Hotel Samba Palace (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

The residential suburb of Laranjeiras is not only excellent for getting around Rio, but guests also find it very pleasant and secure. You feel pretty safe here and have good public transport and taxi links to all the main attractions including the beaches, the shops and downtown Rio. You can also catch a train to Rio's main landmark - the Christ The Redeemer Statue - after a short walk from the hostel.

There are not many cheaper places to stay in Rio than this hostel. Guests accept to put up with some inconveniences to take advantage of the superb value this accommodation offers.

The staff at the hostel are seen to be very friendly and helpful, making your stay as nice as possible.

Hostels usually can get pretty noisy and this one is no exception. Guests have difficulty sleeping when there are very loud parties going on until the early hours. They advise you to choose an upstairs room for a bit more peace.

If you're lucky the breakfast you are served up each morning is the same day after day. If you're not so fortunate and get down a little bit late, you might not get anything at all! Guests complain that the quality is poor and the provisions are not restocked, so there is often very little, if anything, left if you don't get down straight away.

Guests think that by reserving a private room, they'll have a better standard of accommodation. This doesn't seem to be the case. Many complain of poor decoration, infrequent cleaning and not being able to get Wi-Fi.