The space is a extremely good value i the city center of Rio. Area around is full of shops (however, most are closed on weekends). Metro and citie's business center are nearby. You can expect to pay signifficantly less for stuff in this neighbourhood than you would in ipanema. The apartment has a working water filter. On the downside, at night time in this area almost every night we had carnaval, and they are veeery noisy, and also the city center is not a safe place to walk at night. Overall I find this a good location to explore all of rio