Most of the daytime action at
the sun-soaked Copacabana Palace, located across the street from Rio de
Janeiro’s popular Copacabana Beach, takes place around the hotel’s majestic
swimming pool. Reclining in chaise longues, guests sunbathe and sip
caipirinhas on the expansive pool terrace. When night falls, they trade
swimwear for evening attire, but they often reconvene back at the terrace, where
a band plays samba and bossa nova under the stars.
 Opened in 1923, the Copacabana Palace has changed hands only
once, in 1989, when Orient-Express Hotels acquired it from Rio’s Guinle family.
A refurbishment in the early 1990s updated the hotel’s tower and main buildings
and added executive and penthouse suites. Last year, the Palace completed a $5
million renovation of its Casino, restoring the marble staircase, tobacco-wood
floors, and 1,500-pound chandeliers of the venue’s three ballrooms. New this
year is a 13,000-square-foot fitness center and spa, where you can have a body
massage to the rhythm of bossa nova.
At the height of Brazilian summer, usually in February but
sometimes March, the Copacabana Palace serves as a home base for visitors
attending Carnival. Locals, too, arrive in droves to see and be seen at the
hotel’s annual Copa Ball. But even those who miss the four-day festival are
certain to find revelry in Rio. The concierge will arrange any number of
excursions in the city, including a visit to a pre-Carnival samba rehearsal. In
a hall larger than a football field, dancers practice their moves while
percussionists pound out samba beats and guests eat, drink, and enjoy the
views.  LOCATION Across the street from Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil.
ACCOMMODATIONS Many of the hotel’s 225 rooms and suites have ocean views, and
all feature period furnishings and original artworks. The one-bedroom pool
suites include sitting rooms and verandas overlooking the beach. FACILITIES Two swimming pools, a rooftop tennis court, a fitness center, a
new spa, a beauty salon, a business center, and 13 function rooms including the
500-guest Salon Nobre. DINING Gourmet northern Italian cuisine at the elegant Hotel Cipriani
restaurant, and Brazilian buffet and afternoon tea poolside
at Pergula. CONCIERGE RECOMMENDS Visit the nearby Bar Garota de Ipanema (formerly the Bar
Velosa), where Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes penned "The Girl from Ipanema"
in 1962 while they drank beer and watched beautiful women walk to the beach.
Little has changed at the bar except for its name. RATES From $510 for a deluxe city-view room to $2,760 for a penthouse suite with ocean vistas.
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Photography by Alessandro Batistessa
