Rio de Janeiro Food Tour: Ipanema Life, Botecos & Caipirinha

Live Rio like a Carioca, from the energy of Ipanema beach to the calm, hill-framed lagoon: beach bars, historic botecos, and plate after plate of local favorite bites, from caipirinhas to açaí.

In Rio, food isn't a separate event. It's woven into life, shared with friends in lively places, usually bite by bite at the beach or around a boteco table. Start the way locals do, with an ice-cold drink and petiscos at a beachfront bar in Ipanema.

Then sit down at the bar where "The Girl from Ipanema" was written for Brazilian grilled classics and a caipirinha. Stop at a bakery open since 1911 for warm pão de queijo, before the city changes pace and you leave the beach behind for the calm of the lagoon. There, at a 1934 boteco with views over the water, share iconic bar dishes and finish with açaí.

Like every Sherpa Food Tour, this route was designed around how locals really live.