harbor downtown to Niteroi one late afternoon to survey the work of the great Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. Niteroi, a suburb linked to Rio by a long bridge or ferry service, is the site of the Museum of Contemporary Art, a fluid curving building often compared to a spaceship.

Ride the bonde (pronounced “bon-jay”), a historic tram from the Centro to Santa Teresa, a once-wealthy neighborhood. With artists now renting the old mansions, and hip galleries and restaurants displaying their work, the feeling today is more bohemian.

Nearby Lapa comes alive late at night, as streets fill with revelers ready to samba at such legendary clubs as Carioca da Gema and Rio Scenarium. People dine on petiscos (appetizers) at streetside botequim (bodegas), then enter the clubs to dance to live music.

While guided tours package many of Rio’s key attractions, the city is quite navigable for the enterprising traveler armed with a map and guidebook. The metro system is surprisingly easy, clean and safe, and can be a practical alternative to taxis on the often traffic-choked streets.

Long-entrenched fears of crime rein in the activities of many travelers, but with the usual common-sense precautions that travelers must take in all large cities—leave the flashy bling at home, watch where you walk alone at night—one can cover a lot of Rio’s scenic turf on one’s own.

Hang gliding is another Rio high (literally), and even the faint-of-heart have been known to find the experience blissful. In season, companies such as Asa Delta take some 300 people a day on a tandem glide where client and instructor jump off Pedra Bonita cliff in Tijuca National Park.

For more information:

www.riodejaneiro-turismo.com.br

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