Botafogo Beach – 5 Cool Facts About Botafogo

The Botafogo beach isn’t a large area. Instead of a standard beach, it’s more of a bay. The waters aren’t as clear as some of the other beaches in Rio de Janeiro since it’s much more of a city beach. A lot of people don’t go swimming or surfing here; they use it more for the sand than they do for the water. It still has a lot of uses.

Amazing Location For Photographs – Positioned at the bottom of Sugarloaf Mountain, it’s central location in Rio makes it an area where people love to take pictures. You can takes pictures of Sugar Loaf Mountain, Christ the Redeemer and Guanabara Bay from here but those are just a few of the pictures you can take.

Bicycling – There is a great bicycle path for anyone who likes to get outside with their bike. The bike trail goes for a long way and you have a beautiful view while you’re riding. You can take the bike path all the way through Flamingo beach or if you go the opposite direction you can take it and go to Sugar Loaf mountain.

The bike path soon turns into a sidewalk when you’re going to Sugarloaf but you can still make it there. Sure beats taking the bus or trying to drive in the Rio traffic.

Historical Location – Botafogo was named after Joao Pereira de Sousa Botafogo, who was given property here from the Portuguese monarchy. The name implies, “set it on fire” which refers to the artillery on the ship Botafogo.

Fernando Henrique Cardos, a former president of Brazil, lived here when he was young. You’ll also find two museums situated here.

Great Sailing – The beach curves around a little harbor situated in the downtown area and usually has many sailboats in it. Since waters at Botafogo are much calmer than other places in Rio, it is a great place to sail.

Gorgeous Walk By the Beach – It’s a great place to get a short break from the city life and take a stroll alongside the sand. The skyline and mountain tops make an amazing backdrop while you walk along and enjoy the view. It was one of my favorite places to walk because you could look on one side and see Christ the Redeemer and look on the other side and see the beach and Sugarloaf mountain.

The views of Rio de Janeiro from Botafogo Beach are simply beautiful and the sidewalk that goes beside the beach offers a beautiful view of Niteroi, which is close to Rio.