The Best Budget Hostels to Book in Copacabana

This place has plenty of pull-factor: brightly painted double rooms with hammock-strung balconies, dorms with plenty of light and air coming in through big windows, a patio garden, a TV lounge with sofas and a bonsai pool. All that and it’s in a good location – backed by forest trilling with birds, where marmoset monkeys scamper free. Right on the main Copacabana-Ipanema bus route, it’s also 10 minutes’ walk from Siqueira Campos metro and three blocks from the beach, with plenty of restaurants nearby.

Budget hotel El Misti has small, basic suites in plain whitewash, with a small bedside table or lounge chair squeezed in next to a double or bunk bed. What it lacks in frills it makes up for with its location – an easy 10-minute amble from both Siqueira Campos metro station and the choicest part of Copacabana Beach. There’s a whole variety of supermarkets, restaurants, juice bars and cafes close by and the hostel organizes tours, including Rio discoveries. It also has sister properties nearby.

Welcome to the Copacabana branch of an international “poshtel” chain dedicated to digital nomads. Selina is right above the beach, with ocean views from both the public areas and certain double rooms. There are also dorms, with beds which all have privacy curtains and reading lights. The decor throughout is fresh and modish, with blocks of primary color, abstract wall art, mood lighting and scatter cushions. Expect both social and co-working space and a café-bar – the hostel’s own – as well as a rooftop terrace. The staff are lovely and offer both yoga and surf classes.

If you are looking for a hostel for quiet nights in this place isn’t it – on the contrary, Pura Vida packs in the partygoers, who fill the dorms and handkerchief-sized doubles. Join them in the throbbing on-site Taverna bar and club, which hosts either karaoke, DJs, live music or caipirinha-making classes every night. They serve cocktails literally by the bucket and sell beer passes for a week. When you wake with a hangover, fresh coconut juice and restorative açai-berry smoothies are available at kiosks on the beach, a mere block away.

The Copacabana branch of this hugely successful party-hostel chain inhabits a large mansion resembling a film set from The Addams Family. Find it three blocks from Leme beach, at the far eastern end of Copacabana. The toucan-filled Parque Estadual da Chacrinha woodland gardens are outside the front door and there’s a wealth of restaurants and supermarkets nearby. Dorms lack windows but are modern, well-kept and dirt-cheap. There’s even a whirlpool to swim in, and plenty of social space.

There are just five simple dorm rooms (the largest with space for 15), in this small, quiet hostel, all with the basics (bunk beds and storage space). The location is excellent. Siqueira Campos metro station is 10 minutes’ walk away, the beach is half the distance, and there are stacks of great-value restaurants, bars and shops an easy stroll from the lobby. The hotel has a shared kitchen, serves a generous, good-value buffet breakfast, organizes tours and can sort an airport shuttle.

On one of the plushest streets in Copacabana, Social is a hostel in a former four-star tower-block hotel. It’s got a rooftop pool with ocean views, while Ipanema, Copacabana and Arpoador beaches are not even five minutes’ walk away. Dorms and small suites are fairly no-frills: expect simple cubes in wood-laminate and patterned vinyl wallpaper, basic bunks and tile-lined small bathrooms. Public areas could use some TLC, but with prices this low in a location so optimal, you won’t complain.

The rooms in this business-hotel chain may be small, but they’re modern and nicely appointed, with fresh neutral colors and modish lighting. There are workstations and ensuite bathrooms – and in most there’s space for three or four guests – request a twin double, or a double and a ship’s-berth bunk. Security is assured, with a 24-hour reception, and if you don’t want room service there’s a generous, good-value buffet breakfast. The location is excellent – on a safe street with plenty of bars and restaurants 300m (985ft) from the beach.