rc89pl

I'm going to Belo Horizonte in a few weeks with my girlfriend and I'm planning a 4 night trip to Rio de Janeiro. I haven't picked a hotel yet, but looking at something for about $100-150/night. Found a few hotels, but was hoping I could hear some recommendations where and what to book. Looking to stay near Ipanema/Copacabana. Perhaps there are some inexpensive quality hostels that you could recommend?

Is it worth taking a rental car for a few days, or is it better to just take a cab to Corcovado, Leblon, Maracana and such. How's the parking situation? If I should do a rental, where should I look?

Recommended places to see and restaurants to eat at?

Last question: Since it's my first time visiting South America, I wanted to experience even more, and I was planning a trip to Buenos Aires. I found a deal on groupon for 2/3 nights with a flight, but now I can't seem to find one that departs from Rio or Belo Horizonte. Has anyone used that deal? What's the best/cheapest way to get to Buenos Aires? I noticed hotels are really inexpensive there, compared to Rio.

VidaNaPraia

While there, go to the Sunday feira---amazing variety of stuff! Also the church in the Pampulha park (and the other Neimeyer buildings while there). Go to a cachaca distillery (kind of the B.H. equivalent of a Napa wine tour). You can also go to picturesque Colonial era Ouro Preto (2 hrs by bus), but Colonial era Sabara is basically a suburb, 20 min by local bus.

Can't recommend any hostels from personal experience, but there is a whole alley of them off Barao de Torre in Ipanema; there is Che Lagarto; there is Lemon Spirit in Leblon. Most hostels do have private rooms.

Other less expensive pousada type options include Pousada Maragarida in Ipanema, Ipanema B&B, Casa de Valeska in Copacabana, Rio Guest House (aka Marta's Guest House) in Arpoador, Rio Dolphin Inn, the Cama E Cafe network of B&Bs in Santa Teresa (a bit less convenient to get to and fro from up in that neighborhood, but inexpensive and atmospheric)...........

DO NOT rent a car in Rio. Taxis are inexpensive and there is a metro system and buses.

See www.ipanema.com for a pretty comprehensive list of ideas of places to go and things to see in Rio. What do you like to do (to better advise)?
The major/popular restaurants in Rio, like Porcao for example, are outrageously expensive these days and IMO do not give good value. Regional (Bahia, Amazon) cuisines are available, as well as sushi. Best IMO is to find your own favorites by exploring the neighborhoods for the smaller local favorite places.

Check flights on GOL and TAM. You might want to see the falls in Iguacu also, which are on the way. Fly into IGU from GIG (Rio) on TAM or GOL, and out of the airport on the Argentine side of the falls, perhaps on an Argentine airline (cheaper that way AFAIK).

miikkak

It's well worth visiting the falls! How long are you going to travel? Although it's your first time in South America, I wouldn't recommend having too tight schedule as the distances are quite long. You can easily spend weeks in Brazil...

boboqui

Traffic in Rio is horrible, let someone else do the driving while you relax.

rc89pl

Thanks for the great advices. The flight to IGU doesn't seem to help much, it still looks like a solid 800R flight to Buenos Aires.

VidaNaPraia, thanks for the pousada suggestions. I emailed few of them and I like them a lot.

VidaNaPraia

The point was not so much "cheap" or "short" as it was to see one of the world's great natural wonders since it is "on the way", essentially, from one place to the other.

NPF

Living in Rio, I don't think that traffic here is horrible, but parking sure is . . . Most probably (unless you're going to explore difficult-to-reach places) it will be more of a hindrance than a benefit (at least to go to the points you listed).

If you're still thinking about a side trip from Belo Horizonte to Rio, may I suggest that you take a sleeper night bus between the two cities?

They are very comfortable and relatively cheap (certainly much less than a rental car or airfare + a night at a hotel).

VidaNaPraia

Well, one of the main reasons to visit Belo Horizonte is to see the surrounding Colonial towns in the mountains of Minas Gerais. Seeing more than one is not so easy by bus, involving a lot of backtracking (from Ouro Preto to Tiradentes, for example, is not very convenient, or to Congonhas, a shlep by bus for about half a day max to see the sculptures) and inconvenient schedules. So renting a car in Rio and driving through the Colonial towns south of B.H., or flying to B.H. (flights are very cheap, maybe even close to bus fare) and either renting a car there or using it as a back-and-forth bus base, makes a lot of sense. The night bus does not, IMO, as it would pass by/through some of the very towns to the south that you might be able to tour by bus if going during the day or would be backtracking to see from B.H. otherwise.
Let me add though that roads in Minas can be some of the worst, a bit of asphalt holding together a network of potholes, no shoulder, and crazy drivers moving into your lane, playing chicken trying to pass cars going in the other direction......

NPF

VidaNaPraia, where do you read about OP's desire "to see the surrounding Colonial towns in the mountains of Minas Gerais"?

Unless the OP has PMed you saying so (in which case it would have been nice to let us know), all I can read is that he wants to be in Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro, and has not an unlimited budget to do so. My suggestion to him is based on this, which he posted at this board.

Must I presume that "to see the surrounding Colonial towns in the mountains of Minas Gerais" is your kind of trip? I'm asking it because on some other occasions your answers appeared also to be not related to the original questions / parameters asked.

VidaNaPraia

@NPF--All sorts of people post on this forum, those who have done a lot of research and those who have not. If I were going to be in a region of the world I didn't know well, perhaps for the first and only time, I would appreciate someone pointing out to me the interesting places that I might regret not seeing as long as I was close by, whatever the main purpose of the visit.
And btw, since there isn't that much to see in B.H. itself, I'm assuming the reason for making a special trip is that the gf might have family there or he, friends. Most tourists do go to B.H. as a base to see the Colonial towns.
Budget can't be that limited if he himself mentioned car rental and $100-150 per night for accomodation.
And besides, bus (Cometa) fares are as much as R$109 and the trip takes 6-7 hours, while GOL has easy, short flights for as little as R$59---and you don't have to be trapped for hours in the freezing bus air conditioning just to save a night in a pousada. :-)

rc89pl

Sorry for the confusion and thanks for the advices. I'm going to Belo but not planning a trip around it - going to spend time mostly seeing my +1's family. Then a week in Rio, going on Oct1st and coming back after 6 nights. I guess I'm really looking for advices of where to go in Rio.

I'm 23 by the way. Perhaps some lounge with a patio, maybe a club would seal the deal.

Monday - planning to check out the Rio by walking around
Tuesday - Going to Corcovado and then beach and drinks
Wednesday - Sugar Leaf and Leblon
Thursday - ?
Friday - ?
Saturday - ?
Sunday - flight back to Belo Horizonte and seeing more family.

Suggestions as of what to fill up the question marks with?

miikkak

You could do day trip to Tijuaca rainforest located within the city. Although majority of tourists go there on a tour, you can get there on a local bus. Another thing you could (and should) do is spend half a day in downtown Rio, this can be combined easily with tram trip to Santa Teresa.

VidaNaPraia

That (downtown and Santa Teresa) could be done on the Monday "walking around" day. Also the Sceleron stairs. Note: The tram to get up to Santa Teresa is still not running (after an accident a few months ago), so use bus or taxi. Downtown, you can stop at historic Confeitaria Colombo for coffee and pastry.

Just fyi, you can "plan" Corcovado and Sugarloaf, but the weather sometimes doesn't cooperate. Cloudy days are not the best for photos from the heights.
When visiting Corcovado, you can also go into the Tijuca Forest by taxi to see the waterfall and maybe some monkeys, go to some of the other vista points up there, or you can do a separate jeep tour.

Without knowing what you like, it's a bit more difficult to make specific suggestions. The informational site www.ipanema.com will give you a pretty complete idea of what there is to see in and around the city, including a list of clubs. Just sitting out at one of the kiosks on the beach sidewalk with a beer or a coconut water is pretty nice though.

My suggestions for your ??? days:
*a ferry trip across the harbor to Niteroi (go to the small tourist booth for info as you emerge from the terminal), visit to dramatic architecture of the museum, lunch at the fish market, take photos looking back to Rio, maybe go to one of the nice non-touristy beaches on that side (maybe Itacoatiara)
http://wikitravel.org/en/Niter%C3%B3i

*day trip to Petropolis by bus
http://wikitravel.org/en/Petr%C3%B3polis

* a live samba club (maybe Carioca da Gema or Scenaiurm) in Lapa one night (preferably Saturday)

*if you like boat trips, you can go out to Paqueta island in the bay
http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/gui...on-detail.html

* trip by bus out to one of the "west" beaches (actually the neighborhoods like Barra de Tijuca south of the city center) like Prainha, Joa, etc

*or you could spend your so-far-unplanned-time on an overnight trip to Parati and/or Ilha Grande (along the coast between Rio and Sao Paulo)
--
Even if you don't want to do a longer planned trip to Ouro Preto, you can see some of the famous Colonial architecture in Sabara, just 20 minutes by local bus from central B.H. I can't imagine you're going to want to sit around the house for entire days there trying to communicate with your (almost) mother-in-law. :-) The Pampulha park is an OK trip for a couple of hours too. And one of the cachaca breweries can be fun at night.

Good luck and happy travels.

patadec

I'll not rent a car in Rio, all by taxi or metro when possible...

Take a look at ibis hotel on Rio city centre

You can't miss Búzios (2h30 by bus) http://www.buziosonline.com.br/home/english/
Lots of hostal and hotels. Look for any near rua das pedras in the city center, where you can take water taxis to any beach

Monday - planning to check out the Rio by walking around
Tuesday - trip to Búzios
Wednesday - trip to Búzios
Thursday - Sugar Loaf, Leblon BBQ at any all u can eat "churrascaria"
Friday - Going to Corcovado, Santa teresa and Lapa by night (rio scenarium)
Saturday - Lagoa, ipanema beach and drinks, Lapa by night (any bar or samba club) or football game
Sunday - flight back to Belo Horizonte and seeing more family.

Have a good time in Rio

NPF

rc89pl:

I'm sorry but I have to disagree with some of the above suggestions, based on what you have said (23yo, traveling w/ gf, first time in Rio):

- Floresta da Tijuca (Tijuca Rainforest): nice place, but mostly empty and sedate, and you're going to Iguaçu Falls after Rio! Don't waste your time there.

- Niterói: this is the same as recommending that someone goes to New Jersey on his first trip to NYC. C'mon, if you come back to Rio 20 times, then it's time to go to Niteroi (by the way, Itacoatiara is a nice beach, but people who goes there go to get away from the hordes of people, sometimes chaotic, at Ipanema and Copacabana). Don't do it if you're 23yo and it's your first time in Rio . . .

- Petrópolis: a nice town, but very sedate. Forget about it until you're at least 50yo

- Paquetá: nothing positive to say about this one - very, very sedate, the beaches are inappropriate to bathing due to pollution, not much to do there.

- Prainha / Joá / Parati / Ilha Grande / Búzios: these are nice places, but they're secondary destinations; if this is your first time in Rio, keep yourself at Ipanema / Leblon / Copacabana

The positives:

- Lapa at night, preferably Friday or Saturday. Very good program.

- The site at ipanema.com is a good starting point to find other things to do.

Other suggestions:

- The "Lagoa": if, as appears, you like to stroll around, go for a walk along the margins of Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas (besides Ipanema and Leblon). It's 8Km/5miles, scenic and relaxant, has some kiosks with food and beverages along the way. Could take a half-day if done leisurely or 2h if walking briskly, your choice.

- Arpoador Rock (do a search on YouTube, "Pedra do Arpoador"): Climb it (a very, very easy climb). If you could go there on a sunny day, go in the afternoon and stay for the sunset. There is no money in the world to pay for it (specially being w/ a gf), and it's free. After the sunset, there are the Astor and/or the Fellice bar/restaurants nearby.

- Corcovado and Pão de Açúcar: Both are fine, but I much prefer Pão de Açúcar. The hassle factor to go to Corcovado is high, Pão de Açúcar is much easier. Personally, I also think the views from Pão de Açúcar are better. Near the teleferic that goes to Pão de Açúcar, there is the "Pista Cláudio Coutinho" a small, very scenic trail around the base of Morro da Urca. And, if you like churracarias, there is Fogo de Chão nearby, probably the best one in Rio (this is controvertial, as Porcão and Marius are also very good).

The few days you allocated to Rio won't suffice to do even the basics, don't lose time with secondary activities.