My husband and I were in Rio in 2000 so this info is a little dated- but we loved it. We stayed at the Atlantis Copacabana. Decent room - and any room ending in 07 has a great view of the beach. They had a pool on the roof, which came in handy since the room had no water one of the days we were there. Good buffet breakfast and we paid $300 for 3 nights including the breakfasts and a late checkout. We were pretty laid-back about the lack of water- infrastructure there has problems and we knew we weren't paying top dollar for a room.

We left our jewelry at home except for cheap watches and never had a problem with crime. I walked alone on the beach and made side trips to the local Internet cafe during the day- the area was full of families and no one bothered me.

Food is fantastic. Wash it down with Chilean and Argentinian wines and caiparinha (local poison, made with distilled sugar cane- goes down like lemonade).

If you like jewelry or know anyone who does, go to H. Stern. They have free tours and will pick you up at your hotel. I bought a bracelet there and it appraised at 2.5 times what I paid for it when I got back home- and there's no duty on items with stones of Brazilian origin brought into the US. The irony, of course, is that you shouldn't wear it in Rio because it might get stolen. I hid it in a dirty sock n my suitcase till I got home.



[This message has been edited by Athena53 (edited Jan 03, 2004).]