parks in rio de janeiro are an extremely important part of the city culture and carioca way of life - often, residents who live away from the shores use city parks to socialize, exercize, for leisure activities, and family time.

the variety of parks spans from one of the smallest city parks, the parque garota de ipanema in arpador, to the immense and wild pedra branca park, and covers everything in between.

particularly popular is the parque do cantagalo in lagoa, green, beautiful, and on the edge of a lagoon just minues away from ipanbema beach. not too far, also in the southern zone of rio, is the precious parque do flamengo - where bicycle paths, seaside views and hundreds of exotic trees all come together to host the metropolitan museum of modern art and the landmark monument to the fallen of the second world war.