'winter' in rio de janeiro occurs during july, august and september - although it never becomes very cold - surprisingly, even though these months are theoretically winter they produce the least amount of rainfall; in fact, it rarely gets cloudy in rio de janeiro and towards the end of the day it can become a little chilly on the beach.

visitors should be warned though, even on cloudy days, a day spent sunbathing on one of the city's famous beaches can end badly if enough sun cream is not applied, especially for pearl skinned europeans.