dbuckho

My first trip to Rio we spent the first 5 days at the Intercontinental in Rio Barra (now I believe the Royal Tulip) and then moved to Copacabana for 3 nights. This was mainly due to the Copa and Ipanema hotels being sold out for New Year's and we could only get in starting on January 1st, but it actually ended up being a great split between the two. And we really enjoyed being a little removed from everything and had no problem hiring drivers/guides to take us around to all the sites we wanted to see (things were a little cheaper back then).

On a later trip stayed at the Sheraton Leblon and while there are nicer hotels we could not pass up a great cash and points rate and having direct access to the beach was worth the trade-offs. We actually met several of the Brazilian team players out on the beach (they were staying there for a match). And while it is a little removed we did do a long walk along the water then all the way to Ipanema for the Sunday market and then after that around to Copacabana.

The guide who arranged our favela tour suggested a day trip to the Sítio Roberto Burle Marx and that was something we really enjoyed and I would recommend.