Rio de Janeiro Hotel Tips by NedHopkins

The Copacabana Palace ranks with the finest hotels in the world. Rooms are good–sized and well appointed; those facing the beach have superb views.
Service is impeccable: rooms are kept neat; room–service is quick; and towels and umbrellas are provided on a supervised section of the beach, directly across Avenida Atlanticá.
The Cipriani restaurant (related to its Venice namesake) serves Michelin–quality three–star Italian food; the breakfast spread at Pergula — on the opposite end of the pool — is outstanding, and its lunch and dinner offerings are also top–notch.
Though Copacabana is less chic than Ipanema/Leblon, it is nearer Corcovado, Pão do Açucar, and most other tourist sites.

Unique Qualities: The pool is the largest in Rio, being nearly Olympic sized. Poolside service is the kind that celebrities and VIPs no doubt expect and the rest of us can sometimes enjoy if we pay for it.
Decor in both the bar and Cipriani restaurant is opulent; and the bar serves the finest caiprinhas I've had anywhere in Brazil.
The concierge will arrange everything from tours (private and group) to reservations at shows and restaurants to the delivery of prescription drugs (if you happen to run out, as I did).
And if you decide to save money after splurging here, the Copacabana station of the fast, clean, and cheap Rio metro is just a short walk from the hotel.

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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: most expensive
Prices: US$180 and up  » Currency Converter
Phone: 5487070
Address: Avenida Atlanticá, 1702
Directions: Northern end of Copcabana Beach
Website: www.copcabanapalace.com.br

The Acapulco Copacabana has been entirely renovated over the past 18 months. Everything is new, bright, and clean.

Rooms are spacious and furnished with twin or queen-sized beds, two stuffed chairs, a desk and chair, and large cabinets that house closet space and safebox. Overhead lights and bedside lamps offer good nighttime illumination. Room air conditioners are efficient and quiet.

The four 'deluxe' rooms on each floor have large balconies that face either Rua Gustavo Sampaio (and the side of the luxury Meridian Hotel) or the end of Avenida N S de Copacabana. Both the rooms and the balconies are larger than those in the main building of the five-star Copacabana Palace.

Bathrooms are nicely done in marble and complementary tile. Facilities are state-of-the-art. The shower had the strongest water pressure I've experienced in Brazil (17 hotels), with also water so hot it would have pleased a Japanese accustomed to scalding ofuro.

Unique Qualities: The hotel offers a complimentary buffet breakfast in its spic-n-span dining room. Lunch is also available, though not dinner.

Two computers in the lobby offer internet access; their use is free to guests (who are asked to limit themselves to 15 minutes per session); the lobby is spacious, well appointed, and includes a small bar.

Three fast elevators whisk guests to the upper floors; in five days I never experienced a wait of more than a few seconds.

Because my plane was leaving at 9:00 I asked for an extension, to 6:00, from the normal 12:00 check-out. I offered to pay for an extra night. The desk clerk agreed. But when I did check out, I was told the extra stay was free.

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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$40-80  » Currency Converter
Phone: 21.2275,0022
Address: Rua Gustavo Sampaio, 854 - Leme, Rio de Janeiro 20
Directions: Just off Av Princesa Isabel, at the southern end of Leme (or northern end of Copacabana).

The hotel's façade was being redone during my visit; my photo is of the rear of the hotel -- from Ave N S do Copacabana.
Website: www.acapulcocopacabanahotel.com.br
Other Contact: fax: 21.2275.3396

On my five visits to Rio de Janeiro I've stayed at the Copacabana Palace and four other hotels. One of them was the Sheraton.

It bills itself as the only hotel in Rio with a private beach. In fact, people from a nearby favela (slum) have easy access to the 'Sheraton beach,' though the hotel's security guards look after guests.

The Sheraton is a high–rise and high–priced 'resort hotel.' Rooms are all right; many parts of the hotel are a bit worn–down.
Its pool is large; its restaurants are good; its shops are all right.

But the Sheraton is far from tourist sites and from Leblon, the southern–most of the main beaches — though I did trek to and from Leblon, along a dubious walkway, a couple of times.

Unique Qualities: The views from most rooms are great. The four restaurants — Italian, churrascuria, casual — all serve excellent food.

Service is substandard — and room–service prices are exorbitant.

The hotel has a large workout room and several shops, including a good hairdressing salon.

There's also a 'business' wing that's said to have special services for commercial travelers.

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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$120-180  » Currency Converter
Phone: 2741122
Address: Ave Niemeyer, 121 (Vidigal).
Directions: Ave Niemeyer, the main route from the beach areas to southernmost Rio, is one–way during rush hours, necessitating roundabout detours in the morning and evening.
Website: www.sheraton-rio.com

+ Rio Copa, at Av Princesa Isabel, 370, is
an excellent budget choice. A suite -- an 'L' shaped room -- was $R70 in 1998 (about US$65 then, perhaps US$22 in 2003).

Though it's on one of the busiest streets in Copacabana, the hotel's heavy, double-paned windows keep most noise out. There's a restaurant on the top floor that serves a complimentary breakfast and decent meals other times of day.

+ Savoy Othon, at Ave N S de Copacabana, 995, is not a good choice. Rooms are small and not well maintained. It's noisy. There's no restaurant, though a perfunctory breakfast is available.

The Savoy is in the lowest ('travel') of the Othon chain's three classes of hotels. In 2002 a tiny room facing the backs of other buildings cost R$70 (about US$35 then, maybe US$22 today).

Unique Qualities: + Rio Copa has a roof-top pool with decent views toward the ocean, as well as a sauna and a workout room. Its staff is friendly and helpful.

+ There is almost nothing good about the Savoy Othon aside from its location near the center of the Copcabana area and two short blocks from the beach. The staff was unhelpful and even surly.

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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: US$40-80  » Currency Converter
Phone: Rio Copa: 2549-9500
Address: As above.
Directions: + Rio Copa is between the Botafogo tunnel and the beach (100 meters away).

+ Savoy Othon is on one of the two very busy commercial avenues that parallel Avenida Atlantica: it runs one-way, south to north, the length of Copacabana.
Website: www.riocopa.com
Other Contact: www.hoteis-othon.com/br

Rooms are immaculate and among the largest I've had in Brazil; my bathroom, however, was small and the shower ran hot-and-cold.

A so-so but complimentary breakfast is served in the first floor (second story) restaurant. I didn't try any other meal in the hotel. Room service is also available.

The neighborhood is great, with many fine restaurants.

Unique Qualities: The rooftop pool is small, but little used and therefore 'user friendly.'

The hotel's worst feature is its elevators. There are only two; they're small; and waits can run as long as 10 minutes. (However, you can sneak back to the service elevator and sometimes cut the delay.)

The front desk exchanges currency at favourable rates.

And I even had an ocean view room, kinda. Look closely and you'll see a bit of water.

At US$66 a night (reserved through ipanema.com), the price is reasonable.

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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$40-80  » Currency Converter
Phone: 21.2512.8000
Address: Av Ataulfo de Paiva, 204
Directions: On the corner of Av Alfránio de Melo Franco and Av Paiva (the main thoroughfare leading back to Ipanema), the hotel is two blocks from the beach and the airport bus. City buses run on Avs Paiva and Gen San Martin, a block away.
Website: www.leblonpalace.com.br

We stayed in Rio de Janeiro four (4) nights at the beginning of our three-week trip to Brazil and three (3) nights at the end, visiting Ouro Preto and Congonhas, then Manaus and a Rio Negro jungle lodge in between.

The Rio Internacional is an outstanding hotel. Our room was large and well appointed, with two (2) double beds, a wide and deep balcony, and a spectacular view of Copacabana beach. The price was right, too: US$176 per night.

Some have complained about the hotel's location -- and about being hassled by beggars and prostitutes. We met with nothing objectionable, even when we returned to the hotel late at night. From our balcony, however, we did notice up to a dozen streetwalkers -- in the wee hours -- in the block between the Rio Internacional and the Copacabana Palace.

Unique Qualities: The small rooftop pool was closed ('for maintenance') during most of our stay.

The complimentary breakfast was lavish and good. Even the bacon, usually mangled in Brazil, was nicely prepared. At our one dinner in the hotel we ate at the unreasonably early hour -- for Brazilians -- of 8pm. We were the only diners until Brazilians began to arrive at 9:30.

Our only disappointment was the tour we booked, through the hotel, for dinner and the Plataforma show. We asked to eat in Plataforma's own, superb rodizio; instead we were taken to a mediocre churrascurria in Ipanema. We also asked to be seated in Plataforma's balcony; we were told it was closed, though we saw others sitting there. (I should have booked, as I did on a previous visit, directly with Plataforma.)

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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$120-180  » Currency Converter
Address: Av. Atl?ntica, 1500 - Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro 2
Directions: About four (4) blocks south of Av Princessa Isabel.

I first stayed at the Copacabana Palace Hotel in 2002. I was alone and paid US$465 a night for a very small room, with a tiny ocean-view balcony, in the main ('original') building.

In July 2008 my wife and I were upgraded -- for what reason I do not know -- to a suite in the tower ('new') building. It was spectacular: a large sitting room, a bedroom larger than my entire accommodation in the main building, and a huge, ocean-facing balcony. Further, the cost -- for two people -- was just US$400.

We were taken aback when we were asked to sign a chit for breakfast -- R$110 (US$73). That was only a formality: the charges did not appear on our final bill.

Unique Qualities: Service at the Copacabana Palace remains outstanding, at the reception (check-in and -out) and concierge desks, in the restaurants, and everywhere else.

Food in La Pergola, the casual restaurant, was first class. The breakfast included 14(!) different kinds of fruit; many types of bread, rolls, and pastry; cereals; juices; waffles and pancakes; and. . . . Dinner -- I had lobster, my wife shrimp -- was also superb.

Our only disappointment was with the hotel's Cipriani Restaurant. When I ate here in 2002 the food was of gourmet quality. Perhaps there's a different chef now, or was the night we dined. My pork ('suckling pig') was barely edible; my wife's lamb chops were merely OK.

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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: most expensive
Prices: US$180 and up  » Currency Converter
Address: Av. Atlantica 1702, Rio de Janeiro 22021-001
Directions: About five blocks south of Av Princessa Isabel.