A glance through the pages of the Copacabana Palaces Golden Book is enough to confirm the hotel’s status among the world’s great hotels. It reveals a guest list of royalty, stars of the screen, stage, music and sport as well as the politicians and business leaders who have helped shape the world over the last seven decades.

Opened in 1923, this impressive stucco-fashioned edifice is Rio’s most traditional and luxurious hotel. This landmark was designed by the French architect Joseph Gire who was inspired by two hotels, the Negresco in Nice and the Carlton in Cannes. Since opening it has had only two owners, the Guinle family of Rio de Janeiro and from 1989, Orient-Express Hotels. The Copacabana Palace Hotel has undergone an extensive, discreet refurbishment program, which was designed to retain and enhance the hotel’s position as South America’s premiere hotel.

A new method of illuminating the façade was introduced in 1990 and allows the hotel to shine as brightly by night as it does by the day. By the end of 1991, the hotels pool area was fully renovated. The Copacabana Palace now boasts a magnificent, semi-Olympic size swimming pool, which is without doubt the finest in Rio, and the only rooftop tennis court in the city. Copacabana Palace has two restaurants, The Pergula situated by the pool area where guests may enjoy breakfast, buffet lunch, dinner or refreshments, and the Cipriani restaurant already rated among the city’s best, offers a selection of Northern Italian cuisine.

The Hotel, which occupies an area of over 12,000 square metres of some of the most expensive and sought after real estate in Brazil, has 222 bedrooms and suites, 147 of which are in the main building and 75 suites in the Annex, which was added to the hotel in 1948 and fully sound proofed in 1992.