Rio de Janeiro

Where to stay

Botafogo sits on Metro Line 1, puts you 15 minutes from downtown and a short walk from the bay, and has a denser cluster of hostels than either Ipanema or Copacabana at noticeably lower prices. Santa Teresa, the hilly neighborhood above Lapa, is worth it if you want to be steps from the Escadaria Selarón and the Arcos da Lapa bar strip, but getting there requires a taxi or rideshare since the metro does not reach it.

Getting around

• Pick up a rechargeable RioCard at any metro station rather than buying single-use tickets. It works across metro lines and knocks a few reais off each fare.
• The Feira de São Cristóvão in the São Cristóvão neighborhood runs most of the week and goes full speed on weekends. It is a covered market built around food, music, and crafts from Brazil's Northeast, and a plate of baião de dois or carne de sol costs a fraction of anything near the beach.
• Skip the beach kiosks on Copacabana for drinks. Walk one block inland to any padaria and you will pay half as much for the same cold beer or água de coco.

When to go

Hostels are cheapest from May through early July, when summer crowds have thinned and the weather is still warm and mostly dry. Prices spike hard around Carnival (February or March depending on the year) and New Year's Eve on Copacabana, when beds book out months in advance.