at a glance

squeezed between the guaratiba neighborhood to the west, and the grumari, recreio dos bandeirantes and vargem grande to the east, the generality of pedra branca ridge to the north and the Atlantic ocean to the south, the barra de guaratiba holds examples of some of the great natural wonders one might find in rio de janeiro, like beaches and forests - the eastern area of the marambaia restinga was also part of the neighborhood in the past, but was converted to the use of the brazilian army in the 20th century.

it is an important part of the atlantic edge of the west zone and most of its few thousand inhabitants are spread in a strip of land which starts in the guaratiba hill in the south and extends all the way across the western shore and right into the wetlands of the state biological reserve of guaratiba - the neighborhood was already named barra de guaratiba, or 'guaratiba's backshore' in english, by the 17th century. occupied by the portuguese in the middle 16th century, it was the landing point for the troops of the french commander duclerc, in their ill-fated attempt at taking the region away from their european rivals in 1710.