Lapa, Rio de Janeiro

Lapa is the nightlife heart of central Rio de Janeiro, a once-faded downtown quarter that reinvented itself as the city's stage for samba, choro and bohemian revelry. Its name is inseparable from music, and on weekends its streets fill with dancers spilling from bars and dance halls into the warm night air.

Its defining monument is the Arcos da Lapa, the great white aqueduct built in the eighteenth century to carry water from the Santa Teresa hills. When it lost its original purpose, the double tier of arches became a viaduct for the trams that still rattle up to Santa Teresa, and today the floodlit arcade frames the neighbourhood's open-air gatherings.

The district sits between downtown and the hillside barrios, within easy reach of Cinelândia and the Selarón Steps, which climb from Lapa toward Santa Teresa in a cascade of coloured tiles. By day the streets are workaday and a little rough at the edges; after dark they transform into a dense grid of gafieiras, live-music clubs and street vendors.

For visitors the appeal is immersion in carioca music culture. Historic ballrooms keep alive the gafieira tradition of partnered samba, while smaller venues host choro sessions and forró. The scene is liveliest from Thursday to Saturday, and going with a group and keeping valuables discreet is wise, as the crowds attract pickpockets. Come early to admire the arches and the tilework by daylight, then linger for the transformation after sunset. Few places distil Rio's love of rhythm, improvisation and street life as vividly as this animated, unpolished corner of the old city. The nearby Circo Voador venue and the Sala Cecília Meireles concert hall round out a district wholly devoted to performance, from grassroots samba to chamber music.