We stayed in Rio at Andrea and Norberto’s for two months and a half. We knew very little about the city when we moved there in terms of where was best to stay; but pretty soon we figured we couldn’t have been luckier:)
Santa Teresa is on a small hill, which means the heat is not as intense as down in the center, and often in the summer a nice refreshing breeze rises in the evening.
The apartment is next to Largo do Guimarães, which is a great place to go out at night (full of fun bars and places to eat) and also a safer area than others since there’s always people around.
The neighbourhood is just gorgeous, often we’d simply go out for groceries (10 minutes away walking) and we’d be stunned with jaw dropping views over the city, ravishing art everywhere in the cobblestone streets, luscious nature (little monkeys and hummingbirds included!) and tempting little places offering delicious food and drinks.
The neighbourhood has the feeling of a village (people say hi in the street) and at the same time it’s super close to the centre. It can be pleasantly quiet at night, and then all of a sudden a street concert will happen and the party will get started.
Within a lovely 15 minutes walk down the hill you can reach the metro station in Gloria, which takes you directly to Ipanema. Also within a similar walking distance is Lapa, where all the parties are happening, and Centro.
The house is sparkling clean and recently renovated, with a lot of natural light, and the bed is very comfortable; also the wifi was quite fast, we are freelancers and we were able to work from home.
Now, about the hosts: Andrea and Norberto are just wonderful people. Very welcoming, kind, warm, we never missed anything and they often went out of their way to help us. They even showed us some gems in Santa and around the city, which, as tourists, we would have never discovered on our own.
Thanks to them and the magic atmosphere of the neighbourhood, we feel we had a much more special and authentic experience in Rio. We couldn’t recommend more staying at Andrea and Noberto, and next time we’ll be back, we hope they’ll have again space for us in their unique place in Santa!