Looking for a decent hotel in Rio
 

Can anyone suggest a decent/good hotel in the Leblon area? I would like to be near the beach and have some good restaurants within walking distance.

I plan on doing some jiu jitsu training while I am in Rio for the weekend and am planing on training at:


Gracie Humaita
Address:
Rua Humaita 52,
Humaita, Rio de Janeiro
22261-001
Tel: 21-2266 6094


Brazilian Top Team
Address:
Clube Associação Atlética Banco do Brasil
Avenida Borges de Medeiros, 829 – Lagoa
Rio de Janeiro – RJ, 22430-041

I know that I will have to take taxis to and from but that is not a big deal. Other than this training, I plan on just hanging out. So, I want to be in a nice area where I can can just walk around and sit back in a bar and really unwind.

Thanks for the help.

There's the Marina Palace Hotel right on the beach, and the Marina Suites next-door which is a bit more costly.

Look for AirBnB options. Tons available and, IME, much better prices and flexibility. Great for getting into local neighborhoods and such.

Tons of decent hotels. What's your budget?

This is a business trip so I can get away with a higher budget. I am okay up to $200/night.

Also, how far and how expensive will the taxi be to the Gracie Humaita, Rio de Janeiro from a hotel in Leblon?

Any suggestions on some good restaurants/bars in the area? I eat everything and love a cold beer !!

Taxi, maybe R$25-30
Big list of Leblon bars and restos on rio.com
IMO $200 may be low for Leblon hotel

IMHO, $200 is low for Rio in general, though certainly doable if you hunt enough and are flexible on location, room size, amenities, etc. You are set on Leblon? Prices do, of course, vary greatly by date. Brazil, and especially Rio, is not an inexpensive place to visit. Rio is one of the most expensive cities in the world for tourists.

Just got the rates from my agent in Brazil and $200/night is too low of a bar. So, what would you guys recommend from these options:

Marina Palace -- Leblon
Cesar Park -- Ipanema

and a few others in Copacabana which I do not want to stay at.

After reading all the reviews on TA, I think I will stick to Marina Palace. Been many times to Brazil so I know it is expensive and since this is mainly a work trip with pleasure thrown in, I will give Leblon a try.

Taxis are not that expensive and very convenient.

There's a fantastic juice bar called Bibi Lanches (beware of the imitators with the same name).

https://www.google.com/search?q=bb+l...&client=safari

The Degrau restaurant is always good (the best waiter is Ronaldo).

https://www.google.com/search?q=bb+l...eblon&safe=off

My wife likes the shrimp risotto at the the Marina Suites restaurant, and the feijoada on Saturdays at Galanis, at the Caesar Park Ipanema.

User jbcarioca has recommended some restaurants in Jardim Botanico http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/21258179-post2.html

Watch out for ocean pollution before going in, if it's not blue/green they'll tell you it's due to algae but it's not!

thanks for the help -- especially about the ocean color !!

Yeah, there have even been recent problems with the purity of the water in the showers at the beach postos. And awhile ago, the media outlet Globo had an expose' talking about fecal colliform levels in the sand.
Enjoy!

GREAT !!!

I usually don't take a shower in the beach area -- wait till I get to the hotel. If I go to the beach, I Will wear sandals and just hang out on a chair or at a beach bar. I don't know about getting in the water -- I like my ocean water to be warm. So if it is at all cold, I avoid it.

I recommend the Sheraton .......lovely pools and right on the beach. Ask for a room on the old club floors as they have large balconies right over the beach. You can hear the waves thunder in at night. Lovely.

But realize too that the Sheraton is pretty isolated. In and out would likely be by taxi. Closest restaurants are in the Vidigal favela whose entrance is across the street.

What? The water in the postos has never been an issue, since is the same anyone will have at the hotel. The issue are the irregular showers on the beach itself which are set up by the beach vendors by pumping groundwater.

Every year the talk about dirty sand is discussed. It's nothing new, nothing unknown. If the sand strip is occupied by thousands, it's only natural that it gets dirty, even if the water was absolutely unpolluted.

What do you really expect when this happens?

http://img.estadao.com.br/fotos/94/9...7201A73B0E.jpg