The strengths of this hotel are its location and the helpful staff at the reception desk. As this was our first visit to Rio we had a lot of questions and the staff answered them all. They seemed to want to help you and went beyond just answering our questions by adding other info they thought would be useful. The hotel is about a 5 minute walk from the beach, close to the metro and bus, there is an internet site a couple of blocks away (they charged 1 real for 10 minutes vs. the hotel charge of 1 real per minute) and a supermarket across the street. There are also lots of restaurants and bars in the area.
The major drawback was our room really needed some painting and the woodwork and doors were well worn (we have been told the hotel started painting the rooms in Aug. 2011). The mattress in our room was starting to sag and was just a normal double bed instead of queen size that is usual in most hotels. (Again we have been told the hotel plans on replacing its mattresses.) The room was very clean it just looked well worn.
We ate dinner at the restaurant both nights we were there. The first because we had just arrived and did not want to go out looking for a place to eat. The food was fair and the daily special very reasonable for Rio at 23R each. It was not gourmet just fresh and homestyle cooking but the service was good and friendly and the portions sizes large. The breakfast was very good with lots of variety.
The hotel has been reported to be noisy but we did not find this to be true. It is on a quiet street and we hardly heard any traffic noise (our room was on the 10th floor in the front). It is a city hotel and not a 5 star hotel so you have to expect some noise. Actually the air conditioner was a bit noisy and would drown out most outside noise but it did not prevent us from sleeping.
Overall a hotel worth considering depending on the price you get.
- Hotel Augustos Copacabana
- Augustos Copacabana Rio De Janeiro
