Copacabana Palace Reveals Its All-Suite Pool Wing for November 2026

Copacabana Palace, A Belmond Hotel will reveal its renovated Pool Wing in November 2026 after a 19-month rebuild, turning the 1948 wing into an all-suite address above the hotel's legendary pool. The Belmond landmark on Avenida Atlântica remains the social front row of Rio de Janeiro, and the project is the clearest guest-facing upgrade since the hotel's centenary.

Ulisses Marreiros, General Manager and Belmond's Area Managing Director for Brazil, framed the wing as an invitation to stay longer: larger suites, a five-floor wellness stack, and a new Italian restaurant looking over the pool or the beach.

What the wing will actually offer

The Pool Wing returns with 68 suites, bringing the hotel to 208 rooms and suites in total alongside 140 keys in the main building. Most suites have a private balcony and a separate sitting room. Six new signature categories debut with the wing, including the Carioca Suite, a two-bedroom penthouse with views toward Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf, and Two-Bedroom Pool and Ocean View Suites of about 165 square metres sized for families.

Architect Ivan Rezende leads the redesign after restoring Copa's theatre in 2021. Interiors lean on Brazilian materials and makers: reclaimed Amazon timber, local stone, furniture by Rezende and Sergio Rodrigues, woodcuts by Ciro Fernandes, and inlay work by Maqueson Pereira da Silva. Rugs draw on satellite imagery of Acre's rivers and canopy, so the suites read as a national craft story rather than a generic refresh.

Wellness, pool, and dining around the water

Five floors are devoted to wellness: spa, fitness with a health bar, Pilates and movement, ice baths with infrared sauna and steam, and a grooming salon. Outside the wing, guests still have the tennis court and the Black Pool on the main building's sixth floor.

The pool itself is resurfaced with a new base design that nods to the Atlantic in front of the hotel. Bar do Copa, the hotel's first signature bar, runs nearly ten metres under Head Barman Stephano Giglio, with a focus on Brazilian spirits and high mixology. Around the water, dining will include a reimagined contemporary Italian restaurant led by Executive Chef Nello Cassese, the all-day Pérgula facing the sea, and MEE in the main building, Rio's only Michelin-starred pan-Asian restaurant for five consecutive years. A boutique devoted to Brazilian craftsmanship sits a few steps from the pool.

Why November matters for planners

The wing was built in 1948 for seasonal, longer stays. Belmond is selling that original brief again: beach days, city nights, and mornings that can mean either stillness or a slow lap. For travelers who already book Belmond for heritage hotels in Florence, Portofino, or the Riviera Maya, Copacabana Palace is the Rio chapter of the same custodian story.

If you want the new suites, watch Belmond's November reveal for category names, rates, and opening inventory. Carnival and New Year still define Copa's calendar, so early inquiries for peak dates make more sense than waiting for a soft-opening rumor to settle.