The Sheraton Barra is in fact located right on the beach. Thirty years ago Barra da Tijuca was basically empty – just a few vacation homes along a beach that stretched for miles. Now it is an upscale mostly high-rise suburb – sort of a Brazilian Miami Beach. It is significantly quieter than the rest of the city, but traveling from Barra to Ipanema or Copacabana or downtown Rio can be difficult and time-consuming. There is a lot of traffic and roadblocks are fairly common. The minimum taxi travel time between Barra and the rest of Rio is about half an hour.