Recreio dos Bandeirantes

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Recreio dos Bandeirantes
Neighborhood
Vista sob a pedra do Pontal visualizando Praia do Recreio.jpg
Recreio dos Bandeirantes.svg
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Recreio dos Bandeirantes
Location in Brazil
Coordinates: 23°00′59″S43°28′45″W / 23.01639°S 43.47917°W / -23.01639; -43.47917
Country Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil
State Rio de Janeiro (RJ)
Municipality/City Rio de Janeiro
Zone West Zone

Recreio dos Bandeirantes (or simply Recreio) is both the name of a beach and neighborhood in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a recent development, with no skyscrapers, and the area also contains jungles atop rocky cliffs and hills. High waves permit surfing at Recreio Beach and the white sand beach is used by beach volleyball players. It is about 35 km from the Rio de Janeiro city centre, and most of the people living there are middle-class and high middle-class families, who moved in trying to escape the growing violence of both the North and South Zones.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Apocryphally, the neighborhood received the name Recreio dos Bandeirantes, or "Bandeirantes' Leisure" because the company that mapped and hired a real estate agent to sell lots there had that name.[ citation needed ] Another version says that many of the newcomers were from São Paulo, the city from which the Bandeiras departed in colonial times, and therefore Paulistas are associated with them.[ citation needed ] Still another version states that Recreio was the first (or last) resting place with fresh water for Bandeirantes traveling between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.[ citation needed ]

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Recreio dos Bandeirantes

Development in the area began in 1959, and only more recently, have well-to-do residents discovered and made Recreio their home. Despite a high population density, the neighborhood is mostly residential and does not have the busy nightlife of more central neighborhoods like Lapa, Copacabana, Leblon, and Ipanema, but there has been an increase in the number of restaurants, pizzerias, bars, private schools and colleges. There are a few favelas , or slums, in the section. Recreio has an organized association of residents who communicate online with tips and news about the neighborhood. They have been able to address the need for the city building a ciclovia—a road for bicycles—and authorities have been persuaded to build, in the future, two subway stations in the section to facilitate commuting to downtown and the South Side (which would otherwise take about 1.5 h).

Geography

Little beach

Prainha is located between Recreio dos Bandeirantes and Grumari. It has a narrow strip of sand between the Pedra Branca massif and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the most popular beaches for surfing. Adjacent to the Grumari neighborhood, it is bordered by Avenida Estado da Guanabara, which is the only access road to the beach, running along its entire length. The area is part of the Prainha Environmental Protection Area (APA), a permanently protected forest area where the construction of any construction is prohibited, apart from the existing structures that serve to maintain the area and provide services to visitors, especially surfers. Surfing, bodyboarding, longboarding, and bodysurfing are the most popular sports in the area. [1]

References

  1. "Encontra Recreio dos Bandeirantes | Guia do Bairro de Recreio dos Bandeirantes » EncontraRecreioRJ.com.br". Encontra Recreio dos Bandeirantes (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2025-03-04.