98 Best Nightlife in Brazil

A hip and young crowd ranging in age from 18 to mid-30s gathers at A Obra, a basement-level pub with a dance floor. Music styles vary from indie rock to classic rock and more, but this is always a good place to go for something other than mainstream music.

Not merely the place in Rio to try caipirinhas (made here with a variety of tropical fruits), Academia da Cachaça is a veritable temple to cachaça. The small bar sells close to 100 brands of cachaça by the glass or bottle, as well as mixing the famous sugarcane rum into dangerously drinkable concoctions such as the cocada geladinha—frozen coconut, coconut water, brown sugar, and cachaça. The Northeastern bar snacks here include sun-dried beef, baked palm hearts, and delicious black-bean soup. There's now an affiliate in Barra da Tijuca, but it's hard to beat the Leblon original.

For fabulous city views and some of Brazil's best cachaças, head to this bar where musicians perform daily except on Monday. The music is mainly pop-country and forró, and the audience is young and hip. You can party all night here: Alambique opens at 10 and closes at dawn.

A traditional bar in a colonial building owned by Brazilian comedian and actor Saulo Laranjeira, Arrumação specializes in cachaças and serves excellent appetizers. It often hosts performances and concerts.

Cited as one of the best dance experiences in Brazil, and at a great value, too, this show lasts just an hour and provides an exhilarating window into the Afro-Brazilian culture. Shows begin daily at 8 pm and tickets cost R$45 per person.

Officially Armazem São Thiago, this neighborhood institution is universally referred to by its nickname, Bar do Gomez, in honor of the late owner whose family has run the business for close to 100 years. Pictures documenting the bar's history adorn the high wooden walls, and surveying the scene in the present, you get the pleasant impression that little has changed over the years. The draft beer flows like water, locals swap stories at the long wooden bar, and new friendships are forged at the outdoor drinking posts. Favorites among the bar snacks include the giant olives, a pastrami sandwich, and the shrimp plate. Early on a Friday night, this is a good place to strike up a conversation with locals before heading down the hill to Lapa.

Here the roda de samba—where musicians sit and play instruments around a central table (in fact the only table in this tiny bar)—is legendary, as is the help-yourself beer policy. The no-nonsense owner makes drink notations and keeps the crowd in check. The standards of the music here are as high as the bar is simple: big-name Brazilian musicians have been known to drop in for a jam session, and on weekend evenings the revelry often spills out onto the street.

Belo Horizonte's intellectual beau monde collects at this café to eat dainty salads and drink imported wine in a beautiful interior surrounded by books and art. DJs spin music on most nights, and there's sometimes live jazz.

A favorite among local sambistas (samba musicians) and a great spot to listen to live samba in a comfortable environment, Carioca da Gema is one of Lapa's liveliest spots, with talented musicians performing seven nights a week. By 11 pm, finding a place to stand can be difficult, but regulars still find a way to samba. Call ahead and book a table if you're more keen to be a spectator. There's a good pizzeria downstairs.

On paying your entrance fee, you're given a white paper card where all food and drinks are noted and your bill's paid at the cashier at the end of the night. Don't lose it, it's your ticket out at the end of the night!

A great venue in an excellent location right by the Lapa arches, Circo Voador hosts club nights during the week, but it's the varied live shows that really stand out, with a big stage set under a huge open-sided circular tent and room for up to 1,500 people to dance the night away.

Check the website for a regular roster of international acts and local stars.

The riffs heard at Madeleine place it in an exclusive stratum of São Paulo music clubs, but it's the mix of music, food, drinks, and atmosphere that lends the bar its comprehensive appeal. Jazz ensembles play in the exposed-brick lounge, which has clear sightlines from the mezzanine. Better for chatting are the candlelit tables in the well-stocked wine cellar, and the seats on the veranda, with its panoramic views of Vila Madalena. Wherever you sit, the gourmet pizzas go great with the craft beers poured here.

Belo Horizonte's best and most authentic live-music venue is Pedacinhos do Céu, literally, "little pieces of heaven." This small bar is known mostly for choro, an instrumental version of samba, for which guitars dominate the sound. Groups of musicians gather here with their cavaquinhos (small four-string guitars), violões (guitars), and flutes for jam sessions that last late into the night. The bar is named after a song by composer Waldir Azevedo (1923–80) and provides access to his archive.

Despite the hordes of samba-seeking tourists, Rio Scenarium somehow manages to retain its authenticity and magic. This is partly due to the incredible setting—a former movie-props warehouse still crammed to the rafters with old instruments, bikes, furniture, and puppets—but also to the great bands and persevering locals who love to show off their moves and entice novices onto the dance floor. On weekends arrive before 9 pm to avoid the lines, or call ahead and book a table. It's closed on Sunday and Monday.

By day a furniture store and an architecture office, this space transforms at night into a venue for jazz, blues, and Brazilian and Cuban rhythms.

Tables here are as disputed as a parking spot in front of a downtown apartment. An intimate corner bar on a quiet cobblestone plaza, Veloso dispenses some of São Paulo's best caipirinhas, including exotic versions such as tangerine with red pepper, and coxinhas (fried balls of chicken with cheese).

With its high ceilings, stone walls, 18th-century fountain, and gorgeous garden with tropical plants, Acaso 85 is an impressive stop for lunch. The buffet offers all the mineiran classics such as frango com quiabo, tutu, pastel de angu, and feijoada.

A linchpin of the nightlife revival pulling hipsters back to Centro, this club across from the Novotel Jaraguá caters to crowds from happy hour to the bewitching hours. Head upstairs to the lounge for cocktails and imported beers or downstairs to shake it out on the dance floor to indie and classic rock. Cover fees average R$20.

People come here to listen quietly to good jazz and bossa nova in an intimate environment—there's even a CD store upstairs with more than 3,000 discs. Local musicians jam from 10 pm on except on Sunday. The club gets crowded on weekends, when it's best to reserve a table.

A slightly lower-key alternative to the city's more frenetic clubs, Anexo plays ambient house and has a veranda where you can kick back and enjoy one of the many specialty cocktails alongside the gente bonita of Búzios.

The 1960s and 1970s bohemian-chic decor here sends you back in time. The quality draft beer and tasty snacks and meals mean that Astor is always hopping—the menu is full of specialties from classic bars in Brazil. Don't miss the picadinho: beef stew with rice and black beans, poached eggs, banana, farofa, and beef pastel (a type of dumpling). To finish up, head downstairs, where SubAstor, a speakeasy-style sister bar, serves the kind of cocktails that inspire you to attempt knockoffs at your next house party.

Balcão means "bar" in Portuguese, and this artsy place has a long, curving one. If you'd like a little food to accompany your drinks and conversation, try one of the famous sandwiches on ciabatta bread.

First opened in 1948, Bar Brahma used to be the meeting place of artists, intellectuals, and politicians. The decor is a time warp to the mid-20th century, with furniture, lamps, and a piano true to the period. This is one of the best places in São Paulo for live music, with traditional samba and Brazilian pop groups scheduled every week. Caetano Veloso immortalized the intersection of Ipiranga and São João Avenues, where the bar is located, in his 1978 song "Sampa." Cover fees range from R$15 to R$50.

If you want to experience a typical Brazilian happy hour, go to the traditional Bar Brasília, known for having the best draft beer in town. Traditional appetizers such as bolinho de bacalhau (cod cake) round out the offerings.