I stayed here with two friends for two weeks during the Olympic Games. Everything was great. It's an easy ten minute walk to Copacabana Beach. The apartment is also located one block away from a Line 1 subway/metro station, a police station, and many bus routes within a few blocks. Super convenient! Many small botequim restaurants, juice bars, and supermarkets within several blocks. Building security was great. Over two weeks we didn't notice any safety concerns even late at night.

I think it's an older neighborhood and building construction is a little less refined than newer sections of Ipanema or Barra. With that though, comes a more authentic neighborhood and much better prices. Lots of locals and fewer tourists.

For groups, note that the 3rd small bedroom is indeed quite small (as the photo depicts) but each room really does have its own toilet and shower with independent gas powered on-demand water heaters. Just make sure you don't turn the water valve handles too many turns counter clockwise because the handle will fall off and can be tricky to reinstall. Otherwise, everything was great!

Gautam was super quick to respond to our questions or concerns plus he speaks perfect english. Everything from "how do the water heaters work" to "we need a new lightbulb in the kitchen" were addressed within the hour.