Rio’ coast is something remarkable, especially what the cariocas call the “Leme to Pontal” stretch (ask any carioca and they’ll sing this back to you, then ask you how much of it have you seen). Leme is the beach between Sugar Loaf and Copa. Pontal is a cartoonishly egg-shaped peninsula at the end of Recreio Beach, after Barra. This 60 km stretch must be lived, at your pace, and not in a bus or a car transfer. It has 8 beaches, depending on how you count them (Recreio and Barra are geographically the same beach, Leme and Copa like-wise, etc.) However, all of these are beautiful despite being urban beaches, they are all different from each other, and hence they all deserve to be enjoyed, even for an hour. The 2nd best way to explore Rio’s beaches at your own pace would be by car. The absolute best way would be in a convertible. Rio finally has a sports car rental company, Rio Exotic Cars, with a fleet of 16 cars, from the affordable yet intuitive Mini Cooper to Ferraris and Porsches. So you can roll down the convertible roof, put your Kennedy RayBans on and explore beyond the tourist area known as zona sul. * Driver must be over 25 yo, have a valid driver's license and sufficient funds in their Credit Card for a liability pre-authorization, other special conditions apply.