Blame it on Rio! For the Love of Rio de Janeiro

A trip to exotic Rio may be the perfect vacation!

- MONICA SZCZUPIDER

Rio de Janeiro is easy to fall in love with.

Anyone can tell you this. A night spent dancing samba in the steaming streets of Lapa seethes the incontestable truth: the dancing is hot, but the people are hotter. Even if you don't speak the language, the melodic brand of Portuguese for which Cariocas (Rio dwellers) are famous, Rio will bewitch you. Their city, arguably one of the most beautiful in the world, is lined with golden beaches and sprinkled with cobblestoned streets and colourful houses. Built on a series of mountains, many of them covered in the city's notorious favelas (slums), Rio's million dollar profile is best captured from the top. Indeed, with steep, emerald pinnacles jutting out from the Atlantic Ocean and a national park within the city limits, Rio is, from the bird's eye, nothing short of magnificent.