NOV EMBER 201 3 Q A N TA S 75

New boutique hotels, art galleries and a massive port and public transport overhaul are transforming Rio de Janeiro as Brazil prepares for next year’s FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. WORDS CARMEN MICHAEL

All tomorrow’s

PHO

TOG

RA

PHY

: GET

TY IM

AG

ES PARTIES

Brazilian flags and ribbons take to the street, Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro

UPDATE BRAZIL

In the city below, the streets are shrouded in scaffolding. Rio is under construction. Cranes dot buildings along the seafront and diverted traffic inches around the main tourist districts of Leblon and Ipanema. Even Rio’s love hotels are closed for renovations – converting their rent-by-the-hour waterbed rooms to sleek boutique hotels – the final touch in Rio’s transformation from crumbling Third World metropolis to shiny host city of next year’s foot-ball World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.

World Cup 2014 matches will be played in 12 Brazilian cities that between them offer almost anything a traveller could want, from the wind-swept coastal cities of Natal and Fortaleza, to

the rich cultural treasures of Salvador and Recife, to the exotic natural landscapes of the Amazon’s Manaus and Cuiabá, to the thriving urban centres of São Paulo and Rio.

Singer Vinícius de Moraes’ description of Rio’s “adorable disorganisation” could well become the theme of Brazil’s World Cup and Olympic preparations. With half the World Cup stadiums unfinished, the international football governing body FIFA is threatening reprisals, and the government is struggling to deal with the competing demands of a new middle class. But with billions of dollars being poured into sporting and tourism infrastructure, tourists are promised a First World experience in Brazil. ❯

PHO

TOG

RA

PHY

: GET

TY IM

AG

ES

Maracanã Stadium prior to renovation, Rio de Janeiro

pilling down from the black volcanic peaks of Rio de Janeiro’s Dois Irmãos, the corrugated-iron rooftops of

the Vidigal favela (shantytown) catch the first rays of an enormous yellow sun. On the terrace of Alto Vidigal, the last of a countercultural crowd dances to funky beats after a night under the starry sky, a scene unimaginable less than five years ago when drug gangs controlled Vidigal and Rio’s economic problems seemed insurmountable.

78 Q A N TA S NOV EMBER 201 3

Ipanema Beach, Rio de Janeiro

The renovated Maracanã Stadium, with its impressive new entrance, new seats, new roof and a dramatic improvement in public transport access, is a sign of things to come. Last April, after some months of negativity, the stadium opened without a hitch and with a hint of excitement about events to come. The greatest controversy was the stadium’s prospective policy ban-ning people from going topless – a radical move in a city whose uniform consists of thongs and boardshorts.

Add to that 11 new sporting stadiums, massive metro upgrades in São Paulo and Rio, airport improvements, extensive port redevelop-ment in Rio, 147 new hotels and a boom in the restaurant industry, and you have the makings of the world’s next big destination.

Brazil’s transport problems may seem like something out of a dystopian sci-fi novel – huge traffic jams in São Paulo (in 2012, the average total traffic jam on Friday evenings was 180km), four-hour commutes to work – but a radical upgrade of the metro system in core urban centres is set to change that. In Rio, improvements will give access right down along the sweeping beaches of the south while São Paulo will expand its metro by 25 per cent and add 24km of monorail. There is also a tender out for a high-speed rail line covering the 430km between Rio and São Paulo.

ON THE GROUND, the R$8b ($3.8b) Porto Maravilha project in Rio to revitalise the city’s historic port district and replace the ugly highways that currently ruin the urban experience is underway. Above-ground trains, sweeping sidewalks, bike paths and commer-cial complexes, including Donald Trump’s shining Trump Tower Rio, will form the new cityscape. There will be plenty of hotels to take advantage of the new infrastructure.

Other notable developments underway in Rio include Eike Batista’s stunning redux of the Gloria Palace Hotel in Rio, a Hyatt and Hilton in Barra de Tijuca, and the conversion of a former downtown love hotel into the five-star boutique Le Paris hotel, with a rooftop pool and bar.

Up north in Bahia, two new hotels from Brazil’s iconic luxury brand Fasano – one in a spectacular heritage building in Salvador and the other in the super-chic coastal village of Trancoso – are due to open this year, as well as an Isay Weinfeld-designed hotel in Brasilia and a new Sheraton in Recife.

Two new luxury resorts within two hours of São Paulo will enable visitors to imagine what a wealthy, successful Brazil really looks like. The Botanique Hotel & Spa in Campos do Jordão, Brazil’s version of the Hamptons, and the Isay Weinfeld-designed Fasano Boa Vista are part of a wave of new luxury properties designed to cater to an increasingly sophisticated and cashed-up Brazilian population.

It’s no coincidence that in 2012, Brazil broke all the records when nearly a million people flocked to see an exhibition of works by Monet, Manet, Renoir and Gauguin at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil museums in Rio and São Paulo. Erudite intellectual interests, once exclusive to a small set of internationalised Brazilians in ❯

IN RIO, UPGRADES WILL GIVE ACCESS RIGHT DOWN ALONG THE SWEEPING BEACHES OF THE SOUTH, WHILE

SÃO PAULO WILL EXPAND ITS METRO BY 25 PER CENTTHE

WORLD AWAITSFor more on what’s

happening in the most happening global cities, visit qantas.com/travelinsider

ONLINE

BRAZIL UPDATE

PHO

TOG

RA

PHY

: AN

TON

INO

BA

RTU

CC

IO/S

IME/

4CO

RNER

S

BRAZIL UPDATE

80 Q A N TA S NOV EMBER 201 3

recently openedsee & doCasa Daros159 Rua General Severiano, Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro.(21) 2138 0850. casadaros.net.This stately 19th-century neoclassical building hosts excellent exhibitions from the Daros Latinamerica Collection of about 1200 Latin American art works. The sea wall outside the waterfront Bar Urca is perfect for a post-gallery drink. Open Wed-Sat 12-8pm, Sun 12-6pm.

MARPraça Mauá, Centro, Rio de Janeiro. (21) 3031 2741. museudeartedorio.org.brWith a view across the bay and the complete spectrum of the city’s art history, from the colonial works of Jean-Baptiste Debret to

the contemporary artist Guga Ferraz, MAR offers plenty for the cultural visitor. Visit Friday afternoon and then walk around the corner to Pedra do Sal at Largo São Francisco da Prainha, where one of Rio’s most authentic samba jams takes place. Open Tue-Sun 10am-5pm.

Bike Riomobilicidade.com.br/bikerio.aspIf, like the locals, you just won’t believe the infrastructure upgrade until you see it, then book your ❯

São Paulo and Rio, are going mainstream, which will have rich consequences for the Brazilian cultural landscape.

Already this year, Rio heralded the opening of the dazzling R$80m ($38m) MAR – Museu de Arte do Rio (Art Museum of Rio) – overlooking Guanabara Bay; and the reopening of the Casa Daros, a neoclassical palace that hosts exhibitions from one of the most comprehensive collections of Latin American contemporary art in the world. Completing the trilogy next year will be the Santiago Calatrava-designed Museum of Tomorrow, featuring extensive gardens, recycled rainwater ponds and exhibitions focusing on the world’s ecological future.

But perhaps the biggest change for travellers is the favela pacification program, in which police have gained control of 32 slum neighbourhoods previously controlled by drug gangs. Since the police crackdown occurred, rapid gentrification has spread across areas such as Vidigal, attracting residents from the middle class. There are at least two five-star hotels under construction. Property values are rising and the pace of change is bewildering.

Back on the breezy terrace in Vidigal, partygoers begin to disperse. They walk down the steep stairways and wind-ing lanes, passing easily through the entrance that was once patrolled by notorious traficantes (drug dealers), and into a red Rio dawn. This is the new Brazil.

Museu de Arte do Rio; Rubans au Vent (1988) by

Julio Le Parc at Casa Daros (right); Bike Rio (below)

BIKE

RIO

PH

OTO

GR

APH

Y: L

IAN

NE

MIL

TON

; CA

SA D

ARO

S: A

DRI

AN

FR

ITSC

HI,

ZURI

CH

, © T

HE

ART

IST

OR

HIS

REP

RESE

NTA

TIV

E

BRAZIL UPDATE

82 Q A N TA S NOV EMBER 201 3

For airfares to Brazil call Qantas on 13 13 13 or visit qantas.com

back-up plan with Bike Rio, which has set up racks of rentable orange bikes in strategic places around the city. Cycling is a great way to get around the beaches, especially on Sundays, when the sweeping boardwalks are closed to traffic.

STAYTuakazaEstrada da Canoa, São Conrado, Rio de Janeiro.(21) 3322 6715. tuakaza.comIf your vision of Brazil is staying in a gorgeous wooden tree house at one with nature, then new boutique hotel Tuakaza is indeed tua casa (your home). Built by the self-taught Bahian architect Zanine Caldas in the 1970s and owned by a prominent Rio family, this six-bedroom guesthouse has majestic views of Tijuca Forest and

its own waterfall. And all of this can be found within 20 minutes of the action in Leblon and Ipanema. From R$650 ($312).

Botanique Hotel & SpaRua Eíídio Gonçalves da Silva, Bairro dos Mellos, Campos do Jordão. (12) 3797 6877. botanique.com.brFar from the beachside tropics, Brazil’s hottest new luxury property sits in a Swiss-style town high in the Mantiqueira Mountains, where Paulistas come to escape the oppressive summer heat. Featuring a 900sq m spa and gorgeous slate and wood interiors, Botanique Hotel & Spa offers the ultimate escape from the incessant bustle and heady madness of the Brazilian cities. From R$1100 ($528).

Brazilian countryside? Isay Weinfeld’s Fasano Boa Vista offers flawless golf courses, impeccable equestrian facilities and a Mad Men-esque vibe of cool detachment on a property stretching over more than 800ha. From R$1000 ($480). �

Fasano Boa VistaRodovia Castello Branco Km102.5, Porto Feliz. (15) 3261 9900. fasano.com.br/hotelaria/hotel/4Brazilians love their architecture. Who else would build such a bold contemporary vision of Latin modernism in the middle of the

Botanique Hotel & Spa (above); piano at Botanique (above right); Fasano Boa Vista (right)

BOTA

NIQ

UE

PHO

TOG

RA

PHY

: CO

URT

ESY

BO

TAN

IQU

E H

OTE

L &

SPA

; PI

AN

O: M

ARC

IO S

CAV

ON

E; F

ASA

NO

: CO

URT

ESY

FA

SAN

O B

OA

VIS

TA