Which beach in Rio de Janeiro hosts Brazil's best-known New Year's Eve celebration, Réveillon?

Copacabana Beach hosts Brazil's best-known New Year's Eve celebration, Réveillon.

Rio de Janeiro's Réveillon is centered on Copacabana Beach, where huge crowds gather for concerts, fireworks, and midnight celebrations. The beach's long crescent shoreline provides space for spectators, while hotels and boats offer additional views of the pyrotechnic displays over the Atlantic Ocean.

Many participants wear white, a practice associated with wishes for peace and good fortune and influenced by Afro-Brazilian religious traditions. Some celebrants also make offerings to Iemanjá, a sea-associated deity honored in Brazilian cultural and religious practices, though customs vary among individuals.

Copacabana is sometimes mixed up with other famous Rio beaches, especially Ipanema. Ipanema is another major landmark, but the signature mass New Year's Eve gathering is identified with Copacabana. In Portuguese, the celebration is commonly called Réveillon, a word also used for New Year's festivities in several other countries.