Copacabana Fort

This early twentieth-century coastal fortress occupies the rocky point at the southern end of Copacabana beach, built to defend the entrance to Guanabara Bay. Its thick walls once housed heavy German-made guns, some of which remain in place inside armoured turrets carved into the promontory. Today it holds an army museum tracing Brazilian military history and the 1922 revolt that began here. A café at the tip offers one of the finest views back along the curving beach toward Sugarloaf, making it a favourite morning walk.