The best place to start my review is probably by saying how helpful Patricia and Michael are (hosts). For first time goers like myself, this can make all the difference in experience, as i didn't understand how things work in Brazil. No matter how much research you do, it is extremely helpful when the host can give you some guidance.
This place is cozy with an artistic design, most, if not all of the furniture and art was completed by Michael and Patricia (hosts). the decorations and layout makes the place feel like thought was put into this place. It isn't just an apartment with the minimum requirements, this is well put together. You can open the terrace doors for the living room and bedroom and you have a complete open house. The floor tiles are the same from the terrace into the house so it really feels like out door living, however, if the heat is overwhelming, the air conditioning unit catches up and cools the apartment relatively fast. I have zero weather complaints. The kitchen is really great my girl and i loved cooking there. We would open the terrace doors all the way and cook and it was just a great experience.
I'm a better cook than my girl...
The highlight will always be the view. There is no restaurant in all of Rio with this view. You have Christ the Redeemer statue and the Sugar Loaf hill in the same panoramic view. I shouldn't need to say more than that but i will. The sunrise is priceless, the night lights of the city are google image ready. It's inspirational to say the least. I smoked my cigars in the terrace while my girl made her water color paintings and we could've paused that moment forever. There were exotic birds flying around while we had breakfast... The terrace is definitely the highlight.
The city is easily accessible with Uber because this apartment is near everything. You want the Aprazivel restaurant, it's about 4 minutes away by car, Botafogo neighborhood is no more than 5 minutes away for the Fogo de Chao Restaurant, for example.
The Marina da Gloria is 5 minutes away, Leblon beach is maybe 15 minutes away. Ipanema and Copacabana are 10 minutes away, so it is very convenient.
A lot of us traveling from the US have concern of safety; I stayed approximately 11 days and i had no problems of safety whatsoever. The obvious is to have common sense, which you would have in New York or any other city where you live, other than that, i had no problems, no concerns. Be smart about your safety and that's all there is to it.
Lastly, i would say, there are no negatives to this place, things come up as they should when you go to a place you never been to before but for those instances, these hosts are very helpful to provide guidance in anything you need. My girl and i did a Gastronomic tour of Rio and found the location of this place very convenient for this, we also visited a total of 6 beaches and location was also very convenient for that too. The view from the terrace is truly incredible any time of the day, even when it rains, to observe the clouds overcome the city is incredible. To top it all of, this place has love vibes, as Patricia says.
I highly recommend this place, you won't regret it.