Rio Soul Hostel

After an awful experience in another hostel in Rio (see our other reviews if interested-won´t name here!) we were luckily able to secure a double private room here with ensuite, television and fantastic air conditioning for the same price as our sweaty fan-only, shared bathroom, and just dirty room elsewhere. Therefore this hostel definitely deserves points for value for money. Its also in a very handy part of the Botafogo area, just 5 minutes walk from the metro, botafogo beach (where you can catch buses to any major tourist attractions), a large shopping mall and 10 minutes walk from two supermarkets. The area always felt busy and safe even in the evenings. The hostel itself is really clean and has a lot of socialising/relaxing areas downstairs both inside and outside. The shared kitchen was one of the better equipped ones we've encountered on our travels. Breakfast wasn't hugely exciting but felt like bonus food when the room was such good value. There is a bar on site and the hostel has signs up prohibiting the entry of alcoholic beverages bought elsewhere. Other hostels in Brasil have this same rule which we have found really annoying. However the bar here has a good selection of interesting beers (not just one standard cerveza lager) and cocktails too which is great and makes this rule much more reasonable/tolerable.