Copacabana Palace

The Copacabana Palace is Rio de Janeiro's most storied hotel, a gleaming white landmark facing the great curve of Copacabana beach. Opened in 1923 and designed in a French Beaux-Arts style, it was conceived to give the city a resort worthy of the world's grand capitals and quickly became a symbol of glamour on the Atlantic shore.

Its significance lies in a century of spectacle. The hotel has hosted royalty, film stars and heads of state, from visiting monarchs to Hollywood icons, and its ballroom and terraces have staged legendary galas and New Year celebrations. It served as a backdrop for early aviation triumphs and for the 1933 musical that carried the name Flying Down to Rio around the globe, cementing the beach's international fame.

It stands at the centre of the Copacabana seafront, on Avenida Atlântica beside the wave-patterned Portuguese pavement, within easy reach of Ipanema, Sugarloaf and the district's bars and kiosks. The building's restrained elegance contrasts with the exuberant beach life at its doorstep.

For visitors who are not guests, the palace is still worth approaching. Admire the façade from the promenade, take afternoon tea or a drink in its refined public rooms, or dine at one of its restaurants to sample the atmosphere. Rates for rooms sit firmly at the luxury end, but the hotel welcomes visitors to its bars and terrace. Its New Year's Eve fireworks, launched over the beach before millions of revellers dressed in white, remain one of Rio's defining sights. As a monument to the city's twentieth-century allure, the Copacabana Palace endures as both hotel and icon. Its gilded ballroom and poolside terrace have hosted decades of galas and film premieres, and the hotel remains a fixture of Rio's social and cultural calendar.