Barra Da Tijuca Brazil beach Travel Information


Barra da Tijuca is not a city of Brazil. It is located in the west side of Rio de Janeiro.

Barra da Tijuca has some great beaches, a more quiet athmosphere and no slums. Barra da Tijuca has some gorgeous beach, there is also an incredible rock formation - some say it is the largest urban rock formation in the world. It is surrounded by beautiful lush greenery, and makes for an impressive back-drop to this part of Rio de Janeiro.

Around Barra da Tijuca has good shopping mall.

In the North end of Barra da Tijuca the beach Praia do Pepe Beach is located is a very trendy beach for the people of Rio de Janeiro to see and be seen by the tourist. On the weekends this small section of the long sandy beach is filled with beautiful people.

Barra (pronounced like "Baja") is also a great place for kiteboarding, there are some kiteboarding schools just next to Praia do Pepe where you can learn this incredible new sport.

There is also the opportunity to view Barra da Tijuca from the air - as a tandem passenger on a hanglider!

At the end of Barra da Tijuca is the quarter named Recreio dos Bandeirantes.

What to do in Barra da Tijuca In the West Zone you can find some of the best beaches of Rio de Janeiro. Barra da Tijuca's beach is a 10km sand line of clear waters. Surfers love it, and many people also. The sunset is beautiful, especially during the winter. And as you go along you get to Recreio, which is even clearer, and much less crowded. Prainha is now very far away from the crowded Copacabana. Its perfect waves made it famous. It is also on a biological reserve, with restricted car parking spaces. Avoid the weekends and enjoy this between mountains-beauty of the nature on the week-days.

At the far Eastern end of the Barra beach, you will find Cabana do Pepe. Pepe was a famous hang glider that passed away in a hang gliding accident in Japan a few years ago. He started a sandwich shop on the beach that makes a variety of healthy sandwiches. Especially good are the fruit smoothies. Not to be missed. Cabana do Pepe is currently run by Pepe's widow. This is the most popular area of the Barra beach, and is the best area for people watching.

There are many surfing schools all along the Barra beach that hold one and half hour surfing classes. The classes are fairly inexpensive and are mostly populated with locals. Some of the surf instructors do speak English.

Do not miss the chance to go hang gliding in Sao Conrado. No previous experience necessary. There are several companies that offer English-speaking tandem flights for the adventurous. It is an absolutley thrilling and breath-taking experience to jump off the side of a mountain and glide gently to the beach below.

Barra De Tijuca Beaches Information Barra da Tijuca is the longest beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with 12 Km of clean and tropical green water. Barra da Tijuca is also often frequented by refreshing waves inviting to surfing both for beginners and experienced surfers. My traditional vacation in Brazil almost always involves buying a new board and taking the buss out to Barra to try it out. If you are a beginner, I recommend a longboard or a foam board for better stability and steepest learning curve. If you have a flat in Barra de Tijuca or you go out early and intend to stay here the whole day, you will appreciate the first few kilometers of the beach which are filled with bars and seafood restaurants, so you can have a snack in one of the breaks, gulping up some saltwater and put some fluid back into he body. Believe me, fresh water never tastes this good, as after hours of surfing!

In addition to restaurants, you’ll find several “barracas” (in Portuguese) or tents, which are simply food and drink stalls on the beach. It's calm on weekdays, and crazy on hot summer weekends from December to March. An extension of Barra da Tijuca Beach is called Praia do Pepê. This name was given to the beach, cause Pepê was the nickname of a young boy selling beer, mineral water and home made, natural sandwiches at the beach as well as practicing many sports. One of them was hang gliding, from which he died some years ago while flying. As he was very popular, people decided to give his name to the small extension of the beach. Other sports like Kite surfing are often practiced there. Championships (national and international) are often held at barra de tijuca many times during the year, also surfing.

You can get to Barra da Tijuca beach in many ways. The majority of buses don’t pass the whole beach extension, so if you want to go by bus , it will leave you on the backstreet and you have to walk a little bit. There are some vans that go to Barra as well, but if you want a safe bet, the best option is to take a cab or rent a car to go to Barra, since it’s a very big place. If you want to take a buss: Buses from downtown to Barra : 175, 179 (Alvorada) Vans: they pass through Copacabana beach, Ipanema, Leblon and downtown Rio. Just stick your hand out when they approach you and they’ll pick you up. Vans are cheap, but you might have some hassle traveling with a longboard. The buses and vans take less time to get to Barra when they use LINHA AMARELA highway. This will save you about 20 minutes on the road.

More about Florianópolis's Brazil