Name: Tiki Hostel Cantagalo
Address: Rua Crianca Esperanca Ipanema,Rua Crianca Esperanca, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 28500-000, Brazil
Rating: 7

Common kitchen

Meals

Location

At the hostel

Ipanema - Leblon

Arpoador Beach

Copacabana Fort

Devil's Beach

Leblon Beach

Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden

Sugarloaf Cable Car

Aterro do Flamengo Park

Tijuca National Park

Selaron Steps

Arcos da Lapa

RioZoo

Museum of Modern Art

Catedral de Sao Sebastiao do Rio de Janeiro

National Fine Arts Museum

Santos Dumont Airport

Maracana Stadium

Museu do Amanhã

AquaRio

Jacarepagua Airport

Galeao Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport

Tiki Hostel Cantagalo

Rio de Janeiro

What can I say, the proprietors are lovely, the rooms themselves cosy and the view unrivalled, but the location is just a little cumbersome. Sitting at the top of the Cantagalo favela, you will be climbing a very steep hill to get back and forth each time and though the favela is pacified, I still felt a bit sceptical walking around by myself and certainly so at night. The main issue with this place is that there is very little signage of how to actually get there. Taxis won’t take you all the way to the top either (unless you’re lucky) and you can never call an Uber to collect you. You’d have to walk to the bottom of the favela or get a moto taxi down (which might be hard with luggage). My friend’s flight unfortunately arrived in the middle of the night and she got a cab to Tiki. The taxi driver outright refused to go to the top stating that HE was scared to, and then left my friend at the bottom of the favela, alone to fend for herself without a working phone. There are virtually no directions to Tiki so had we not been wandering the streets looking for her to bring her to the hostel, she had little to no chance of finding it, and would have been at the mercy of the few people hanging around at 3am to ask for directions. It was a once in a lifetime experience to partake in Brazilian life in a real way, but the hassles outweighed the benefits for me.

Nice view but not convinced overall

Clean rooms and welcoming owners/staff, this hostel is the perfect price. The view from the communal kitchen area are to die for - looking across both Ipanema and Copacabana beaches. 

The walk from the beach through the favela is not for the faint hearted (and I’d think twice about walking around late at night when the police are out with their machine guns) but everyone I came across in the community was friendly. 

Amazing location but you need strong legs to walk up the hill

This hostel, it is very cheap, and therefore attractive, but it is completely above a favela, upon arrival there is incredible police activity, because of the murder of a policeman, the station is 15 m from the hotel and we know that to pass through there, the kind people are not all bad people, but there are people who insult us and some tried to assault us.

Ojo is a good time.

I stayed there for four nights. One km from Copacobana/Ipanema up to Favela Cantagalo. A perfect stay. The people were friendly, even spoke spanish, not much english, very helpful. Clean room, hot water, working WIFI. Didn't miss anything.
I stayed there in october 2016

Top location Top personel

I can't believe how many people are still recommending this hostel!! we fell in love with my boyfriend because we let ourselves be guided by booking references and tripadvisor! we booked online and when we got there we actually saw where it is, lital nos dimos media vuelta y nos fuimos corriendo! The place is a horror, maybe the hostel is divine, no lo se, but I don't recommend going to that area at all! Even the police themselves tell you it's dangerous, that shooting is taking place and they recommend us to go! A total disaster experience!!! Not to live your own life, you don't arrive no vayas! It's horrible!

However, I still don't understand how to put a good score.

The hotel itself was not bad, the room was clean, there was air conditioning. Breakfast was standard for hostels in the U.A. (bread, bran, cheese, fruits). We left most of the stuff in the hotel where we used to live and went to the hostel with one backpack, but without it it was difficult to get up the mountain. As a result, we always went down on foot, and backwards we used a mototaxi (3ala). When we got to the favela territory, we didn't feel comfortable during the day, but after three steps we got used to it and we didn't know that it was more dangerous than smelling in the hostel with a backpack, but it was difficult to get up the mountain without things.

Not bad for a short stay and a small budget.

We stayed at this hostel just for two nights during the Olympics before moving to our other accommodation and I'm so glad we did. We got to experience what it was like in a Favela but still felt reasonably safe. 

Our biggest problem (which was entirely our fault, nothing to do with the hostel) was arriving at night and not organizing an airport transfer. The property takes a couple of days to respond to emails so by this time it was too late to organize the transfer. The taxi driver did not know where it was and it was very daunting arriving in Rio in the dark and not knowing what to expect. However, we walked down to get dinner and back to the hostel with no problems at all. 

The biggest highlight of this hostel for me was the rooftop. Eating breakfast up there each morning was amazing. While the roosters did wake us up it was refreshing to see how lively the area was and the variety of people and activities taking place. The New Zealand owner was extremely helpful and the other staff were kind. 

I probably wouldn't recommend the hostel for solo female travelers, as it could be a bit scary. But overall, a great experience!

Great Favela experience

The balance of experience is really very positive.The hostel is located in the community of Cantagalo.Being in the community the access is not very easy but it is worth it...The view from the terrace is unbeatable and the hostel has a very beautiful decoration with a style of recycling... super recommended for anyone who has no prejudices with favelas!!

 Excellent location, good ideas, an unparalleled view!

The most important thing is the view from the terrace, it's just super! Near the communidades, as the favelas are officially called in Brazil.

It's not for comfort lovers, but it's very interesting.

My partner and I spent our last 3 nights in Rio at the Tiki hostel in Cantagalo. We were initially a little nervous, and walked up the day before check in to see how comfortable we felt with the location. We absolutely loved our Favela experience here! Yes we were respectful of the other residents in the community and used the same caution that we used everywhere else in Rio, and this contributed to our positive experience here. As one of the employees at the hostel explained, as long as the residents don't think you are the police prying for information, then you will have no problems here and will ultimately be safer here than you would be walking down the street at night in Ipanema or Copacabana. 

We befriended Neuma from the hostel next door and she took us on a tour one morning to the community centre next door and up to the hill behind Cantagalo where there are amazing views of the lake and city around.

We were woken up by stray neighbourhood roosters early every morning and it was amazing to hear the life of the Favela in the evenings from the hostel corridor windows and from the rooftop terrace. I spent hours gazing out at the amazing view from the Terrace, at the lights slowly switching on around the city and in the in favelas that wrapped the mountains beyond. 

Accessibility up to the hostel was very easy and the hostel was very well designed and clean. If you are interested in how so many of Rio's residents live then we would definitely recommend the experience of staying here. 

Tiki Hostel Cantagalo

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