Hotels in Rio de Janeiro

It`s true what they say about Rio. A marvelous city. The streets, the beaches, the landmarks the people, the lifestyle, the women :) Very accessible by metro and buses. We used only the metro and walked the rest, I would recommend it If you`re staying more than 3-4 days. Beautiful way to experience Rio, by foot. Most of the places are quite safe to visit even bu foot, big tourist frequency, so it`s perfectly safe, even in places where there is not many tourists, the police is everywhere and they`re very kind and helpful, but only if you speak Portugese :) It`s like no one is speaking English. But with a little Spanish knowledge you can understand them and they can understand you. Lapa is a good neighborhood, opposite of what most of the people are saying that you must stay near the beaches, like Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon. The Center is bustling daytime, but quiet night time, but places like Lapa are very lively too, with eateries and I would call them "beeries" where excellent Brazilian beer is being enjoyed, there are some places really that sell only beer, but there is a restaurant and you can order some snacks from there. Cristo Redentor, Pão de Açúcar are a must, not to mention Copacabana and Ipanema. I would suggest everyone to take the helicopter ride on Morro da Urca (the first top) if you`re not on a budget, It`s an unforgettable experience people, those views, wow. Plan for Cristo Redentor +3 hours of your schedule, believe me, we went at 2 pm, we bought the tickets for the last train at 7.20pm...we were there at 7.20pm but the train left at 7.40pm, until it reached the top the sun was gone, couldn`t get a goot picture of the statue...but not everything was lost, it a breathtaking view to see Rio transiting from day to night. Magnificient.

A city of 10 million nestled between the golden beaches of the Atlantic coast and the Atlantic rainforest spreading up the granite mountains. Sugar loaf mountain has breathtaking views as does Corcovado with the Christ Redeemer overseeing the bustle of this great city and the Sugar loaf mountain so named because it resembles a pile of sugar once covered with a cone shaped clay pot used to transport the sugar to Portugal. Beautiful beaches from Copacabana and round from the bay to Ipanema and Leblon and even further. Friendly people and good food - try the traditional barbecue if you love a meat feast! Plenty of good places to eat around the Copacabana Palace Hotel area. If you are there for New Year the fireworks at Copacabana beach are stunning - and the crowds are equally breathtaking, literally - two million people on 2.5 miles of beach having a great time with music and dancing and of course caiparinjho the sugar cane rum drinkn with lime and plenty of ice!

We really enjoyed the beaches, visited several, Praia da Barra da Tijuca- beautiful, flamengo- great views of several of the small island surrounding the coast and of Sugar Loaf mountain, not sure of the name of the third one but it was located by the cable carts for sugar loaf! Definitely visit Christ the Redeemer but try and do it on a week day when the weather is good! It will also be a lot easier to book online or go to a tourist desk and book the day before, we had a 3 hour wait on a Sunday after just turning up and unfortunately it was raining! Although there were still good views they weren't great! We found it easy to get round either by walking or taking a taxi! We found it very nice to just follow the beaches and wander from place to place but keep an eye on where you are! Taxis are reasonably priced, you can jump in one to many of the main tourists destinations, we stayed in Cinelandia and did this! I would say try to avoid Rio between December and February as it rains a fair bit! Although we did have a few good days and it was never cold!

I stayed in ipanema and copacabana but prefer ipanema which is safer. I would recommend the walk from copacabana to ipanema along the coast. The free walking tours pub crawl of lapa was amazing in particular the club with the professional samba dancers who show you some of the moves. The favela tour was interesting and some of the money goes to help the school in the favela which makes it worth doing. The downtown and lapa tour shows rio before it was built upon and the famous steps are worth a visit. The famous Christ the redeemer statue has amazing views as does the sugarloaf. Also went to ilha grande trekking through the forest to the waterfall and did some snorkelling on the lagoon tours which us worth the trip. Its not near the standard of the Great Barrier Reef but worth the trip.

My favourite beach was Ipenma beach, which is the opposite side to copacabana. The best place to eat was at the hotel Windsor on the copacabana beach. The Italian and buffet restaurants are amazing and you don't need to be a guest of the hotel to eat there. You have to visit the Christ the redeemer statue for the views alone and also visit sugar loaf mountain but be prepared to quick for at least an hour. The metro is the best way to get round Rio because traffic can be crazy. The beaches at copacabana are great! You get loads of sellers walking up and down the beach but they're harmless and don't hassle you if you don't want to be. It's really safe at the beach front even at night, just don't venture too far towards the favelas near the mountains. For entertainment, you need to go to lapa, which is the vibrant dance scene.

Upon arriving at the airport take the air conditioned bus which stops at all the major hotels.An excellent way to see Rio de Janeiro in comfort.The taxi drivers were the most honest we have ever had the pleasure to deal with (Unlike Buenos Aires) The beach at Copacabana is absolutely clean and spacious,it is of course famous.The people we have encountered were all pleasant,even though we did not speak portugese.Transportation by taxis is fast and very efficient. The food.if you like seafood it is great.At the restaurant even the bones and grates were removed from the fish,and one is served by professional waitpersons. If you are going to visit Sugarloaf mountain do that first.Then visit Corcovado,which is twice as high offering a stunning look of the jagged coastline which is Rio de Janeiro.Rio also has good subway and bus service,but you have to know ahead of time where you want to go.