Zona Sul, Rio

Get the bus...........569, 571, 583 all go from Ipanema to Botafogo.........shouldnt take more than 15 minutes

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Just keep in mind that traffic can be very unpredictable - and the journey down Visconde de Pirajá and then N.S de Copacaana (the main roads in Ipanema and Copa respectively) may, during peak hours, take 30 minutes longer than usual. My girlfriend and I decided to move to Leme (at the end of Copacabana - about a 5 minute walk from Cardeal Arcovderde Metro station) for this exact reason. This will be especialy handy on the days when you've got to get to Centro.

You can also take the subway from Copacabana (and maybe Ipanema now) to Botafogo. Your location will be fine. Even going by bus (and there are comfortable express busses as well as the usual local busses) will not take long. I lived in Ipanema for 18 months and commuted to downtown Rio every day. No big deal. Main road along the beach in Ipanema and Copacabana is converted to one-way traffic for commuting in the morning and evening (I found it strange that they did not change to one-way until 7 a.m., which meant you could get caught in the middle of the switch; I was once directed to the left hand side of the divided road by a policeman, singifying that the switch to one-way traffic had taken place, only to be soon confronted with 3 lanes of oncoming traffic, so I quickly turned around, and when I signaled to the policeman what he had done he just shrugged). Botafogo and Flamengo have lots of nice restaurants and bars and shops (and, I believe, a decent hotel or two), though you are long the bay not the ocean. Great place for jogging.