Joá, Rio de Janeiro.
The smallest neighborhood in Rio, and the one with the highest income per resident in the city — a mile and a half of Atlantic Forest and ocean cliff wedged between São Conrado and Barra da Tijuca. This is a working reference to the place the Brazilian press calls the “Beverly Hills carioca”: who lives here, how it was built, the hidden beach below it, and what it costs to hold an address on the rock.
Joá is easy to miss and hard to enter. Drive the coast road west from São Conrado toward Barra da Tijuca and the city thins to a single wooded ridge falling into the sea — no towers, no shopfronts, no bus line running through. What looks from the road like empty forest is the most concentrated wealth in Rio de Janeiro, turned inward and hidden behind gatehouses and trees.
Officially, Joá is a bairro of the Barra da Tijuca region, delimited by city decree in 1981. In practice it is a mountain — the Morro da Joatinga — with houses built into its flanks between the Atlantic and the rock, under the shadow of the Pedra da Gávea. Fewer than a thousand people live here. It has the highest per-capita income of any neighborhood in the city, and, for large houses, the highest average sale price in Rio. It is exclusively residential: no commerce, no high-rises, no through-traffic. You come to Joá to live, or you come to see the one beach the rest of the city has learned to find.
This guide is our attempt to document it honestly — the neighborhood, not just the listing. Everything here is sourced. What we could not verify, we left out.
The facts, checked.
Four ways into Joá.
Deep, individually-sourced references — the neighborhood, not just the listing.
The Residents
Who Lives in Joá
The Brazilian press calls it the Beverly Hills carioca. Here is who is actually on the hill — and why they chose the one address the cameras can't reach.
The Beach
Praia da Joatinga
Rio's most hidden beach sits below Joá — reached on foot, through a gate, and only at low tide. A complete guide to finding it, and getting back.
History & Geography
The Making of Joá
A mile-and-a-half of cliff that the city almost forgot — until a road, a tunnel and a generation of architects turned it into Rio's quietest fortune.
The Market
Buying in Joá
The priciest neighborhood in Rio for a house — why the numbers run the way they do, and what a few hundred metres of cliff actually costs.
The Beverly Hills carioca, literally.
The Brazilian press reports a roster of television and music names on the hill — among them Luciano Huck and Angélica, Cauã Reymond, Danielle Winits, Márcio Garcia and Carolina Dieckmann. What draws them is not the houses but the discretion: fewer than a thousand residents on a gated, forested ridge that the cameras stop short of.
Read: Who Lives in Joá- Luciano Huck & Angélica presenters
- Cauã Reymond actor
- Danielle Winits actress
- Márcio Garcia actor & presenter
- Carolina Dieckmann actress
Where Joá sits on the coast.
On the seam between Rio's South and West zones — between São Conrado and Barra da Tijuca, under the Pedra da Gávea.
View larger map · © OpenStreetMap contributors
Joá, answered.
Where is Joá?
Joá is a small neighborhood on the western edge of Rio de Janeiro's coastline, between São Conrado and Barra da Tijuca — effectively the dividing line between the city's South and West zones. It belongs to the Barra da Tijuca administrative region.
Why is Joá called the “Beverly Hills of Rio”?
Because it is a hillside of large private homes, hidden in forest, with the highest concentration of wealth in the city and a long roster of well-known residents. Brazilian outlets from Metrópoles to Terra routinely call it the “Beverly Hills carioca.”
Who lives in Joá?
The Brazilian press reports a roster of television and music names — among them Luciano Huck and Angélica, Cauã Reymond, Danielle Winits, Márcio Garcia and Carolina Dieckmann. The neighborhood's appeal is privacy: fewer than a thousand residents on a gated, forested ridge.
How do you get to Praia da Joatinga?
The beach is reached on foot through the gated Condomínio da Joatinga, off the Estrada do Joá. You give your name at the gatehouse, then take a staircase and a short scramble over the rocks down to the sand. Access is public, but parking inside the condominium is limited, so arrive early.
Is Praia da Joatinga open to the public?
Yes. Brazilian beaches are public by law, and the Joatinga condominium allows visitors through to the sand. But the beach is tiny and tide-dependent — at high tide the sand disappears under the waves — so check a tide table and go at low tide, in the morning.
Is Joá the most expensive neighborhood in Rio?
For houses and mansions, yes: a 2025 market study put Joá first in Rio by average sale price, ahead of Leblon and Ipanema. Those two still command the highest price per square metre for apartments; Joá is a neighborhood of large houses, and it leads on total value.
How this guide is made.
Joá is a place training data gets wrong. Every fact on these pages was checked against published sources before we wrote it — Portuguese and English — and where the record is uncertain, we left the claim out. The principal references:
- Joá — Wikipédia (Portuguese)
- Joá — Wikipedia (English)
- Elevado do Joá — Wikipédia
- Ciclovia Tim Maia — Wikipédia
- Túnel Zuzu Angel — Wikipédia
- Praia da Joatinga — Wikipédia
- “Beverly Hills carioca” — Metrópoles (2024)
- Rio's priciest neighborhoods (Loft study) — Diário do Rio (2025)
- Márcio Garcia's Joá mansion — CNN Brasil (2026)
- Zuzu Angel — Memorial da Democracia
- Praia da Joatinga — Rio Film Commission
One address on the crest.
This guide is published from a house in Joá — five suites across three floors, an infinity-edge pool, a private elevator, and the ocean frontage the neighborhood is known for. Offered at R$ 15,000,000, shown by appointment.