Copacabana Beach to Ipanema Beach: Ultimate Rio Run

The path Copacabana Beach and Ipanema beach is one of the world’s iconic urban beach runs. A wide paved promenade, called calçadão, runs along both beaches. There are great views of the beach, water, surrounding mountains, and the festive people scene. It’s also possible to run along the beaches as well — they’re wide, with fairly firm sand near the water. This New York Times article has lots of detail about this ‘urban walk’, with major sites and recommendations for eat & drink.

Run along each beach separately, or combine for a run of up to 8.5 km one-way. Our route starts at the end east end of Copacabana (Leme). There are lifeguard posts numbered 1 to 12 from east to west. It’s 4 km from Leme to the Copacabana Fort. Here, cut through Garota de Ipanema Park. Then, rejoin the promenade for 3.7 km along Ipanema Beach to Leblon, where the path ends at the Mirante de Leblon observation deck.

One-Way Option: A bus runs along the main road, so it’s possible to do a one-way run.

Add-Ons:  At Leme, if you want to get some scenery and some hill work, run the path up to the Forte Duque de Caxias. It’s 1.1 km, climbing 120m. Great views!  Another good option is to combine Ipanema with the the Lagoon (Lagoa) Loop in Leblon. It’s 0.7 km from the beach to the lagoon path, which is a scenic 7.4 km loop.