Urban beaches don’t get any more dazzling than Copacabana Beach, a 4.5-kilometer (2.8-mile) strip that stretches in a gorgeous arc from Pão de Açúcar to the Forte de Copacabana. The sand is sugary fine and white and is a striking contrast to the blue of the open Atlantic and the hypnotically wavy, white-and-black mosaic promenade that separates it from busy Avenida Atlântica.

More than just affording a great view or acting as an outdoor tanning salon, the praia of Copacabana is a way of life. From dawn to dusk there is always something happening on Copa’s beach—whether it’s an early-morning yoga class for seniors, a Vogue photo shoot, an early evening volleyball practice for preteen girls, or midnight hookers on the prowl for foreign tourists.

The beach is also meeting spot and a pickup place. You can get a tan or a tattoo, drink a caipirinha at a fancy barraca or an icy água de coco sold by one of many hundreds of ambulantes, who hawk everything from strangely addictive bags of Globo biscuits to transistor radios. Of course, in a pinch, you can go swimming—the chilly temperatures coupled with an undercurrent demand caution—but you can also do so much more.

Like the neighborhood itself, Copacabana beach is actually very stratified, and different points are occupied by different “tribes.” The one-kilometer (0.6-mile) stretch closest to the tunnel that leads to Botafogo—between Morro do Leme and Avenida Princesa Isabel—is actually known as Praia do Leme (the small attractive residential bairro behind it is known as Leme as well). Leme is popular with families and older residents.

The stretch of Copacabana in front of the Copacabana Palace is fashionable with gay men and transvestites. The patch near Rua Santa Clara is popular with jocks, particularly fans of futebol and futevolei (a Brazilian version of volleyball in which no hands are allowed).

Closer to Ipanema, Postos 5 and 6 (which refer to the beacon-like lifeguard posts) draw an eclectic mix of seniors and favela kids. At the very end, in front of the Forte de Copacabana, is a fishermen’s colony, one of the oldest and most traditional in Rio. Here, you can watch pescadores haul in their catch and mend their nets.

The Forte de Copacabana (corner of Av. Atlântica and Rua Francisco Otáviano, Copacabana, tel. 21/2521-1032, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Tues.–Thurs., 10 a.m.–noon Fri., 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Sat.–Sun., R$4) was built in 1912 and houses the Museu Histórico do Exército, with a collection of army paraphernalia that will probably only interest military buffs. Much more enticing are the views of Copacabana beach and the bay. You can gaze upon them from the Confeitaria Colombo—an idyllic place for a late-afternoon drink or snack.