I’ve Lived in Rio de Janeiro for 6 Years – These Are My Favorite Restaurants by the Beach

Rio de Janeiro is all-around an exciting place to eat, but some of my favorite dining experiences here have as much to do with the setting as what’s on my plate. In a city where mountains, beaches, and lagoons weave their way through the urban landscape, eating by the water is an essential part of the experience.

You can sip a cold beer with locals along the seawall in Urca, eat ceviche with your feet in the sand on Leblon Beach, listen to live samba at a beachfront kiosk in Leme, or travel all the way to Guaratiba for what I truly believe is the best seafood in the region.

After living here for more than six years, these are some of my favorite restaurants by the beach in Rio de Janeiro, where flip-flops aren’t only welcomed, but encouraged.

Best for: A casually chic lunch with a view

Part of Hotel Arpoador, Arp Bar sits in one of the best oceanfront locations in the city: directly in front of Arpoador Beach, where Ipanema meets the rocky peninsula famous for its sunsets.

Despite being a hotel restaurant, Arp manages to feel polished without being overly formal. It’s where I go when I want a proper sit-down lunch by the ocean rather than a quick meal at a kiosk. The menu emphasizes seasonal Brazilian ingredients and dishes suited to Rio’s warm weather, like a fresh tomato and mozzarella salad and fish tacos, and the open-air setting keeps everything feeling connected to the beach.

Address: R. Francisco Otaviano, 177 – Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 22080-046, Brazil

Best for: Eating and drinking like a local

At Bar Urca, the best seats aren’t inside the restaurant. The classic move is to order a cold beer and a few petiscos—typically fried snacks—from the bar and find a spot on the seawall across the street. You’ll eat overlooking the sailboats floating across Guanabara Bay, and, depending on where you sit, catch a glimpse of Christ the Redeemer standing tall in the distance.

The restaurant has been part of the charming residential Urca neighborhood for generations. Its menu leans heavily into the Portuguese-Brazilian seafood dishes you’d expect from an old-school Rio institution. Try the cheese pasteis (fried cheese empanadas) or bolinhos de bacalhau (cod fritters), then linger on the wall as the sun goes down. It’s one of those wonderfully simple Rio experiences where you’ll find more locals than tourists.

Address: R. Cândido Gaffrée, 205 – Urca, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 22291-080, Brazil

Best for: Seafood that’s worth the day trip

Bira de Guaratiba is far from Rio’s main tourist neighborhoods, yet it’s 100 percent worth the day trip. Barra de Guaratiba sits west of the main city center, in an area marked by mangroves, forest-covered mountains, and alive-and-well fishing communities.

Bira has long been known for its fantastic seafood, served in a treehouse-like setting overlooking the coastal forest. To make the most of your trip, spend the morning at a nearby beach—Grumari is my favorite choice—then head over to Bira as soon as it opens. You may have to wait for a table, but I promise you, the bubbling seafood stews and crab-stuffed pastries are worth the wait.

Address: Estr. da Vendinha, 68 – Barra de Guaratiba, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 23020-810, Brazil

Best for: Rooftop drinks overlooking Ipanema

Boteco Belmonte is already a familiar name around Rio, but its Ipanema location gives the classic boteco (dive bar) experience a serious upgrade: a rooftop overlooking the beautiful Ipanema Beach. 

Downstairs, you’ll find the kind of Brazilian bar food that made Belmonte famous—cold beer, shareable bar snacks, and its signature stuffed pastries known as empadas—but the rooftop is the reason to choose this spot.

Go toward the end of the afternoon, order a round of drinks, and watch Ipanema transition from day to evening from above. It’s a good alternative when you want the energy and views of the beachfront without actually eating on the sand.

Address: Av. Vieira Souto, 236 – Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 22420-004, Brazil

Best for: Breakfast with a view

For breakfast practically on the sand, head to Brisa Café at Posto 6, my favorite stretch of Copacabana Beach. The café sits along Avenida Atlântica facing the ocean and opens early enough to catch the morning light over the water. Posto 6 is particularly lively in the morning, as open-water swimmers head out to sea and locals exercise along the promenade. Grab a table for coffee, pão de queijo (cheese bread), and a leisurely breakfast before crossing the street for a swim.

Address: Av. Atlântica, 4206 – Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 22070-002, Brazil

Best for: Sunset drinks and DJ sets with a view

Ipanema’s sunset is an event in and of itself, and Clássico Beach Club gives you a front-row seat to the show. Set along the promenade, the kiosk is the kind of place where you can arrive straight from the sand, order a cocktail, and probably hang around longer than planned. DJs add to the beach-club atmosphere, especially as the afternoon turns to evening.

Address: em frente ao – Av. Vieira Souto, n° 680 – Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 22420-000, Brazil

Best for: Contemporary Brazilian food near the sea

At the quieter Leme Beach, Joaquina is a good introduction to Brazilian cooking beyond the handful of dishes most international visitors already know. The menu draws from different parts of the country, like pork crackling from Minas Gerais and shrimp stew from the Northeast. The most-ordered dish is the cheesy sausage fritters, an appetizer worth ordering for the table. After, walk toward the end of the beach for a great view looking back across the entire curve of Copacabana Beach.

Address: Av. Atlântica, 974 – Lj A – Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 22010-100, Brazil

Best for: Ceviche with your feet in the sand

On those unbelievably hot Rio afternoons, there are few meals I’d rather have other than ceviche. La Carioca en La Playa brings the Peruvian flavors of the beloved La Carioca Cevicheria directly to the Leblon waterfront, serving ceviches, tiraditos, and other seafood dishes from a kiosk at Posto 11.

It’s an especially good option when you don’t want to sacrifice half your beach day for lunch. Order something cold and citrusy, grab a drink, and stay right by the sand. The location also puts you near the western end of Leblon, with Dois Irmãos rising dramatically behind the neighborhood. Live music on select days can turn lunch into a much longer afternoon.

Address: Av. Delfim Moreira, 117 – Leblon, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 22441-000, Brazil

Best for: Brunch before a São Conrado beach day

Musa brings something still surprisingly hard to find in Rio: the kind of brunch and iced coffee culture you’d expect in Australia or Bali, but directly across from the beach. In fact, its founders drew inspiration from both places when creating the concept.

My favorite way to visit is by bike. Rent one along the Zona Sul beachfront and follow the coast toward Leblon before continuing along Avenida Niemeyer to São Conrado. Leave the bike near Musa, settle in for breakfast and then spend the rest of the morning at the beach.

The banana pancakes are a must: they’re topped with hazelnut cream, almond butter, walnuts and honey. Musa also has a genuinely good selection of iced coffees, matcha drinks and smoothies, something that’s still fairly difficult to find in Rio.

Address: Av. Pref. Mendes de Morais, Quiosque 6 – São Conrado, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 22610-095, Brazil

Best for: Turning lunch into an island adventure

Ocyá requires a little more effort to reach than your average Rio restaurant, and that’s exactly why I recommend it. The original restaurant is on Ilha Primeira, one of the small islands tucked into a lagoon sitting between Rio’s South Zone and the neighboring Barra da Tijuca. The menu leans toward seafood, effortlessly tying into the setting, 

To get there, you’ll take an Uber to a shopping center called Barra Point, and from there, take a small boat over to the restaurant. The last time I went, we took a boat tour through the surrounding waterways before lunch and spotted capybaras, birds, and what seemed like an endless number of baby caimans along the way.

By the time we reached the restaurant, it felt like we’d temporarily left Rio altogether. 

Address: Ilha Primeira – Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 22641-990, Brazil

Best for: Live samba by the sea

You don’t have to wait until a night out in Lapa to hear live samba in Rio. At Samba Social Clube, a longstanding kiosk right on the beach, the soundtrack starts much earlier and comes with an ocean view.

The beachfront restaurant pairs live Brazilian music with the kind of food that makes sense when you’re planning to stay awhile: bar snacks, seafood, feijoada, cold beer and cocktails. Grab a table after the beach and settle in to experience Rio’s samba culture in a casual setting, rather than committing to a late night out.

Address: AV. ATLANTICA QC1 E QC2 – Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 22041-001, Brazil

Best for: Five-star dining with your feet in the sand

Tropìk is the beachfront extension of the Fairmont Rio de Janeiro Copacabana, one of the city’s landmark luxury hotels. But you don’t need to stay there to experience it. The beach club sits directly on Copacabana’s waterfront, bringing the hotel’s polished service into a much more relaxed setting.

The Mediterranean-inspired space serves food and drinks throughout the day, beginning with breakfast at 8 a.m., and its location at the Posto 6 end of Copacabana puts you beside a calmer stretch of the beach that I particularly love. Tropìk is also known for its caipirinhas and regularly incorporates music into the beach-club experience.

Address: Avenida Atlântica, 00, QC 47 E QC 48 E/F, Av. Rainha Elisabeth da Bélgica – Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 22070-020, Brazil