Bromelia Rio Travel and Tour are the best way to introduce yourself to Rio and fall in love with…read moreit. I was amazed by how each experience I had with Lauren and Val led me to want to do another tour with them. Each one I did was unique and amazing. First I decided to stay at Casa Bromelia. This B&B is ran by Lauren and Val. I found this option on their tour site. I stayed 3 nights and am positive I will return for more. Casa Bromelia is a block from Ipanema beach. You cannot beat this location. It has so much historical charm on the outside and the interior decor Lauren selected is beautiful! It has 3 bedrooms that could potential be booked. The beds are super comfortable and the sound proof windows make you forget the outdoor world is even there. Trust me this is bliss after long adventures all day in Rio. You share a bathroom with the other guests, but I often felt like it was my own. Never had issues waiting for it. Besides the amazing comfort of the rooms having Lauren and Val there to give advice on your stay made the trip. They could point you in the right direction for whatever you are in the mood for that day. You could join in on one of their tours, they will give you advice on restaurant to try, and the best beach stand to visit. Lauren and Val are so genuine and you can tell love Rio. They want you to love it too. I highly recommend staying at Casa Bromelia for your accommodation for your stay. Second, I did the Rainforest Hiking Tour to Dois Irmãos. The view for this is the best I have seen. Better then Christ or Sugar Loaf in my opinion. You can see a 360 view of Rio. I joined in last minute for this tour. I heard about it from a guest who was staying in a different room the afternoon before. Staying at Casa Bromelia made it easy for this last minute addition. A couple staying at a different location joined our group too. We met at Casa Bromelia and headed to the mountain. Val guided this tour and you can tell he has a love for the environment. He was picking up any little piece of trash as we hiked. I appreciate this gesture. In this tour we started at the bottom of the Vidigal Favela. We each took a separate motor bike taxi to get to the start of the hike at the top of the Favela. This was very safe and a great way to see the favela briefly. The hike was great for beginners. I am 35 years old and in average shape. There are some steep parts, but nothing you can't do. Val guided us at our pace and made sure we all were doing okay. The group talked the entire way up. Trust me the view is worth it!!! We walked down through the favela on the way back. It felt safe and interesting to see close up. Third, I did the Back Street Samba Party Excursion. I scheduled this in advance when I booked the place. Lauren guided this tour and you can tell she truly enjoys Samba and the spirit it brings to the Rio culture. I did it with one other guest (31 years old) staying at Casa Bromelia and an older couple (70 years old) staying at a different location. The ages didn't matter. We all had such a fantastic time together. There is no way you can't in this particular tour. First, we all met at Casa Bromelia at 6pm and learned how to make a Caprinhina! We also had one too! Then we headed to the central part of Rio to a back street Samba gathering. The location was amazing to see. Something I would never have found on my own in Rio. We listened to music, drank a few more Caprinhinas, ate espichinos (meat on a stick) and danced the night away!! Lauren's enthusiasm for this amazing tour really made us all fall in love with Rio and Samba. If I had more time I would have loved to do the cooking class tour, which Lauren doesn't run, but sets up for you or the City Walking Tour that Lauren does. Oh .... or the Photography Tour. The photos taken look amazing and how often do you have a beautiful background like Rio to do a personal photo shoot in. Lauren sets this up for you as well. I have officially fallen in love with Rio AND Bromelia Rio Travel and Tour! I will be back!!

Best Local Experience! I would not have found any of the information I received nor experienced any…read moreof the authentic moments I had without the help of Bromelia Rio Travel. And best of all, you made me feel prepared for my trip even before I arrived! Always available to answer my questions, offer suggestions and get me excited for my Rio holiday. Highly Recommended.

Condor Travel is the company hired by our travel agent, Captivating Journeys based out of Wailuku,…read moreHI for a 15-day, private tour of Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and Lima. RIO DE JANEIRO: One of Condor's reps met us at the airport and got us situated for transport to the Miramar Windsor hotel on Copacabana Beach about 30 minutes away. The next day Renata was our guide. She was friendly, patient, spoke English well and taught us a new panoramic trick with our phones! We took in Christ The Redeemer where there was no waiting in line for the train thanks to pre-purchased tickets, then stopped off at the Metropolitan Cathedral, Escadaria Selarón (steps), Sambodrome and Mário Filho stadium. Lunch was at Churrascaria Carretão (see separate review). Sugarloaf was last on the agenda where she left us because we wanted to watch sunset from there. She was nice enough to drop off our belongings we left in the car back to our hotel. On departure day, no Condor rep escorted us, just an unknown woman who dressed like a business executive but helped us with our bags like an airport porter in heels! TIPS: Definitely use Uber in Rio. Cars were plentiful and fares were cheap! Try not to use your credit cards as mine got compromised early on.

Didn't want to take one of those bus tours that treat you like cattle when visiting Rio de Janeiro…read more Expensive and you spend alot of your time sitting on the bus picking up and dropping off other tour guests at all the different hotels. Instead we booked toursbylocals.com - and found the best English speaking tour guide Michael Serruya. You can book before you leave and it is a reputable agency. Michael gave us a personalized tour of Rio for 8 hour which included all the major attractions and more, and booked a 4 hour tour for the following day to see the beaches, favelas, Santa Teresa, and downtown at a very resonable rate. I highly recommend Michael for a personal, friendly, insightlful introduction to Rio. He was prompt, reliable, dependable, knowledgable, friendly and an all round great guide!

Fully agree with Cynthia H. Toursbylocals.com is the best way to go. Our guide Michael Serruya…read morespoke English and was very prompt, courteous, professional, knowledgable and very personable. From the moment we touched down in Rio, he was right there . He met us at the airport ready to show us his town. We covered all the main attractions, Corcovado,Sugarloaf, all the beaches Leblon, ipanema and Copacabana , downtown and even ventured into some Favellas. Cannot say enough about the personal touch having a local person one on one to tour a totally unknown territory. No worries about safety or language dilemma . He booked shows and gave us very valuable tips to help navigate our way through an amazing City/place. Our vacation in Rio , was made that much more magical and memorable with the assistance of Mr. Michael Serruya and toursbylocal.com. Would definitely recommend them and our guide Michael Serruya!

We had an amazing experience with Manu. It was a two-day tour (on non-consecutive days), and we saw…read morealmost everything Rio has to offer: Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain, Santa Teresa, the favelas, the Selarón Steps, the old town, Tijuca National Park, Ipanema and Leblon, and much more. Each tour lasted nearly nine hours, yet the time flew by. Manu arranged a private car and was fully at our disposal throughout the tours.

Manu is a an amazing guide!! We had a wonderful experience in Rio seeing sights on and off the…read morebeaten path. He is entertaining, knowledgeable and fun and knows where to get the best food!

The location of this hotel is bar none. It's a very short walk to either Copacabana Beach & Ipanema…read moreBeach. We enjoyed both beaches and the neighborhood is very safe at night. There are plenty of restaurants and bars nearby. The hotel also has free wi-fi and the front desk will exchange currency for you at a very reasonable rate. The rooms are pretty basic with not a ton of amenities, but we just used them for the beds which I found to be pretty comfortable. They also have 110v outlets for American plugs. They have lots of tour options here one of which is to watch a futbole (soccer) match at the legendary Maracana Stadium. It's definitely worth the $80 price as the tickets are in the VIP section right around midfield and offers free food and non-alcoholic beverages (they don't sell alcohol in any of the Brazilian stadiums except during the World Cup). It even include a pickup from the hotel. If you want a tour of the big sights in the city, I suggest you use tripadvisor for a private tour. The price is pretty much the same, but you don't have to go in a big bus tour and wait for everyone else. They also pick you up & drop you off right at the hotel. I recommend Edersen at http://www.tripadvisor.com.br/Attraction_Review-g303506-d3611593-Reviews-Trip_In_Rio_Day_Tours-Rio_de_Janeiro_State_of_Rio_de_Janeiro.html

Overall, Windsor Martinique Hotel was pretty good for Rio I think. Here's what I think:…read more Pros: Free breakfast-pretty much the same selection every morning but the fruits were really good. Juices were good. Coffee was good. They had scrambled eggs, bacon, some sort of sausage, pastries and cereals. Shower had commando strength! I had no complaints there. Always had hot water when I wanted. Location. Location. Location. Hotel is maybe 1/2 block from the beach. Windsor Miramar is closer and more expensive but seriously, it's not worth it. It is only 2 streets (literally) away from the beach. Customer service-the front desk personnel were always on point. They were always nice and willing to give to give you directions. Room service/housekeeping-definitely on point. We didn't get it every day we were here but they delivered. Food was hot. Sheets were clean. In room safe- always a plus. Con: LOUD! Ok, we were on the 3rd floor. We can hear so many noises. We can hear bathroom noises like flushing or water water running from neighbors. Shuffling or stepping noises outside the room I guess or upstairs. No microwaves in the room. They have a minibar/refrigerator. If you call downstairs, (because sometimes they have a common microwave) they said they have a management policy that they can't heat up outside food. Really? We're in Brazil. We had a standard room and it has no view. The pool is TINY so don't bother. The bar at the pool has nice drinks though so that is a nice perk. The fitness center is also TINY. It has literally 4 equipments. So I would stay here again. *****If you are a first timer in Rio***** only exchange a few bucks at the airport. You will find a exchange place in Rio for better exchange rate. Ask around. We found a place right by the hotel for for .299 and we walked around and they exchanged for .30. The "taxi" ride from the airport was about $45 US dollars so if you do better than that then that is good because the same "taxi" driver offered to drive us back for $23.

Great location but minus 1 star for the lack of wifi in the room!! For me the major setback was…read morethat the Wifi was only available in the lobby and the rooftop bar, which was quite inconvenient. The room is basic and clean, but the overall aesthetic of the interior is far from that of fancy boutique hotels. Stylistically it reminded me of Holiday Inn. The breakfast buffet is on the boring side, comparable to the typical Marriott standard breakfast buffet. The staff is friendly and helpful. The selling point of this hotel is the fantastic location, it's only a block away from Copacabana Beach (Posto 5) and it's pretty safe to walk around even at night. Posto 5 beach is pretty chill, it has a nice eclectic mix of locals and tourists and we didn't get harassed too much by the street vendors who roam around the beach . The wave is pretty high, but you are better off around Posto 5 because it's even worse around Posto 1-3.... I would avoid those unless you are a surfer. Posto 9 & 10 (Ipanema/Lebron) are considered to be the safest and the most trendy beach area where you will find more rich and stylish folks and from Posto 4 and below, the beach becomes more ghetto. There are enough restaurants and convenience stores around the hotel. If you want a cool romantic hotel, this is not the one for you. But if you are looking for an affordable hotel that's close to the beach , this might work for you.