☀️ Buzios, Rio's hidden gem

You'll read this word a lot of times here. Make sure you know have the right pronounce!

I've been visiting Buzios for more than 20 years now. When I was a child, the beaches amused
me, I could spend all day long on any of them, as a teenager I enjoyed sometimes too much of
its night life, as an adult I've built many fond memories with my wife and friends. This is the
place where I'm going to retire on and in this article you'll learn what makes it my favorite
place on Earth.

🏛️ History

The peninsula, initially named “tip of the shells” due to numerous gastropod shells on its
beaches, was renamed “Armação dos Búzios” after the construction of Armação das Baleias de
Búzios, a commercial establishment. When the Portuguese presence weakened, France and
England used the main port as a naval base for piracy and trade.

In the 1950s, Armação beach became popular for summer residences among Brazilian and
French bourgeoisie, but only after the french actress and pop icon Brigitte Bardot visit
in 1964, the village's transformation began. Bardot made public her love for the place,
drawing international attention and increasing its popularity, especially among French and
Argentine tourists and a bronze statue was built after her at the Bardot waterfront.

📌 How to get there

Now this is one of the best thing about Buzios, it is located far enough from Rio's touristic hub
so you get away of the noise and all other alarming numbers that scary tourists away.

The ways you can get there (as usually) depends on your budget, Buzios has an airport for
private flights and a busy bus terminal. A bus trip from Rio takes roughly 3 hours and it
costs from R$75,00 to R$173,00 (CAD 19,00 to CAD 44,00), check the options here.

The best option in my opinion is going by car, it is faster (2:20 hours) and you have the chance
to stop by Queijão, a highly rated (and inexpensive) snack restaurant focused on its many
proprietary cheese options or Kiosque do Alemão, as good as the former, but slightly more
expensive, it also offers more options on german cuisine. I've pinned them both on the map below:

🛏️ Where to stay

Buzios has a right place for every budget, the best options are always the first to go away in
peak seasons. If this is your first time going there, you'll probably stay most of the day and
maybe all night away from your hotel, so your best course of action here is to pick a place near
the beaches that interests you the most, don't fall for the all inclusive options as there are plenty
of delicious restaurants nearby.

These are my two recommendations, both at Geribá beach:

• Option 1
• Option 2

🍛 What and where to eat

Differently from its neighbors Cabo Frio and São Pedro da Aldeia, Buzios has got a very nice
selection of restaurants, mainly distributed across two hubs: Rua das Pedras and Portinho. The
former is an icon of Buzios, just over 600 meters long, the “catwalk” is full of trendy bars,
sophisticated restaurants, designer shops, inns, cafes, art galleries, ice cream parlors and
nightclubs (we'll cover them soon), as first timer, don't sleep on Chez Michou's delicious crepes,
which are basically pancake's french and thinner cousins.

🕺 Local Attractions and Events

This is one aspect in which Buzios really shine, if you're into electronic music it shines brighter
than Rio itself with prominent clubs like Privilege, a club that became a reference in Brazil's
scene by hosting several Tomorrowland calibre DJs like Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Carl Cox,
Camelphat, Amine Edge and many others. It is commonly referred by the Brazil's biggest DJs
Alok and Vintage Culture as their favorite place to play.

I've been there many times, even for New Year's Eve parties, 24 hour long sets and my only
complaint about them would be the overpriced drinks, so try to start drinking before getting in at
one of the bars nearby and check out their agenda.

For more electronic music, funk, pagode (a samba derived style) or reggae, check out Tawa
Beach Club, Fishbone and Silk Beach Club. For all of these clubs, make an effort to stay up until
the sunrise, it's worth it!

Conclusion

And all of this was just a glimpse of Buzios, each time you go there you can experience
something new. In my opinion, it all comes down to the sheer amount of options that it can offer.
You can't feel the dullness of a regular coastal city there.

I hope you can check it out someday!