Affectionately known as The Marvellous City, there is nowhere else on Earth that exudes the same magic and fascination as Rio, party capital of Latin America.

This city of 6 million people has an infectious appeal that makes it easy to fall in love with as it’s endowed with so many impressive qualities. Just the mere mention of Rio’s name evokes images of sun drenched beaches, samba parades, a laissez faire attitude to life and muscled bodies to die for. This is a city that simply pulsates with energy and yet effortlessly maintains a sultry guise. It is a city of true contrasts - amazingly beautiful, dangerously intriguing and sexy as hell!Rio is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro and also the undoubted cultural and cosmopolitan centre of Brazil. Situated just north of the Tropic of Capricorn the climate is tropical all year round with an average temperature of 24 degrees.

This exuberant city is tucked between the mountains and the sea and has a natural beauty which is scarcely matched by any other city in the world; truly there is something here which will appeal to everyone.

The local residents of Rio, known as ‘Cariocas’, are a friendly bunch who will be more than happy to share their knowledge of the city with you and everywhere you’ll find people approachable and welcoming.

The main language is Portuguese but most people you’ll come into contact with will also have at least a rudimentary grasp of English, so communication should not be a problem. Some basic Spanish will also help and you’ll soon find that body language is a universal language that is spoken very effectively here.

Rio de Janeiro’s reputation with gay travelers is based on an intoxicating cocktail of glamour, beauty, and sex appeal. Long before Rio became a high-profile destination on the queer map, it was on the A-list for globetrotting celebrities and the super-rich. Its importance in Brazil’s history goes back centuries before Carmen Miranda ever donned a fruit-laden hat.

Portuguese explorers arrived at Guanabara Bay in January of 1502; they supposedly mistook the bay for a river, and so named the city Rio de Janeiro (January River). The city was officially founded in 1565, at the foot of Pão de Açucar (Sugarloaf Mountain). The growing metropolis became a major port for Portuguese settlers, who moved their colonial administration here in 1763. In 1808, with Napoleon’s impending invasion of Portugal, the Portuguese royal family fled their homeland and made Rio the new capital of their kingdom. Prince Pedro I declared Brazil independent in 1822, and kept the new nation’s capital in Rio de Janeiro. The city maintained its role as capital after the monarchy was replaced by a republic in 1889.

World travelers first took serious note of Rio’s allure in the early 20th century, when a tunnel was carved into a mountain to connect the thriving city with the beach neighborhood called Copacabana. Word spread about Copacabana’s wide swath of luxuriant beach and indulgent lifestyle, set against the dramatic backdrop of soaring mountains. In 1923, the Copacabana Palace opened, and the deliciously white confection of a hotel further cemented the region’s reputation. Rio would never be the same.

There was plenty of excitement to be had in Rio. Visitors could board cable cars for a thrilling ride to the peak of Pão de Açúcar, the 1,299-foot granite rock where the city was founded. At that time, one of Rio’s best-known landmarks was still in the works. In 1931, Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer), a 98-foot-tall statue of Jesus Christ set atop a mountain, was finished, and cast its unending gaze upon the rapidly growing city. Hollywood began paying increasing attention to the destination too, and movies like the 1933 Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musical Flying Down to Rio only added to the aura of glamour that Rio had created.

In 1960, plans for a new national capital came to fruition, when a futuristic inland metropolis called Brasilia was completed. Rio de Janeiro lost its title as Brazil’s capital, but its glamorous reputation continued to draw upscale vacationers. “The Girl from Ipanema,” a bossa nova song by Astrud Gilberto and Stan Getz, won a Grammy in 1965 for record of the year and helped spread the word about what would become Rio’s next hot neighborhood: Ipanema.Gay life in Rio is mainly centred on and around the beach districts of Copacabana and Ipanema, which makes finding your way around a breeze even for first time visitors.

With plenty of hotels to choose from Copacabana makes for an affodable base and you’ll find a whole host of gay venues including bars, restaurants, saunas and nightclubs. The beach here also always features as a major part of Rio life. Called ‘Bolsa’ it’s mainly frequented by the bear and trans crowds.

Ipanema is smaller, but has a more classy atmosphere and you’ll find world class shopping where you can browse for bargains or simply find a café where you can browse the beauties who also congregate here. The best place to stay in Rio is Ipanema. Charming, green and quite central, the famous district has an èlan about it that Copacabana and Leblon, its two neighbouring districts, cannot boast.

Beach life also thrives at the ‘Farme’ gay beach, just East from the crossroads of Farme de Amoedo. This is Barbie land, a term used to describe the buffed, beautiful and rich gay men who favour this stretch of sand and come from the well off South Side of the city and who mix with local celebrities and the great and good of the city.

Sundays at the gay beach in Ipanema are a must, as are a pair of sunglasses to disguise your stares as the stunning pageant parades by. Ipanema shares with Waikiki a glorious vista of natural beauty (Rio has Sugarloaf, Honolulu has Diamond Head) and a promenade of luxurious hotels ringing the ocean. Yet Ipanema--and its more famous neighbor, the curvaceous Copacabana--also contains the playground athleticism, contented faces, and gleaming hard bodies of Mediterranean beach towns. There's the happy backbeat of lapping surf, soccer balls smacking off thighs, the slap of paddleballs on wood. Silent capoeira dancers leap to these rhythms and to the laughter that accompanies another Brazilian invention, futevole, which resembles beach volleyball (only it's played with a soccer ball, and you can't use your hands).

In order to acclimatise, have a drink at the Girl from Ipanema bar (Garota de Ipanema in Portuguese), the site where Vinicius de Moraes wrote the most famous easy listening song ever. It`s also in Ipanema that the gay stretch of the beach lies. Look for station 9, where muscle boys, beach bunnies and assorted types congregate for their favourite activity: spending the day on the sand, chatting and sipping on lager.

After the beach, between 5-6pm A Bofetada (Farme de Amoedo St) is the meeting place for gay men, lesbians and their straight friends (the scene is very mixed in Rio). A very simple boteco (the local word for bar), it serves tasty appetizers and the addictive caipirinha, Brazil`s premiere cocktail, a delicious mixture of cachaça, crushed lime, sugar and ice. It`s quite easy to just forget about the rest and only do that, but you wouldn`t forgive yourself if you didn`t visit certain landmarks.

The Sugar Loaf Mountain and the Corcovado (the one with the statue of Christ) are absolute musts because of the stunning views of the city they provide and the thrill of going up those amazing rock mountains. A tour bus called City Rio offers a good package that includes tickets to both attractions.

The hilly historical neighbourhood of Santa Teresa is also a great option. Home to an arty, bohemian crowd, you can get there on an early twentieth century tram car that weaves its way up through amazing nineteenth century architecture where you suddenly feel completely cut off from the buzz of the rest of the city. Get the tram at the Arcos da Lapa (everyone knows where it is).

The Botanic Garden will pump your lungs with fresh air and fill your eyes with exotic flora. Created in 1830, it evolved as an experimental project involving tropical plants, seedlings and saplings from the French Guyana, the French Islands in the Indian Ocean and the Portuguese colonies.

On a more eccentric note, you could visit Latin America`s biggest favela (a slum, with 100,000 inhabitants), the famous Roçinha. Located amid the biggest urban rainforest reserve in the world (Floresta da Tijuca), Roçinha is a labyrinth of alleys, cul-de-sacs and chaotic buildings. And worry not. The locals have long realised the potentials of tourism and you`re not any more likely to get mugged there than anywhere else in Rio, which, in all fairness, has radically cleaned up its act.

The historical centre is also well worth a visit. It`s centred round a square called Praça XV. After an aimless stroll through the area, you may as well get the ferry boat to Niterói (the town on the other side of the bay), where modernist architect Oscar Niemeyer recently built a museum of modern art in the shape of a flying saucer. Perched on a rock and framed by the blue sea, it`s already a classic of neo-modernist design.

Also worth visiting is Lapa, the downtown Rio neighborhood that was the birthplace of samba in the early 1920s. In recent years, the area has experienced a Bohemian rebirth, its elegant, Portuguese-style architecture renovated and filled with bars and restaurants. Every weekend, young partygoers wander the streets around the aqueduct, spilling out of the bars and enjoying a range of music that includes reggae, hip-hop, funk, and samba. The neighborhood has grown increasingly popular as an alternative to pricey Ipanema nightlife, attracting both lower-income people from the north side of the city as well as foreigners and wealthy youth from the south side. Friday night is the best night to go bar hopping here. Most of the bars are not gay, except for the downscale but lively Cabaret Casanova, which with nearly a century of operation is reportedly the city’s oldest gay club.

For a more upscale gay nightlife experience, consider The Week, as the Rio branch of a similarly fabulous club in São Paulo that attracts the city’s most beautiful, muscular men. Also popular is the Galería Café in Ipanema, or the slightly less fabulous but still popular Le Boy, in Copacabana.

A growing phenomenon in Rio de Janeiro’s gay nightlife is the circuit party, which in local speak is called a “label party.” Among the top recurring parties is BITCH, which stands for “Barbies in Total Control Here.”

Electronic music parties are also among the most sought by LGBT tourists. The main events are “Moo” party, held in Centro (Downtown) and “Revolution”, which gathers DJs renowned all over the world. Each season the party is held at a different location, such as the Museum of Modern Art at Aterro do Flamengo, and “Armazém 5” (Warehouse 5) at Cais do Porto, in the city docks.

Gay men’s saunas are also an integral part of the social scene in Rio de Janeiro, and can be found throughout the city. They are divided into two basic categories: those with shows and “boys” (male prostitutes) and those without. Many gay publications divide saunas accordingly, as “com boys” (with boys) or “sem boys” (without boys)—so you can choose the ambience you prefer.

One tip: word of mouth works wonders in Rio. If you`re savouring a nice, cool chopp (the local lager), don`t miss the chance of striking up a chat. Rio people love a gringo.