Books Hostel

I was in books hostel for 10 days and the staff and volunteers were absolutely incredible and great at organizing days out for the guests. The breakfast was delicious and of course Andre the manager was amazing! I'd highly recommend anyone going to Rio to stay in the great social hostel!

The atmosphere was very nice. But the hostel overall was EXTREMELY DIRTY (no matress covers, mold in bathrooms, bed bugs in some of the rooms, the bathrooms smelled like vomit). Even though the people and atmosphere was amazing, the hostel's cleanliness was too poor to rate the stay above 3 stars.

This was the first hostel I stayed at in this off season trip that had a true party atmosphere, so if that's your thing, you'll love it. I love the Whatsapp group where you can find out where folks are partying. Bear in mind though that downstairs they start bumping very loud music at like 7pm. I also appreciated: - filtered water (though it's quite slow) - the breakfast was really nice, and there's an option to get it anyway even if you're not staying there for R15, AND it goes until 10:30am A slight deduction because the lockers don't actually work lol... you can lock it and still open it (room #6). I also wish the door to the room itself had a key/lock. And even though they do offer bag storage, there's no verification of any kind, and I definitely was able to grab my bag to leave without anyone at the front desk noticing... maybe there are cameras, but I could've been out that door before anyone cared. I appreciate that most hostels operate to some degree on an open trust basis, but given that they have 24/7 door staff anyway, would be nice to have a back room only accessible by then. Lastly, you don't get a key to the hostel, you have to buzz, but the buzzer is quite loud, so if you're a light sleeper, this could be a problem... but so might the trucks rolling up and down the street

What an amazing experience to stay at this hostel! Stayed for 7 days and made my Rio experience so good! Always updated on activities in the city as they are sooo many in Rio. Super social hostel, with friendly volunteers, drinking games every night. Also the owner is often around and he is very nice, thoughtful and helpful. Just book the hostel and have fun!

This is a party hostel yall. I was so excited to relax after long day at the beach. And the music right under my room started. But the free breakfast there was amazing.

Cool place with nice vibes and a friendly bunch of people working there. Really liked their events and parties and the atmosphere

Super friendly, helpful staff and volunteers. A hospitable party hostel located near sites like the Selaron Steps, Pyramid Cathedral, and not too far from other historic sites. They even exchanged my money at the base rate, no commission (this is important because the airport takes 20% ! ). The free breakfast was also enjoyable. Thank you all for a great time. Hope to see you again in a few weeks.

amazing hostel, great and chill staff always helpful, cool design and street art decoration. Feels real, people get together super easy to go out or just start the night chilling at the bar that they have with double caipirinhas happy hour🔥 I can just thank for my stay, definitely made my trip even better and spontaneous!

I have traveled to many countries and always enjoy staying in hostels. Small things like, no air conditioner during the day, no hot water, dirty tubs, unorganized rooms. For example, I returned one day to find a girl in my bed! She had been assigned the same bed, not the way you want to return after a long day of walking around! Those were all minor mishaps that could have been overlooked but One major thing that has scarred me for life would be the BED BUGS. I thought the itching might be from mosquitos until I looked online.When I approached the staff about the issue, he seemed more worried about the beer pong tourney downstairs. I was told there was nothing he could do until I requested switching a mattress. He made me carry it up 3 floors, and he complained I was taking his time and he needed to be downstairs. The following day as I checked out, the mattress sat in the lobby! So disgusting and they didn't even offer any compensation and stated it was all part of the experience! This was the worst experience I've ever had and would not recommend this hostel to anyone.

I enjoy party hostels but at Books it was impossible to get away from the party, plus the facilities (bathrooms) are outdated and Lapa is a shithole in the daytime. But, if you're coming to Rio to have a blast and get hammered with other travellers then this is the place for you. The staff were awesome, and though it's far from the beach it's surrounded by supermarkets and cheap food