Pura Vida Hostel

A late review… Anyways loved our time in Rio and this plce is amazing. Best employee Matt made the experience of me and my boyfriend there incredible, hoping to come back some day!!! We stayed in a private bungalow with own bathroom.. then at night we joined the hostel crowd to go out to Lapa. Bubbles the cute white cat is adorable. Even at the base of a favela, i felt safe at all times. Drinking water is available filtered.

This is a great place! The staff is very friendly, the rooms and bathrooms are clean and they offer a great breakfast. The bar also has some good options with reasonable prices and everyday there is something to do, like funk classes, caipirinhas workshop or karaoke. I had the best time and highly recommend. Besides that, the hostel it’s just 1 block away from Copacabana beach and it’s within a walking distance from Ipanema as well.

Very lovely place, location is amazingly located. Close to the beach, the metro and many restaurants. Staff is super friendly, especially Victor, who is a manager by heart and always keen to help if possibble, can highly recommend for single travelers. Since I have been in a dorm, I cant say anything about the private rooms. But since they are outside the "Main House", they should be quiet. Surely will come back when in Rio.

I highly recommend PuraVida Hostel to everyone. I've stayed there twice, both times in a private room with my girlfriend, and had an excellent experience. The location is fantastic, there's always a variety of events, and the staff are incredibly friendly. Leonardo, for instance, joined us on a beach trip during his day off, explained the hostel's events in detail, and even warned us about overpriced vendors at the beach.

It's in a favela. Enjoy it! They don't allow you to cancel the reservation—why? Because it's a horrible place! There are lots of motorcycles rushing by, dirt everywhere... Inside, there are a lot of stairs to climb just to get in. The place smells like mold. And the breakfast? Old bread, cold coffee... You're even required to make your own bed and strip it when you check out. Really? Do they expect guests to clean the floors too? Avoid this place! And it's expensive on top of everything! There are cheaper and better options out there.

The hostel is past the entrance of a favela, so if you arrive late don’t expect your uber driver to take you up there. My driver made me get out and walk the last bit at 11:30 pm with all my stuff. Upon check-in the front desk worker “forgot about me,” and I stood around waiting for 10 minutes while they had a conversation with someone else. They also don’t tell you this anywhere high on their website but will expect a 10 Real deposit to get your key (and air con remote if you have a private room). Cash only. If you want to pay card they charge you a 2 Real fee on top of the 10 Real deposit. It isn’t a huge amount but the principle of the thing. Make that information known so upon check-in guests can have cash on hand. The front desk worker also made an extremely rude comment about my body. The rooms are VERY loud and the main floor bar doesn’t shut down until 01:00. I only stayed one night of my reservation and then left. This is the first time I have ever left a hostel because they were dishonest in their location, hid the room key deposit info way down on their website, and had unkind and forgetful staff. The only saving grace were the very kind ladies who worked the breakfast bar area. They were so nice.

Location is on the entrance of a Favela so you’re always going to feel looked at and “on your feet the whole time”. Hostel is nice as a whole but rooms where old, not maintained well, pillows seemed like the inflatable ones you bring to the beach. No hot showers, no heard dryer. Which on the days we ended up in Rio with 14 degrees and pouring rain were much needed. Also, we booked a private room - and there’s seems to be a trend here in the two hostels we’ve been - and there was nothing private about it. Located IN FRONT OF THE BAR which gets easily loud at night. Never felt relaxed, never able to recharge after a long day of waking around the beautiful Rio. So, if you’re the kind of person”excited” traveler that might be the place for you. Given that you can move past the cold shower thing. Otherwise keep looking for a more suitable and relaxing option

Honestly the best hostel I have ever stayed in, so social, so fun, great location. Couldn’t have enjoyed it more. The staff were incredible, special shout out to victor and Renata. They made the trip as fun as possible. If you are going Rio, you have to stay here. The cat steals the show (the boss), but you’ll have an amazing time. Thanks so much all of you