Hiding out in the shadow of Sugar Loaf is one of our favourite Rio spots. Bar Urca nails drinking in this city; informal, easy-going and outdoors. It’s so no frills that there aren’t any tables or chairs. Instead punters sit along the sea wall over the road, crowding around paper plates of pastéis and sharing bottles of beers. It’s the simple stuff that makes BarChick swoon.

The retro menu behind the bar is charmingly faded. So faded in fact, it’s barely legible, but that doesn’t matter - there isn’t much else to eat here apart from the delicious deep-fried snacks, and to drink anything other than beer or Caipirinhas would be close to criminal.

Plus you haven’t come here for cocktails and fine dining, you have come to listen to the sea, watch the fishermen at work and wait for the sun to set over Guanabara Bay. Yes, BarChick gets a bit gooey about this place. Our advice: make friends with your neighbours on the wall; keep the Caipis coming; and daydream of the sailors.