Villa 25 Hostel & Suites — Hotel in Região Geográfica Imediata do Rio de Janeiro

Overall the hostel is good. Like a 3.9. What it has: Room is as advertised with working wifi (both upstairs and downstairs), clean premises, a wall plug right by the bed for charging phones, hot water, free good breakfast (no eggs though, sorry egg lovers), accessible by public transit, close to metro, relatively close to the park and cycling trail, free storage, lots of grocery stores in the general area, very friendly helpful staff & a restaurant open to the public right underneath. I would say the restaurant is a little pricey but that’s the price range for a lot of similar restaurants. The restaurant food is good- not a lot of options though. I had the steak, rice & beans, and potato wedges and these were good/phenomenal. I had the burger and it was awful. For non-fussy eaters, there are affordable & cheaper options outside of the hostel if you are looking for street food and the like. At the time I was there, at least half of the employees were bilingual (so spoke Portuguese /Spanish/English – any combination of the two), so yay English speakers or Spanish speakers. Depending on traffic, it’s about a 20 min drive or longer from the major airport. The hostel is in a safe area for any race, gender or other. You can walk out and wander around randomly & freely at any time of day. The hostel provides US dollar exchange & you could buy phone sim cards from there. The one I purchased didn’t work but don’t let that stop you from purchasing one. Uber works and so does uber eats.

Cons (these have been written just so solo travelers know what to expect when at the hostel as opposed to written with intent to ‘trash’ the hostel):

Your US wall plug adapter won't work. Get the Brazilian one. Wi-Fi is one device per individual (so if you used your one device initially, say cellphone, you cannot connect your tablet or other device on Wi-Fi at the same time or after). If your phone is on airplane mode, as would be for foreigners, you’ll have trouble with the Wi-Fi. The rooms are pretty small. A 28in suitcase or larger, would take up too much space in the room especially if there’s more than 2 people in the room. Carry-on luggage would be too large to fit in the room lockers. The top beds are so high (fall hazard). If you are the kind that needs to use the washroom at night and you are on a top bed – well sucks to be you  Again not much they can do there but some of the rooms face the road so there will be that noise factor early in the am especially if there’s construction. There’s just a number of washrooms on each floor. No communal kitchen or refrigerator or microwave or kettle for hot water or laundry services. If you are the kind who needs a lie in early in the evening some nights can be busy at the restaurant & loud. Carry ear plugs. The music stops about 10.30pm though. Gates are closed somewhere after 11pm and you have to identify yourself to the gatemen/security – this can go any direction (pro or con). No ‘internal hostel arranged’ activities for solo travelers, though the hosts do a good job sharing activities that may be happening that they deem might be of interest. The hosts will assist in getting you all - day guided tours. These are no different albeit cheaper than what you will find on trip advisor. If you still want to save more and can haggle/speak the language, they are no different from what you will purchase from any local travel agency within the area. I was not there in the summer so I can’t say much for AC.

Are you a hot tea person? Green? Black? Yeah, you are going to have a hell of a time finding hot tea in this general area (this is not part of the...

Only just got around to writing this. However, we stayed here for a couple of weeks towards the end of June and early July 2019, both to see the Copa America and to see Rio.||After looking for accommodation in Rio we were lucky enough to come across this absolute gem. We had a class time staying at Villa 25. The beds and rooms were comfy and cleaned to a high standard. ||||However, our stay at Villa 25 being so good was largely to do with the staff there. Luciano is an absolute legend and all of the others at reception were equally as class. ||Any questions we had they were happy to answer, whether it be places to visit, restaurants to eat at or places to have a drink at, we were never disappointed. ||||We did eat at the Villa 25 restaurant numerous times and the food was very very good, particularly the burgers - they were very affordable and tasted class. Again, the staff in the restaurant was also brilliant and would have a laugh with you. ||||My advice for eating and drinking at the Villa 25 bar/ restaurant is to learn this key phrase: ||“eu gostaria de duas caipirinhas por favor”||||If you get to say that four or five times you’ll have a very good time! ||||I’d also recommend going to the Largo de Machado square around the corner and going to the stall which sells Coxhinas for .99 Reals (about 20p each). They taste like heaven - the clogging feeling in your arteries is very much a problem for future you. ||||Also, while you’re in the spiritual home of football you have to try and get to the Maracana - the stadium seems to be built to reverberate the sound, it’s incredible. ||||And get yourself to some places with samba music, there’s loads of people who are happy to try and teach it to you. ||||Rio’s class, we felt safe the whole time we were there and everyone was really nice. Of course you have to be sensible, particularly at night, but in our experience the rep you sometimes see the media give it isn’t justified. ||We will hopefully be back at some point - with a bit of luck it'll be for Carnival.||||Cheers for an awesome stay,...

Only just got around to writing this. However, we stayed here for a couple of weeks towards the end of June and early July 2019, both to see the Copa America and to see Rio.||After looking for accommodation in Rio we were lucky enough to come across this absolute gem. We had a class time staying at Villa 25. The beds and rooms were comfy and cleaned to a high standard. ||||However, our stay at Villa 25 being so good was largely to do with the staff there. Luciano is an absolute legend and all of the others at reception were equally as class. ||Any questions we had they were happy to answer, whether it be places to visit, restaurants to eat at or places to have a drink at, we were never disappointed. ||||We did eat at the Villa 25 restaurant numerous times and the food was very very good, particularly the burgers - they were very affordable and tasted class. Again, the staff in the restaurant was also brilliant and would have a laugh with you. ||||My advice for eating and drinking at the Villa 25 bar/ restaurant is to learn this key phrase: ||“eu gostaria de duas caipirinhas por favor”||||If you get to say that four or five times you’ll have a very good time! ||||I’d also recommend going to the Largo de Machado square around the corner and going to the stall which sells Coxhinas for .99 Reals (about 20p each). They taste like heaven - the clogging feeling in your arteries is very much a problem for future you. ||||Also, while you’re in the spiritual home of football you have to try and get to the Maracana - the stadium seems to be built to reverberate the sound, it’s incredible. ||||And get yourself to some places with samba music, there’s loads of people who are happy to try and teach it to you. ||||Rio’s class, we felt safe the whole time we were there and everyone was really nice. Of course you have to be sensible, particularly at night, but in our experience the rep you sometimes see the media give it isn’t justified. ||We will hopefully be back at some point - with a bit of luck it'll be for Carnival.||||Cheers for an awesome stay,...