Just the best hostel I stayed at down in Brazil…read more Warm and friendly staff, clean and simple spaces. Located in the heart of beautiful, bohemian Santa Theresa. Terraces, a small bar, a lovely open plan kitchen. Doesn't look or sound like a frat-house dormroom, but rather an old boutique hotel off the Quarter. Couldn't recommend highly enough.

Voted the #1 hostel in Rio as well as Latin America...and I can see why…read more One friend arrived before two of us and he described Discovery Hostel as a house. When we arrived, I could see what he meant. You walk into a reception area which is in the living room area. You'll find that other people staying here will hang out and talk in the living room. There's a kitchen which you're able to use or store your perishables. The kitchen serves a complimentary breakfast during the early morning and has a bar with cheap drinks during the evenings. The rooms are clean. What I loved about the rooms was that there is a nightlight and power outlet at each bed. I stayed in the all female room which had two bunk beds (3 beds high) and a private en suite bathroom. My only gripe was having to stay at the top bunk (they're difficult to get up and down). This room is the only room with an en suite. Other than that, there are other male/female dorm rooms and I believe two private rooms for two people. Staff is helpful and friendly. Take advantage of their help for events and activities. Events and activities are updated daily at the reception board. You pay a bit more for some of the activities, but it usually includes transportation. We went to Marcana for a futebol/soccer match which turned into a hostel outing. Another night we went to a club in Lapa. WHAT TO KNOW: *Cash only!! You cannot pay anything by credit. *Price is right. We each paid 164 Real (About $55) for 3 nights. *Check-in is not until 2pm and they do make you wait until then. *Complimentary wifi...though it was a bit spotty for me. *Bring your own towel and lock for your storage locker. If you forget either, you can purchase a lock or rent a towel. *Short walk to Lapa and the colorful Escadaria Selaron steps. *Metro station located half a block away so sites like Copacabana, transportation to the Christ statue, etc. is just a ride away. *A cat lives at the hostel so beware if you have allergies.

Stayed here for ten days in May. Got mugged and lost my phone + wallet, so I had to use their phone…read moreto make several calls back to the USA. Wasn't easy, but eventually, I made it back home. 2 months later, I get an email from the hostel. Attached was a low-res screenshot of some charges and an invoice for ~$100 USD. They claimed I owed them payment for the international calls I made at the hostel. Additionally, they made a couple of claims to justify my debt: (1) I had no social media, and (2) they "did try to communicate our awareness of the cost" (their exact words). (1) is not true. I had social media, but how am I supposed to access it without either my phone (for 2FA login purposes) or my email (requires my phone to login)? So that is a moot point. (2) is also not true. Every time I asked to use the phone, for anything, the person working said of course, and handed me the phone. No one in the hostel ever mentioned anything to me at all, in my ten days there, about the cost. Paying for phone usage was nowhere on their website or in their terms, and I never saw something like that enforced or even talked about. So that is also a strange thing to lie about. To top it all off, they found my dad's boss online, and then contacted him to try to get me to pay? Very unprofessional behavior. *Despite all of this*, and despite no real way to enforce a flimsy charge like this, I paid the invoice. In exchange, I would strongly encourage anyone reading this to *stay literally anywhere else in Rio*. The hostel really isn't good enough to make up for such poor management. At first, I thought it was strange that Brazilians would act so miserly. And I have nothing personally against the non-working Brazilians I met, who were all very nice. But when you find out the hostel is, in actuality, owned and founded by a certain (((other))) group of people, this management makes way, way more sense.

After coming down from our trip to visit the Cristo Redentor, we wanted to grab some lunch. Hostel…read moreCristo Rei is very close to the tram, but hidden just enough to make it hard to find unless you know what you're looking for. The building is nondescript except for a small hanging sign by the entrance. To enter the hostel, you have to walk up a flight of shady-looking steps to get inside. It was all a little creepy, til we got inside and were greeted by the warmest staff people in all of Rio. Lunch is served in the dining room, which looks and feels like someone's home. And the staff treated us just like guests in their home. I felt like I was visiting a friend for lunch. Drinks and food are delicious, and priced very reasonably. There is nothing I didn't like about my experience here. Furthermore, the host (I wish I had gotten his name) was phenomenal. He was incredibly friendly and truly made us feel welcomed. He was also super helpful in trying to help us get to our next destination. Don't hesitate to visit Hostel Cristo Rei when you're in the area. You'll not only get a taste of delicious Brazilian food and drink, but also amazing Brazilian hospitality.

Great hostel! The rooms are great and the common area is the best! Near to a lot of places and with…read morethe subway you are close to everything you need in Rio!

For my first trip to Rio, my friend suggested I stay in Botafoga. Halfway between…read moreCopacabana/Ipanema and Lapa, this neighborhood was a good spot to have a home base. I looked around at some hotels and hostels and settled on Jabanga as the price for a single room was pretty good. I stayed an entire week. Staff was nice, some speaking better English than the others. I missed the breakfast every day but came downstairs in the afternoon to pastries and coffee most days. And the coffee was pretty good. Wifi worked great for my entire stay except for one day where it went out. I guess that's to be expected in Brazil. Frustrating, but surely not the staff's fault. It was working again the next day. I had my own A/C in my room which worked great. I had to rearrange the furniture when I arrived so there would be an outlet near my bed to plug in my phone. Under the furniture it was really, really dirty. The bathrooms were fairly clean, but the hostel was pretty empty so if it was full I imagine it might be worse. There were three showers in the men's bathroom, and I couldn't get any of the three to stay at a good temperature -- either too hot or too cold, so I had to toggle back and forth. Great bar across the street with good beers and some food... ask for Rafael!

Finding reasonably priced accommodation in Rio over New Year's eve was a nightmare. Only by…read moreaccident I found this tiny place and I am so happy I did. Injoy is not in popular Copacabana or fancy Ipanema, yet its location is very convenient to reach both (by taxi or subway, only one stop to Copa). The hostel is in a lovely and quiet side alley, isolated from the hustle and bustle of the city, yet in supercentral Botafogo. Injoy is relatively new and very well maintained and clean. The rooms are simple yet comfortable but what really makes the difference at Injoy are the very helpful and friendly staff. They are more than happy to help you in all possible ways. Injoy is a hostel but it also offers private double/triple rooms ensuite.

The place is great. Good location, few minutes walk to the train. Not that far from the beach. The…read morestaff is so nice and helpful. Excellent customer service. Free wi-fi & breakfast. Breakfast is from 7am-10am. The pool is nice. They have a restaurant and the food is very tasty, fresh, and homemade. The Hot Burger is very good. The drinks are strong and yummy. For carnaval theres a parade that passes by the street the hostel is on. Good view from the balcony. The room I stayed in was in a 12 bed room. It was nice and clean. Great use of space and I still had privacy. Overall great place. I would definitely stay there again.

The food is really good and so are the drinks, can't really complain about anything. The only thing…read moreI can complain about is not having enough space in my stomach for more.

It's a nice little hostel right next to bus lines and the metro station. The receptionist are even…read morehelpful in regards to giving great advice on non touristy things to do in the area. Also if you ask nicely a receptionist would even turn your room a/c on early as the rooms can get extremely hot and the fans are just not enough. I was in a small four person dorm and felt as if I was going to melt. Also, if you'd like to save money get water from a neighboring store as the water at the hierro can be a little pricey. Even the food! Download Rappi or just walk around to the different food places in the area. Although, they'll all be kinda pricey as well. I did LOVEEEE that the hostel was so close to Ipanema beach and if you enjoy sunsets like I do, this is the best area to see them. While there were minor things I didn't like about the hostel (the smoking on the balcony) I still really enjoyed my stay here nonetheless.