Cheap Luxurious, AC,LCD, High Speed @ block from the Beach in Rio de Janeiro

very friendly owner and great location

Enrique (Viña del Mar, Chile)
Review submitted: May 19, 2013   Date of arrival: March 11, 2013

A great time in this beautiful city, thanks to the great attention of the owner (Carlos C) and comfortable and great location of the apartment. It is one block from the beach in copacacbana in a neighborhood with a lot of trade, insurance, one block from the subway, taxis and locomotion in 24 hours. Cariocas were generally very friendly and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay there. Back in an upcoming occasion.

Recommended for: adventure seekers, families with young children, people with disabilities, families with teenagers, girls getaway, sight seeing, tourists without a car, romantic getaway

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Helpful votes: 0 / 0

Great bang for your buck!!!

Mikhail (New York, USA)
Review submitted: February 13, 2013   Date of arrival: February 2, 2013

Stayed here for 10 days during Carnival. This is a studio apartment comes with a couch, bed, kitchen & bathroom. Just like the description lists: it is located a block away from the beach right by Copacabana Palace. Location is everything, especially in Rio de Janeiro. It is in a safe neighborhood, two blocks away from metro with plenty of local restaurants and pretty much everything you might need right next to you or within a walking distance. We had no problems walking the streets after a party at 4am- getting a quick bite or a drink-the other neighborhoods can get very shady and everything would be closed.

The owner (Carlos) is a great guy, very respectful and easy to talk to. He was able to accommodate our messed up flight schedule (arriving at 2am and departing at 11pm). He was nice enough to pick us up from the airport- and trust me it's not one of those places you want to grab a random cab from, especially at 2am. Carlos went out of his way to give us pointers on what to do and what to see in rio. Not many locals speak English, Carlos came down with us to the cellphone store to help us resolve issues with a SIM card. My friend broke his toilet seat by accident- Carlos didn't even charge us for the replacement. He returned the security deposit before we even left the apartment without any questions or inspection. If you are respectful to him and his property: he is an easy guy to work with.

With regards to apartment, don't expect a 5 start hotel or a place to impress your wife on a honeymoon - it's just a basic moderately sized apartment in a 12 story building with a peace of mind, a safe place to relax, take a warm shower, sleep and move on with your life. Has AC,wifi, fridge, tv, outlets US /and what looks like european openings, plus a microwave, in case you need it. There is a security guard down stairs 24/7. We were not worried about anyone breaking in or stealing our stuff. Another thing that comes in handy as opposed to hostels and hotels - is that you can bring anyone you want back to your place anytime you like- hotels and hotels - are very resilient to that in Rio. For example: A friend of ours who stayed at the Marriott was unable to bring a girl he met to his room. We heard that the hostels in Rio have up to 6 people sleeping together in 1 room: no privacy whatsoever.

Bottom line: this is great location, clean place to spend your trip, an honest apartment owner that is easy to work with and a price that is hard to beat.

Recommended for: adventure seekers, girls getaway, sight seeing, tourists without a car

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Helpful votes: 5 / 5

Noise 24 hours a day!!

Ken J (usa)
Review submitted: January 2, 2013   Date of arrival: December 10, 2012

Don’t be deceived by the location, price or pictures of this vacation rental! The owner appears friendly and helpful until there is a problem. Before agreeing to rent this apt, we clearly asked about noise. We were told that the other review here on this site was an isolated incident of construction and that the unit had sound proof windows, which was a total lie! The bed felt like it was in the middle of a highway!! The building had other noise issues too. Had we been told the truth, we would have never rented this home. When confronted, the owner took no responsibility and attacked my character and was disrespectful. We were told very coldly that we could leave. We were never offered a refund or help to find a quieter place. (Try to find an apt in Rio in Dec., at the last moment + all have a 3 to 5 day min. stay.) We felt sick after 3 nights of no sleep! Also the air conditioner was very small and inadequate for the space. It had to be left on all the time to cool down the apt. The owner wanted to charge us more money for using it. I looked on the web and this seems to be a common practice in Rio where owners say air conditioning is included and then after the tourist arrives, hit them up for more money. After we returned home, we sent emails asking for an apology for the verbal attacks and to make it right by refunding some of our money. The reply we got was that we wanted to steal his money and that we would be sued if we post a negative review.?

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Helpful votes: 2 / 8