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9 of the best city destinations with beaches, from Barcelona to Rio and Sydney to Miami
- If you want to mix shopping, sightseeing and sunbathing, think Rio and Copacabana Beach, Sydney and Bondi Beach, or Hoi An, Vietnam, and An Bang Beach
- Mumbai’s Chowpatty Beach is a microcosm of India and Brighton isn’t called London-by-the-Sea for nothing, while Athens’ best kept secret is the Athenian Riviera
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Planning a holiday and can’t decide between shopping and sunbathing? Love museums and galleries but can’t do without golden sands and glistening surf? Need a good selection of swanky restaurants and lively bars but also enjoy boogie boarding and boat trips?
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Here are nine cities that offer the best of both worlds:
1. Rio de Janeiro
Seven kilometres (4 miles) from downtown Rio de Janeiro, crescent-shaped Copacabana Beach is famed for its stupendous scenery and stylish sun worshippers. Glistening volleyball players display feats of great agility – much like those competing in the 2016 Rio Olympics (the sport was hosted in a temporary stadium on the beach).
Copacabana is also the venue for a gigantic New Year’s Eve fireworks display and accompanying rock concert. Rod Stewart’s 1994 performance was watched by a record-breaking 3.5 million people.
Talking of music, Copacabana and adjoining Ipanema Beach both have iconic songs written about them. Barry Manilow released Copacabana in 1978 and back in 1964, Bossa Nova classic “The Girl from Ipanema” evoked images of youthful beauty.
The song became an international hit and won a Grammy – no one seems to mind that ipanema means “stinking pond” in Brazil’s indigenous Tupi language.
2. Mumbai
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