The Global Expat Hub
Brazil
Base yourself where you might actually live: for Brazil that means São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Florianópolis — and the smaller towns in between. Every stay below was picked by our editors and links to the property's own website. Book two to four weeks if you can: long enough to test commutes, groceries and weekday noise.
Copacabana Palace, A Belmond Hotel, Rio de Janeiro
Copacabana Palace stands on Avenida Atlantica facing Copacabana beach, the white palace that has anchored Rio de Janeiro's best-known shoreline since it opened on 13 August 1923. Designed by French architect Joseph Gire, the hotel was built for the centenary of Brazilian independence and is today part of Belmond, within the LVMH group.
The hotel has 243 rooms and suites split between the main building and the annex, many with balconies over the beach and the boardwalk's wave-pattern promenade. Rooms keep the palace's 1920s bones — high ceilings, marble bathrooms — and the top-floor suites look along the full curve of Copacabana towards Sugarloaf.
Dining is central to the palace's rhythm: Mee serves pan-Asian cooking and holds a Michelin star, Pergula sits beside the pool for Brazilian and international dishes, and Cipriani brings formal Italian dining to the annex. The half-moon swimming pool, lined with loungers between the palace and the beach, is the hotel's social centre, and there is a spa, a tennis court and a fitness centre on site.
As a scouting base it works on two levels: Copacabana itself is a lived-in residential neighbourhood of supermarkets, metro stations and beach kiosks, so a stay here doubles as a test of daily Zona Sul life, while Ipanema, Leblon, Santa Teresa and the Centro are all an easy ride away for neighbourhood comparisons.
- Belmond — part of the Belmond collection (LVMH)
- Avenida Atlantica 1702, Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro
- 243 rooms and suites in the main and annex buildings
- Opened 13 August 1923; designed by French architect Joseph Gire
- Michelin-starred Mee restaurant, Pergula poolside restaurant and Cipriani
Visit the property — Belmond belmond.com
This featured showcase is an editorial selection by our editors. We have not stayed at this property and it is not a paid placement; no rating is implied. Paid placements never influence the Brazil liveability score, safety rating or warnings.
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- Stay in at least two neighbourhoods.
- Choose somewhere with a kitchen: it reveals daily costs.
- Visit a supermarket, a clinic and a school during the stay.
- Ask the manager where they would and wouldn't rent.
Every listing links to the property's own website. Listings are editorial picks; a Partner tag marks a paid placement, and a Long-stay tag marks places set up for longer stays.