Belmond: Where Rio Starts
Following its centenary in 2023, the legendary Copacabana Palace, A Belmond Hotel, Rio de Janeiro will reveal the renovation and reinvention of its Pool Wing and pool area in November 2026, following a meticulous 19-month renovation. Established in 1948 above the iconic pool and lounging terrace – the hotel's vibrant social heart – the wing returns as an all-suite address, all with a private balcony and most overlooking the famed pool and the illustrious Copacabana Beach. It is joined by a redesigned pool area, a brand-new signature bar, a re-imagined contemporary Italian restaurant, a boutique devoted entirely to Brazilian craftsmanship, and five floors given over to wellbeing – one of the most remarkable wellness destinations in Rio.
For over a hundred years, the Copa has been the keeper of Rio's rhythms - a metronome attuned to every tempo the city keeps, from the electrifying beat of Carnival season to the slow pace of never-ending pool days. From day to night, that rhythm changes seamlessly. The wing was built in 1948 for guests who came to Rio for the season. Nearly eighty years on, it returns for the same reason — travellers who want to stay longer, and to fill those days differently. What the Pool Wing brings is the choice: a morning that begins with stillness across five floors given to wellbeing, or with a slow lap of the pool; an afternoon that stretches unhurried at the water's edge; an evening that belongs to the city. This is the natural balance Copa has always offered — beach life, city energy and the beauty that surrounds it — now with every pace in between. For a century, Copa has been synonymous with celebration. It remains so - and now offers every pace in between.
The wing's interiors draw on Brazil's rich materials and artisanal techniques – reclaimed timber from the bed of the Amazon, rare marquetry, stone quarried across the country and Brazilian modernist furniture – infusing the Carioca legend with a renewed sense of place, cultural cachet and creativity. The reimagination of the pool area is led by architect Ivan Rezende, introducing the hotel's new signature bar, Bar do Copa; new Copacabana Palace Boutique; and a re-imagined contemporary Italian restaurant, soon to be unveiled.
"With over a century of Copa behind us, we are thrilled to catapult into a new era for our Rio landmark. We invite guests to stay longer in more spacious suites, unwind or exhaust themselves at our unprecedented five-floor wellness destination, and dine at our brand-new Italian restaurant, with views of the iconic new pool or beach. For the locals, we hope they find pride in the truly Brazilian representation through craftsmanship across the new spaces. Always honouring the past and inspiring the future." Ulisses Marreiros, General Manager, Copacabana Palace, and Belmond Area Managing Director, Brazil
A TALE OF THREE ARCHITECTS
Copacabana Palace opened in August 1923 as the grandest hotel in Rio, commissioned by President Epitácio Pessoa to house dignitaries arriving for Brazil's centenary of independence and funded by the visionary Octávio Guinle. Behind its eclectic façade – the work of French architect Joseph Gire, modelled on the Negresco in Nice and the Carlton in Cannes – stood something that changed the axis of the city and put Rio on the world map, shifting its centre of gravity south and catalysing culture, celebration and desire around Copacabana Beach.
Through the 1940s, Rio's social identity shifted outdoors to leisure and the Carioca beach lifestyle. Reflecting that change, the Pool Wing was built in 1948 by Wladimir Alves de Souza – Gire's modernist counterpart, who wove Brazilian culture through geometry, giving the palace of eclecticism its modernist Art Deco foil. Designed from the outset for extended stays, the wing created an enclosed tropical retreat that felt like a home from home, cementing the space as the primary social hub of the hotel. Nearly eighty years later, contemporary architect Ivan Rezende has been entrusted with its redesign, having restored Copa's theatre in 2021 – a work awarded the Grand Prize of the Rio de Janeiro Institute of Architects. Both buildings are national architectural landmarks protected under Brazilian historical heritage, a protection that stems from the immeasurable sentimental value Copa holds for Cariocas and Brazilians. This is a centenary landmark where heritage continues to shape the future.
WHERE THE WORLD CHECKS IN: THE ENDURING ALLURE OF COPA
Set on one of the best-known addresses in the city, on the beachfront of Avenida Atlântica, Copacabana Palace is a vibrant expression of Rio, encapsulating the celebratory beachside atmosphere of the city itself. It offers a natural balance of beach life, city energy and access to the surrounding natural beauty. It has long been Rio's front-row seat to the world: the address where local and global tastemakers naturally converge, and where the city's spirit of celebration is lived at its most iconic. A living history of the 20th and 21st centuries, the guestbook renews itself with each generation – from Albert Einstein, who slept within the hotel walls, to Josephine Baker, who danced in the salons; Brigitte Bardot, who sunbathed on the balcony; and Ella Fitzgerald, who sang beneath the chandeliers. Copa remains the ultimate setting for celebration, from the most coveted invitation since 1923 – the legendary Copacabana Palace Carnival Ball – to hosting the headliners of the world's largest annual free beach concert, and to New Year's Eve, when an unforgettable night unfolds by the sea against the backdrop of Rio's world-famous fireworks. Rio's greatest celebrations begin here and always have.
THE ALL-SUITE WING: A HOMAGE TO BRAZILIAN CRAFTSMANSHIP
Revisiting its 1948 origins as a wing designed for longer stays, the Pool Wing returns as an all-suite experience, allowing for larger, brighter spaces unlike anything Copa has offered before. The redesign brings the hotel to 208 rooms and suites in total, with 68 in the wing and 140 in the main building. Suites accommodate two to five guests in twin or king configurations, most with a private balcony and a separate sitting room, and many adjoin to welcome families and groups. Six new signature categories debut with the wing. Among them, the Carioca Suite, a two-bedroom penthouse on the eleventh floor with uninterrupted views of Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain; and the Two-Bedroom Pool & Ocean View Suites, at 165 square metres, made for families.
Designed by Ivan Rezende and meticulously realised with renowned Brazilian artisans, the interiors are a soulful celebration of the country, every piece made locally. Rezende's hand extends to the furniture itself: the coffee table, bookshelves and recamier are his own contemporary designs, executed in Brazilian wood. These sit alongside icons by Sergio Rodrigues, the father of modern Brazilian furniture, whose armchairs taught the world the meaning of Brazilian design. Native woods run throughout the suites in tones of honey and tobacco, alongside stone quarried across Brazil.
Folklore artist Ciro Fernandes, renowned for interpreting the soul of Brazil through his woodcuts, takes the country's fauna and flora as his subject, creating bespoke woodcuts and illustrations that hang on the living room walls of the suites. Master wood-inlay artist Maqueson Pereira da Silva, from the Brazilian Amazon and a recipient of the 2024 UNESCO Prize Award of Excellence for Handicrafts for South America, works Amazonian scenes from timber reclaimed from the riverbed, in the natural colours of the wood alone. Underfoot, the rugs have been designed from satellite imagery of the northern state of Acre, the meanders of the Juruá River and the greens of the canopy woven into the floor, so that a guest stepping out of bed walks barefoot over the forest seen from the sky.
"Memory and heritage go hand in hand. We wanted to broaden the perspective to include all of Brazil, bringing into the Pool Wing elements that might at first seem distant from this world but in truth belong to it - artisans and professionals from across the country, each with their own discipline, their own techniques, and each committed to their very best work." Ivan Rezende.
A WELLNESS HUB IN RIO DE JANEIRO
Beyond its renowned glittering parties, Copacabana Palace offers an unparalleled sanctuary for mind and body – joyful expressions of wellbeing, from pool and beachside rituals to a wholly new world within the wing. Five floors are dedicated entirely to wellness: an entire floor for the Spa; another to fitness, with extensive facilities, classes and a health bar. A third holds the Pilates and movement studio, a fourth the ice baths, infrared sauna and steam rooms, and a fifth the grooming and beauty salon. Where Copa has long offered the night, it now offers the morning after in equal measure. Beyond the wing, guests continue to enjoy the hotel's tennis court and the exclusive Black Pool on the Main Building's sixth floor.
THE POOL AND BAR DO COPA: READY, SET, RIO
At the centre of Copa stands the pool where royals such as Princess Diana swam, where Orson Welles drank his way into the hotel's folklore, and where Marlene Dietrich crossed the terrace on her way to the beach. Now resurfaced, the pool carries a new design at its base that pays homage to the ocean waters fronting the hotel, its curves departing from the squared, straight-edged geometry of before.
Alongside it, the brand-new signature bar Bar do Copa – the hotel's first – extends along a counter of nearly ten metres. Head Barman Stephano Giglio celebrates Brazilian high mixology through meticulously researched recipes, from the caipirinha to the Rabo de Galo, both built on cachaça, Brazil's national spirit made from fresh, fermented sugarcane juice. Just steps from the world's most famous beach, this is the front row to carioca culture – the place where work, pleasure and occasion intertwine effortlessly. By day the atmosphere is sunlit and unhurried; by night the lights come down, live bossa nova begins, and an intimate crowd gathers.
A GASTRONOMIC COMPASS AROUND ONE LEGENDARY POOL
Four culinary destinations now frame the legendary pool. Within the wing itself, is the re-imagined contemporary Italian restaurant — conceived as a bridge between Southern Italian and Brazilian culinary traditions and led by Executive Chef Nello Cassese, to be announced and unveiled soon. At the pool's far corner stands the brand-new Bar do Copa, and facing the sea is the beloved Pérgula, Copa's all-day dining institution. Completing the compass, in the Main Building, is MEE, the only pan-Asian restaurant in Rio with a star in the Michelin Guide, now for five consecutive years.
THE COPACABANA PALACE BOUTIQUE: THE HANDS OF BRAZIL
A few steps from the water, the new boutique is devoted exclusively to Brazilian craftsmanship, a living showcase of the artisans and craftspeople who have shaped the wing and pool area. Its curation grows from deep research into the nation's artistic identity - its techniques, materials and regional narratives – championing a new generation of Brazilian talent alongside the makers found throughout the suites, among them Maqueson Pereira da Silva and Ciro Fernandes. Each has been chosen for sustainable production and command of their own supply chain. Every piece carries the signature of its maker and the heritage of the region that shaped its craft, so the voyage into Brazil that begins in the suites can be carried home.
THE HERITAGE OF THE FUTURE: RIO AT ITS OWN PACE
The rebirth of the Pool Wing carries forward Belmond's vocation as custodian of storied places, joining recent projects such as Villa San Michele in Florence, Splendido in Portofino and Maroma on the Riviera Maya. In Rio, that vocation takes its warmest form. When the wing opens its doors, the parasols will be unfurled each morning as they always have been, the first swimmer will take a slow lap, and a century of stories will gain its most seductive pages yet. Because Rio has never moved to a single tempo, and for a hundred years Copa has kept them all. This is Rio at its own pace.
The Pool Wing at Copacabana Palace, A Belmond Hotel, Rio de Janeiro will be revealed in November 2026... - Continue reading (Members Only) - Unlock Advantages with a LHN Membership - Read more here
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