What's around Rio ? 10 min walk to Palms casino, if you want to stay indoor as much as possible, from West entrance of Ipanema tower at Rio, walk across the street, then walk thru the parking structure into gold coast, and look for the south entrance at Gold Coast, once you exit, walk across Flamingo road you will see Palms.

The most famous thing for Palms is their AYCE buffet lobster nights for Wednesday and Thursday, MUST MAKE RESERVATIONS. Also is their Tim Ho Wan, a Hong Kong base dim sum restaurant where they have locations in NYC and LA as well