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Travel Blog: Places to stay in Centro and aroundPublished on Feb 1, 2008 by LucyHB |
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1. Chapter: Rio's Grande Dame |
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What a place! Hotel Gloria is the oldest hotel in Rio, and it's creaking at the seams with old time atmosphere. That said, make sure you book a room in the main building as the newer annex has little to recommend it. In the main building you'll find high ceilings, antique dark wood doors, original 1920s furnishings and long, winding, dimly-lit corridors. The hotel is set in lovely tropical gardens and has two pools - one of which is absolutely enormous, and the gym is very well equipped - it also has a great view over the bay to focus your mind while you run off all that Brazilian stodge. Front-facing rooms are, unsurprisingly, the most expensive but they have an amazing view over Guanabara Bay. I was surprised to look out of one of the back windows and see I was looking almost directly into the living room of a house across the courtyard!
Tags for this Travel Blog Chapter: history antique charm |
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2. Chapter: Sambaville Hostel |
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Sambaville Hostel is an amazing bargain. It's right in the heart of Lapa - the lively (but edgy) nightlife district, and you can tell by the fact that the first thing you see is a glitter ball and a giant bar that this is not the place to come and catch up on your sleep. A bed in an AC dorm is just R$19, about half the price of many hostels in the city. I visited here because a friend was performing with his band - there's live music on most nights and a real party atmosphere. Given than a taxi back to Ipanema could set you back about R$35, staying here is a good bet if you want a night out in Lapa.
Tags for this Travel Blog Chapter: party taxifare bar hostel lapa |
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3. Chapter: Trip Hostel, Santa Teresa |
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Rio Hostel, in Santa Teresa, gets in all the guide books, but this other Santa Teresa hostel is all too often overlooked. I came in here search of water on a hot and hungover New Year's Day - when all the shops locally were closed. They didn't have any water left for sale but did give me jugfulls of iced filtered water, which I badly needed! Anyway, once I was no longer about to die from dehydration, I wandered around the place and was really impressed - it's a lovely old colonial building, with comfy chairs, DVD collection, a massive veranda - there are double rooms for rent as well as dorms, and the staff are really helpful (case in point - the water donation). Unlike Rio Hostel, there's no pool, but to my mind this is a better bet for more or less the same price (both about R$35 for a dorm)
Tags for this Travel Blog Chapter: hostel balcony sofas dvd colonialbuilding |
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4. Chapter: Solar de Santa |
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This place, tucked away back from a leafy street in Santa Teresa, is a real find. It's absolutely gorgeous - a tiny little boutique place with just two suites and a separate little bungalow. It's not cheap about R$450 a night, but considering you can pay over R$800 for as chain hotel in Copacabana, it's well worth the money. The building's a lovely old colonial place, really nicely furnished with artisan products from local artists dotted around the place. The gardens are lovely too - there's a little 'refreshing pool' and an outdoor bar for cocktails. They sometimes have live music here, too.
Tags for this Travel Blog Chapter: livemusic cocktails bar colonial |
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5. Chapter: Bed and Breakfast in Santa Teresa |
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There are some really gorgeous houses in Santa Teresa - from enormous old mansions to cute little colonial terraces. The good news is that you can stay in some of them! There's a bed and breakfast network based up here, and they match people up with hosts according to interests, budget, age etc - even down to whether you just want to rent a room or want to spend time with the hosts and practice your Portuguese!
Tags for this Travel Blog Chapter: bedandbreakfast hosts antiquebuildings |
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6. Chapter: Bed and Breakfast in Santa Teresa |
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There are some really gorgeous houses in Santa Teresa - from enormous old mansions to cute little colonial terraces. The good news is that you can stay in some of them! There's a bed and breakfast network based up here, and they match people up with hosts according to interests, budget, age etc - even down to whether you just want to rent a room or want to spend time with the hosts and practice your Portuguese!
Tags for this Travel Blog Chapter: bedandbreakfast hosts antiquebuildings |
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7. Chapter: Green Hostel, Botafogo |
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Botafogo's not the most famous neighbourhood in Rio, but there are plenty of reasons to stay there - not least because the hostels are a darned sight cheaper than those in Ipanema and Copacabana. Green Hostel is in a really nice old colonial building and the decor's cool - a nice bar, and loads of hammocks to lounge about in. The breakfast was rubbish when I was there, but to be fair it had only just opened and maybe they've improved things a little now...the dorms are pretty big and light, and there are two double rooms - ask for the one with the little balcony.
Tags for this Travel Blog Chapter: balcony colonialbuilding hammocks |
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8. Chapter: Green Hostel, Botafogo |
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Botafogo's not the most famous neighbourhood in Rio, but there are plenty of reasons to stay there - not least because the hostels are a darned sight cheaper than those in Ipanema and Copacabana. Green Hostel is in a really nice old colonial building and the decor's cool - a nice bar, and loads of hammocks to lounge about in. The breakfast was rubbish when I was there, but to be fair it had only just opened and maybe they've improved things a little now...the dorms are pretty big and light, and there are two double rooms - ask for the one with the little balcony.
Tags for this Travel Blog Chapter: balcony colonialbuilding hammocks |
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9. Chapter: Tupiniquim |
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This is another nice little place in Botafogo - there's an old juke box with some old Brazilian records, pool table, DVD player and collection, library...plenty to keep you busy if you need a bit of recovery time. The colonial building is really nice, and the double rooms are in little wooden huts up a little flight of stairs. According to my boyfriend the breakfast was the best of any hostel in Rio but I couldn't vouch for that as I'd overdone it a litte the night before and couldn't face food! It looked nice though. Oh, and look out for the monkeys playing on the telegraph wires outside the dorm rooms!
Tags for this Travel Blog Chapter: monkeys breakfast vinyl gramaphone |
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10. Chapter: Guanabara Palace Hotel |
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There aren't many hotels downtown that don't double as places to entertain ladies of the night, but this is a decent option if you've got some cash to spare. It's a chain hotel - owned by the Windsor Group, which owns about six hotels in Rio - and you'll get decent chain hotel service- nice rooftop pool, room service, minibar etc. It's not the cheapest, so if you're on a budget then you'd be better off in a hostel, but for a real hotel this is pretty much the only real option in Centro.
Tags for this Travel Blog Chapter: centro hotel chain rooftoppool |
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11. Chapter: Guanabara Palace Hotel |
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There aren't many hotels downtown that don't double as places to entertain ladies of the night, but this is a decent option if you've got some cash to spare. It's a chain hotel - owned by the Windsor Group, which owns about six hotels in Rio - and you'll get decent chain hotel service- nice rooftop pool, room service, minibar etc. It's not the cheapest, so if you're on a budget then you'd be better off in a hostel, but for a real hotel this is pretty much the only real option in Centro.
Tags for this Travel Blog Chapter: centro hotel chain rooftoppool |
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12. Chapter: Hotel Muao Bela Vista |
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There's no shortage of places to stay in Santa Teresa, and this is a another decent option. When I visited I was greeted by two friendly dogs, which is a bonus for me as I love dogs - but perhaps not overly hygienic as they kept jumping on the beds! This place is somewhere in between a hostel and a hotel. It's pretty informal, but there are no dorms - just doubles. They've all got private bathrooms and some of them have got a little kitchen so you can save money by doing your own cooking. They're pretty basic, to be honest, but there's a little courtyard too and the price is reasonable - I think about R$150 for a double room.
Tags for this Travel Blog Chapter: privatebathrooms courtyard dogs hotel hostel |
