Flamengo Park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Flamengo Park is a place easy to visit, good for a relaxing walk, or you can visit some of the attractions in the area.
If you are on a tour with a private tour guide and would love to have lunch or dinner in Rios most famous barbeque place,
then Porcao is the natural option.
Porcao in Flamengo provides excellent view both to Guanabara Bay and the Sugar loaf, as well as having a huge selection of meat and buffet.
Price for a visit to this restaurant will be more than R$100 per person, so naturally it is not a great option for backpackers.

Getting there: Easiest is to take the metro to Flamengo station with either one of the metro lines. Advantage with taking the metro is that you then will exit in the Flamengo neighborhood which has a rich history.

Flamengo Neighborhood: From the discovery of Rio de Janeiro and its slow development during the 16th century, Flamengo has been one of the areas of interest for both the French and the Portuguese settlers. It is said that the term "Carioca" which is used to label people from Rio de Janeiro comes from this area. When the Portuguese settled the first trade station in Rio de Janeiro the location was in Flamengo. The Indians called this small house for "Cari-oca" meaning house of whites. As the settlers moved further north in the state to bring back wood and precious metal - the term "Carioca" was in 1824 denoted to label people from Rio de Janeiro, to separate them from Fluminenses from further north and inwards in the state. Because of ample water supply in the region, Flamengo became a popular place for farms and industries during the 18th century. During the 19th century people of higher social sphere moved to this neighborhood. Tendencies one still sees today with high quality classical buildings. The architecture style is visibly different here than what you will se in the south zone (like Copacabana and Ipanema).

Flamengo Park: Flamengo Park is the largest leisure area in Rio de Janeiro. This area is not a natural area. Instead it was constructed with landmasses taken from Santo Antonio in Center of Rio. What today is known as Avenida Republica do Chile and Avenida Republica do Paraguai. The landmasses started to be transported from downtown to Flamengo in the 1950s and the 296 Acre large park got inaugurated in 1965. Landscape architect responsible for the construction was Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994), who is considered the largest tropical landscape architect of the 20th century. In addition to the park being a nice location for a stroll by the bay it is also a great location for sport activity. With the park´s several basketball courts, football (soccer) courts and tennis courts. In addition there are tennis courts and people jogging.

Largest attraction in this area, beyond the park itself, is the museum of modern art (MAM). Originally founded in 1948 it started to get moved to Flamengo in the early 50s and inagurated in 1958. Official website for MAM is mamrio.com.br (In portuguese).

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Flamengo Park - Rio de Janeiro

Guide and History of Flamengo Park