El Misti Hostel

This Hostel is great; honestly, it is probably the best hostel I have ever stayed in! All the staff are winners, you cannot beat it! This place rocks and if you want a real Rio experience you had best stay here! Admittedly it's small, but that's part of the charm. it's intimate and you get to make a lot of good friends! this place is in the real heart of Rio and I promise you will have the greatest experience here!

This hostel was the first one we stayed in on our twelve-month round the world travels. It wasn't a very good introduction, the staff seemed ok but the kitchen was filthy, the breakfast is ok. It is not in the best of areas in Rio. There are plenty more to chose from.

El Misti is a lovely place to stay in Botafogo, a safe area with ample shopping, restaurants, a beach (not clean enough for swimming) and plenty of buses to take you anywhere else you want to go in Rio. You can borrow a bike or take the bus and be at Cocacabana beach in ten-fifteen minutes. The common area is bright and a pleasant place to hang-out but it can be a bit overrun with offduty staff, many of whom live at or near the hostel. This is not always a bad thing if you want to out as they are generally keen to accompany you, and therefore can show you the best night spots. There is much chess to be played aswell as a book exchange and local T.V. Internet is five reals an hour and there are two fast computers to use. The rooms are a bit cramped and bunks are three high and a bit scary if you don't like heights. The doubles are lovely if lacking in a little furniture, very white, very clean and very new. Bathrooms are the typical fare in South America but clean and the showers, once you get the hang of them, hot. The best things about this hostel are: the breakfast, fantastic buffet with fresh guava juice, cake, a toasted sammy maker plus all the usual fare; the atmosphere, great and friendly staff, young and chilled out, and the people who stay here seem much the same. Find it by getting a bus to Botafogo, get off when you see Praia Botofogo Shopping, its a huge blue neon sign, you can't miss it. When looking at it the hostel is two streets to the left, down a no exit road, you will see the hostel's sign at the end.

This place is a dump, definitely the worst hostel in Brazil if not the whole world! Avoid it like the plague!

Is this a hostel or a daycare center? The owner's brat, who wanders freely through the rooms, is the most spoiled kid I've ever had the misfortune of listening to (at 1 a.m., I might add). Otherwise, this place has only one shower, zero security, crumbling triple bunks, but it's reasonably clean. It has a good breakfast by usual standards but not by Brazilian standards.

I liked the service the hostel provided me. I also enjoyed the comfortable beds.

Great staff, very friendly and really clean. It's close to a beach and a mall, and you can take the bus anywhere really easily.

We booked a double room in advance by phone, but surprize, surprize--there was no double room when we got there. Instead we were given a filthy room, with a manky triple bunk in what appeared to be an outside shed. No locks on the door, no security in the hostel and bad staff. After ten miserable minutes we just left and went to a different hostel. My best advice is to ignore this dump.

The staff are what makes this place worth it. Dalva is a sweetheart, and, if you stay for long, she'll feel like your second mom. Great location, friendly atmosphere, safe. Saudades!

Absolutely filthy place. There's no security at all (the doors are wide open 24 hours a day to the world, with very few staff keeping an eye on things). This place gets 2 stars because of the crowd there who were cool (lots of Israelis and other South Americans). But as for the place itself - pretty dire.

The staff very friendly and helpful, quite a home-like place and you couldn't ask for anywhere easier to get from to all the major attractions. Rooms are clean. But the atmosphere and people there are what made the experience lovely.

The staff was very friendly, great tips on where to go out to see the true nightlife of Rio! And it was clean.