I stayed at Valeria's flat for two nights after a business visit to Barra. Valeria's flat is lovely, is spacious for two people with an excellent shower, was very easy to find and is in a great location. Ipanema and Copacabana beach are both within walking distance as are local shops to buy groceries and other items. The area is also lively with restaurants. Although this makes the area noisy we did not have any problems falling asleep which is good. We were also in a perfect location to get to see all the major sites e.g. Sugar Loaf mountain and Christ the Redeemer. Valeria is brilliant at responding to messages, no matter what question you ask, which was extremely helpful and the 24hr concierge staff were always on hand to answer questions. I would suggest hiring a bike (not the Itua ones) and cycling along the bicycle path along Copacabana beach and then having a drink at the bar at the end of the path! The bike shop is located at Rua Francisco Otaviano, 55-Loja A Copacabana, Tel: 2247-0018.

We had a late flight back to London but Valeria very kindly arranged for us to use the very large shower room within the building which was helpful as this gave us more time to site see before catching our flight.