When you come Rio de Janeiro and you want to meet a real Carioca I can only recomend to stay at Luiz,s B&B. He is very relaxed and makes a beautiful breakfast. Also his apartment is super clean and has everything you need after a busy day in town. The location is perfect: it's just at the Metrostation and you can either reach in 10 min the center uptown or the copacabana on the southbound train. There is also a Shoppingmall around the corner and you are very close to the sugar loaf.
Botafogo is a safe aerea and has some good restaurants.
Thanks to Luiz we had a very nice and joyfull stay in Rio. We can recomend Santa Tereza for a afternoon and dinner time and then either have some fun in Lapa with a lot of clubs and Music or even visit the Theatro Municipal. Be careful at the theatro you need to dress properly. No flipflops... :-)

Enjoy...