Bars in Rio de Janeiro: botecos, caipirinhas and cachaça

The caipirinha is the popular drink in Rio de Janeiro that every visitor orders first, and Brazilian law even defines it. The current beverage decree, Decree 12.709 of 2025, which replaced the 2009 decree, names the caipirinha the typical drink of Brazil and sets the bottled, ready-made kind at 15 to 36 percent alcohol, made with cachaça, lime and sugar.^1,8 A caipirinha mixed at the bar has no fixed strength: each bartender builds the glass by hand, with more or less spirit, ice and fruit.

Making one is a small ritual. Wedges of lime go into a short glass with sugar and are pressed with a wooden muddler to release juice and the oils of the peel. Ice follows, then the cachaça, then a stir. The result is sour, sweet and strong at once, and it tastes softer than it is. That is the reason locals sip slowly and keep a beer or water alongside.

Bars play freely with the formula. Ask for a caipirinha with passion fruit, strawberry or another fruit and most bars will oblige; some swap the cachaça for vodka, which Brazilians call a caipiroska. Purists say the original is the one to try first, made with a good white cachaça and fresh limes. Order it at the counter where you can watch it being made, and you learn the drink as well as taste it.

If you want one famous bar in Rio de Janeiro with history at the counter, start in Lapa. Bar Brasil has run since 1907, keeps an old turned bronze chope tap on its counter and was named Carioca Cultural Heritage in 2011, according to Riotur.⁴ It stands at Av. Mem de Sá, 90, on the same avenue where the Lapa crawl begins.¹⁹ Riotur lists it open from 11h to 00h Tuesday to Thursday and until 02h on Friday and Saturday.²⁰

In Leblon, Bar Jobi opened in 1956, keeps its doors open deep into the night, displays a panel by Nilton Bravo, the artist who decorated botecos across the city, and became Carioca Cultural Heritage in 2011.¹⁰ Riotur gives its hours as 17h to 1h from Monday to Wednesday and on Sunday, and 18h to 3h from Thursday to Saturday.¹² It is the place to finish a night in the South Zone.

The heritage list reaches beyond the tourist map. Baixo Gago dates from the 1940s and was recognised in 2022, and Adega Douro, a Portuguese adega founded in 1967 in the North Zone, joined the list in 2024.^21,11 Each is a reminder that Rio's bar culture lives in every neighbourhood, not only on the beachfront.

Ordering is easy even without Portuguese. Say the drink, hold up fingers for the number, and point at the snack you want on the counter. Many botecos keep a running tab on a slip at your table, and you pay when you leave. Check that slip now and then; it saves surprises at the end and helps you keep count of your rounds.

Choose what is in your glass with some care. The UK government reports deaths and serious illness in Brazil from drinks containing methanol, and urges care with spirit-based drinks such as gin, vodka and whisky.²⁴ Smartraveller's advice is to drink only branded, sealed drinks.²⁵ In practice that means trusted bars, bottles you can see opened, and caution with cheap spirits sold in the street.

Pace matters in a city where the caipirinha is strong and the nights are warm. Eat while you drink, alternate with water, and remember that Brazilian law forbids selling alcohol to anyone under 18.^26,27 If anyone in your group feels suddenly much drunker than they should, the UK advice is to raise the alarm with a friend or the bar's security without delay.²⁸