What a truly wonderful place to stay, Rio and this apartment were just brilliant!

Even before we arrived in the country Lisi could not have been any more helpful and responsive to the numerous requests and queries I sent her during the weeks leading up to our stay. Then from the moment we arrived in the country her brother Divo was on hand, on time, waiting at the airport to escort us back to the apartment.

As the saying goes "no pain, no gain" but once the bags were carried up the 103 steps from the street the "pain" was easily worth it with a spectacular view out onto the South Atlantic Ocean combined with the sound of 2-3m waves crashing onto the shore was just wonderful.

The apartment itself was as per the photos, very clean, extremely well laid out and it had everything we needed for a perfectly comfortable weeks stay - well nearly everything, apparently it was missing a hair dryer! One other advantage of being in an elevated location was the apartment was then situated above the noise of the road below which whilst it was always very busy, was never heard once inside or out on the lovely balcony.

Lisi and her family could not have been more accommodating with helpful guides, useful information, the offer of hassle free transportation and all without interfering, pestering or making us feel uncomfortable - just the right balance.

Location wise I thought this was perfect, just a 10min walk from the south end of Ipanema beach so it was easy to "get into town" but at the same time you had the advantage of staying "out of town" in a more private, more secluded apartment. The walk itself was very straight forward, all on pathways and never once was there any feeling of being threatened.

All in all a fantastic package, highly recommended and somewhere I would definitely stay again.

Lisi, thanks for making our World Cup stay in Brazil so memorable :o)