Hotels near Samba City, Rio de Janeiro

Overall a nice trip, and a pretty fancy hotel for the price. I would consider it more like a 4**** hotel than a 5 star, personally. highlights: - beautiful lobby and view from our room of the mountains, beach, etc. - kind people at the desk and otherwise. very safe inside even though neighborhood is a bit sketchy at times. - great bed, windows, bathtub, etc.. - affordable as an american for level of service. - spa and rooftop restaurant are amazing. gym is great too! dealbreakers: (may stop me from booking next time) - wifi was basically broken the entire time in our room, and in the hotel at times. less than 10mbits, and no signal in most of our room. front desk said several times they'd fix but I don't think they have the ability to actually fix it. many other people had this issue as well. at a 5* hotel, this should not be happening. major issue, had to do meetings in the lobby to get it to function at all. - breakfast is *good* but definitely caters towards a local brazilian diet (very few options for vegans). as a vegetarian, I'll just say I ate a lot of eggs and cheese. but hey, that's brazil so not digging on the hotel too much on that. - elevator is incredibly busy, and there were times where it literally said ”not available” and we had to wait 5 minutes to actually use it. - there are *TONS* of families with kids in and around the pool when we went. so environment was quite loud and crazy most of the time. they do timeshares so I think mostly big families frequent the hotel. - we booked and paid extra for the *Junior Suite* (with a large living room as well as bath). the front desk gave us the *room with bath* which ended up being nice.. but is half the size, and refused to put us in the junior suite room, even after showing the reservation. this may be a Trip.com issue instead of the hotel.. but they didn't offer any compensation or flexibility for us. trip did refund us the difference in price though. overall, its a great deal for the price, and the architecture is amazing, the room is nice, good water pressure. horrible wifi and very few vegetarian options made it difficult to recommend again, but we liked our stay nonetheless.

Amazing view and staff super helpful. I really recommend Othon. The hotel is even better after the renovation the rooftop is amazing 🤩

Really lovely hotel in a nice part of Rio. Staff are really friendly and helpful, especially as I speak English and everyone else is speaking Portuguese. The room was lovely and clean and the cleaners came here everyday to freshen up the room, put fresh towels in the bathroom and change the sheets. The pool was lovely and very quiet which made the experience much better. I didn’t have breakfast at the hotel very much but the one day that I did, there was a good variety of food. Can’t fault this hotel, very pleasant and would definitely stay here again.

I recently stayed at the Hotel Itajuba in Rio and had a generally positive experience. It's a solid choice for travelers looking for a well-located, large hotel with good value. Location: The hotel's location is one of its biggest strengths. It is very well-connected to Rio's main attractions: · Christ the Redeemer: Approximately 6km away. A taxi costs around 20 BRL and takes about 20 minutes (Christ the Redeemer ticket 128 BRL per person). · Sugarloaf Mountain: Approximately 7km away. A taxi costs around 20 BRL and takes about 20 minutes (Ticket for sugarloaf is 195 BRL per person). . From Airport (GIG): About 20km away. A taxi cost me 50-60 BRL and the journey took about an hour (depending on traffic). There are also plenty of shops and restaurants for food and essentials in the immediate vicinity. Room & Amenities: The hotel itself is a large, 15-floor building. The rooms are adequate, clean, and provide the basic necessities. However, a notable downside for some travelers will be the lack of tea and coffee making facilities (kettle) in the room. The breakfast is available and has a decent spread, but it has significant limitations for vegetarian. Service: A standout feature was the exceptional service from the reception staff, specifically Marcos. They were incredibly helpful, provided excellent guidance for sightseeing, and were very kind and soft-spoken. Their assistance greatly improved my stay. Important Note for Vegetarians: Warning for vegetarian travelers: Options are extremely limited. Both the hotel breakfast and the nearby food shops offer very few vegetarian choices. I highly recommend bringing or buying your own snacks and food to ensure you have suitable meals. Considering the cost of taxis to attractions and the overall convenience, the hotel offers good value. The helpful staff adds significant value to the experience. Hotel Itajuba is a good, practical base for exploring Rio's famous landmarks. Its great location and wonderfully helpful staff are major positives.

I booked JW Marriott Copacabana because, surprisingly, the price wasn’t much higher than nearby 3–4 star hotels. The location is truly premium, right on Copacabana Beach and the rooftop overlooks the entire beach, which is a huge plus. My room faced the inside of the building, so I had to keep the curtains closed the whole time for privacy, which made the room quite dark. That said, the room itself was spacious, clean, and comfortable. Staff were generally nice, but everything felt quite slow check-in, check-out, room service requests, and even housekeeping. Breakfast was good in quality but exactly the same every day. Getting a table in the morning was also frustratingly slow; at one point around 10 people were waiting, and it took about 10 minutes just to be seated. The rooftop views are amazing, but the design is honestly very awkward and outdated. The pool is at the back with almost no view, when it could easily have been a stunning infinity pool. The bar area felt cheap, and the thick glass panels and wide columns made it hard to enjoy the view or take good photos. The whole rooftop design felt very old-fashioned. Overall, the hotel feels stuck in time. It’s a bit sad, because with such an incredible location, a modern renovation could easily make this one of the best hotels in the world. For the price I paid, I was still satisfied, but it definitely didn’t feel like a true luxury experience.

Absolutely incredible hotel. In the best location in Barra. Lots of comfort, incredible breakfast, but the highlight, for sure, is the extremely well-prepared professionals. Lilian, the maid on the 5th floor, did everything she could to make our pet comfortable and was extremely attentive to us. Leonardo at reception was incredibly helpful when I asked for a room change. I also highlight Anderson and Rivaldo who did everything they could to help us when we had problems with the car on the way out. The manager Fred also lent us a cable of his own so we could travel safely. In other words, a sensational team that is the hotel’s biggest differentiator!

It’s all about location - right on Copacabana beach.  The rooms finishing in numbers 1, 2, 3 or 4 have ocean views.  Excellent breakfast.

Good hotel, nice location, amazing view with a really nice roof bar and pool. The breakfast has a great variety of pastries, sweets, cakes, and drinks options. The staff were very friendly, especially Ana in the reception, very attentive and helpful. I would recommend it.

Wonderful hotel, spacious, clean, airy room, with a balcony facing the street, very attractive, super comfortable beds, super cold air conditioning, strong and warm shower, bedspreads available, TOP pool, large and beautiful on the terrace with a super cool view, and super plentiful and delicious breakfast, I highly recommend the hotel and will definitely return.