Niteroi is separated from the capital by the Guanabara Bay. Niteroi is the second largest city in the State, an important industrial and commercial center; many people live in Niteroi and commute to and from the capital.
The proximity with Rio has been attracting good hotels and restaurants, boosting the tourism sector. Niteroi offers good beaches, museums and fortresses. The Icaraí beach concentrates the best restaurants, such as branches of Rio´s famous Porcão and Marius. The Sao Francisco beach concentrates the nightlife events.
The city main attraction is the Museu de Arte Contemporanea de Niteroi (Modern Art Museum), designed by world famous architect Oscar Niemeyer and opened in 1996; shaped like an space ship, the modern lines of the buildings draw attention by itself.
Inside, the Museum exhibits, among other works, paintings by Daniel Senise and the João Sattamini Collection, with works from scores of important Brazilian artists, mostly from the 1980s.
Niteroi is a modern city, with modern buildings and four main shopping malls. Its economy is centered on its trading and commerce services, like imobiliary corporations, graphic design, web design and publicity. It also hosts industries of food (especially seafood), clothes, caldle, marine objects; its negative point is that its transports depend on a small port and scarce options of roads, if compared to Rio de Janeiro's.
The city is 25 minutes from the center of Rio de Janeiro's city, the state's capital, and most populated, although Niteroi boasts the title of the second richest of the state.
