A truly unique pousada in a unique location, run by the equally unique Bob and his family. Genuinely one of the highlights of our travels around Brazil. What Bob has achieved with this place is inspirational.

If you can handle being a little distance from the overly touristic, overly expensive and rather souless (in my opinion) beach areas and looking for a real insight into the real Rio, then this is an absolute must. Besides, the beach is a mere 10mins by metro, time paid back many times over by the alternate benefits of The Maze.

The environment is casual, the atmosphere friendly and the rooms clean and entirely comfortable. Breakfast in particular is a time to sit back, enjoy the view and enjoy the usual eclectic range of conversation topics.

Ignore any concerns around the safety of the area. Not once during our time were the locals anything but friendly and welcoming.

I hope to return to Rio and The Maze at some point, and when I do, I hope to find it exactly the same as the period of our stay.

PS. The view from the top floor double with private veranda is unbeatable. Take if available.

If you want to go somewhere completely different & immerse yourself in the local culture, then I highly recommend a visit to/ stay at The Maze Inn in the Tavares Bastos Favela.

The rooms are basic but comfortable, the views over the Favela, Botafogo Bay & Sugar Loaf more than make up for the limited facilities. Remember, this is not your usual Inn, this is in a favela! If you keep this in mind, your experience will be one of the best of your life.

It's the safest Faveala in Rio thanks to all the hard work of Bob Nadkarni, his family & the locals who have worked tiredless to clean up the Favela & take it back from the drug gangs. Keep an eye out for the Elite Police force, The BOPE as they train there. Senor Bill & his lovely wife & children are welcoming & great fun. They will tell you all about the Faveala & the history of the Maze Inn.

Getting around the faveala is great fun, a true labyrinth of alley ways. Use the mini bus or bike taxis to get up & down the hill to the main street. So cheap & it supports the local community.

This is a truly humbling experience. Every one who goes to Rio should visit the Maze Inn.

This hotel is in the "favelas", one of the poorer areas of Rio, (now called "Communities") but the hospitality and ambience is superb. You can only go so far by taxi, then you have to climb up various steps and windy footpaths to reach the Maze which is nearly at the top of the "community". The views are breathtaking, and the jazz evenings have great groups and a brilliant atmosphere. If you want 5* de-luxe don't go there, but if you want something completely different which you will remember long after you've left Rio, this is the place. It was started a few years ago, but a British guy - see the web pages, one actually walks you through the route!

As part of our visit to Brazil we booked in to The Maze for 3 nights but ended up barely managing to stay 1. Having read up thoroughly about staying here, we were prepared for a unique, adventurous experience - sadly, right from our arrival we were let down. I had booked months in advance and specifically requested the balcony room (as advised by previous visitors) - I then telephoned the day before arriving to further confirm our arrival, and was assured by Bob that our booking had been made. We arrived around 9pm after a fairly frightening journey through the favela streets and rather than a welcoming greeting we had to wait while Bob lazily greeted us from the sofa, eventually standing up to say hi. We were shown to our room, where an overpowering stench of sewage permeated every corner - Bob's wife mumbled an apology, and proceeded to try to cover the smell with a couple of cursory sprays with an air freshener. The bed was functional, with cobwebs in the corners and dust across the surfaces. The shower had a leak and a very poor attempt to seal it had been made using a plastic bag (when I tried to use the shower the water leaked everywhere). Admittedly the view was excellent, but it really made little difference given the squalor-like conditions of the room. Throughout the night fireworks would randomly go off followed by loud shouting which woke us both up (despite wearing earplugs) - our first thoughts were that this was gunfire, the bright flash of white lights which flooded our curtained room helping to slightly allay our fears. The reek from the bathroom also actually woke us - truly the worst indoor smell we had encountered in all our travels, including India and Africa.

The next morning after an anxious night featuring little sleep we went downstairs and hoped that the "legendary" breakfast would redeem The Maze somehow. However - yet again - we were left rather disappointed. The fruit & coffee was tasty but that was it and we spent more time listening to Bob regale all at the table with his random & tiresome stories. Having decided we were completely unhappy with our stay and wanted to check out we spoke to Bob and explained our reasons; rather than offer an apology, we were told that we had been mistakenly put in a room that was not supposed to be occupied (because of the drain stench issue), and that this sort of thing rarely happens. The room which I had booked well in advance was apparently occupied by someone else, so we weren't even offered an upgrade. And rather than offering us either a discount for the "out of bounds" room we had endured or some kind way of making up for our sub-standard experience, Bob offered nothing whatsoever to redeem The Maze. We promptly checked out and in to a far cleaner B&B in Botafogo which also offered great views, was only slightly more expensive and was immeasurably more pleasant an experience.

It seems that The Maze is very good at publicising itself and some of its apparent popularity could well be due to an increased focus by the city of Rio to improve the public profile of favelas. The Maze has been featured in The Guardian, the NY Times and British Airways magazine - having stayed here it is absolutely unbelievable that this place was recommended in the publications.

Our advice is that if you are looking for a favela experience, visit The Maze for a beer or one of their jazz nights - afterwards, leave and go back to another B&B or hotel which isn't located in a favela. We felt cheated and angry after this experience, and embarrassed at ignoring the advice of many Brazilian friends who repeatedly told us to change our booking at The Maze - we should have listened, and strongly advise you avoid staying here.