Praia do Meio
Rio de Janeiro
Daniela Lopes Segadilha / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The middle beach of the coastal trail from Barra de Guaratiba, a further twenty minutes past Praia do Perigoso. It sits between two headlands with the forest coming down to the sand, and on a weekday you can have it to yourself. There is no shade beyond the rocks and no water, so carry both, and turn back before the li…