The Coolest Hostels in Brazil

Design-wise, this hostel in downtown Foz – a 20-minute drive from Iguaçu Falls – really stands out from the crowd: both unisex and gender-segregated dorms are housed in shipping containers, stacked like Lego bricks around leafy garden spaces. Wooden pallets serve as sun loungers next to a tiny pool, and every surface is painted in candy shop colors. Toast your stay with the free daily cocktail offered, and consider bringing a blanket in winter – air conditioning keeps things cool in summer.

São Paulo locations don’t get much better. WE sits on a quiet street in leafy Vila Mariana – close to Ana Rosa Metro, with easy access to downtown and Avenida Paulista. Ibirapuera, São Paulo’s central park, is a 10-minute walk away plus there’s a scattering of great restaurants on the doorstep. The hostel is in a large, secure converted townhouse, and has an attractive kitchen, sitting room – with polished wooden floors, lounge chairs and sofas – and whitewashed doubles, as well as mixed and single-sex dorms.

An attractive base, split between two historic houses – one for party types, one for tranquil stays – Galeria 13 is on a safe street in Salvador’s colonial centre, making for a prime location. There are restaurants and bars all around, the city’s weekly drum-troupe parades and parties take place a stroll away and the city’s glittering rococo churches are within five minutes’ walk. The hostel squeezes in an airy chill-out lounge, a pocket-sized pool and a bar serving cocktails and pizzas. Dorms and doubles are brightly painted and airy, with big windows.

Just over an hour from downtown Salvador, pretty Praia do Forte village is the city’s most popular coastal weekend escape. Praia do Forte Hostel is on a street busy with restaurants and bars, a 10-minute stroll from the main beach. Rooms with hammock-slung balconies line corridors around an atrium garden and al fresco dining area. Sex-segregated dorms are colorfully painted and simple, with double beds, bunks and lockers. All are ensuite and a buffet breakfast is included.

Injoy markets good-value apartment accommodation in two of Rio’s most coveted neighborhoods – beachside Ipanema and Botafogo, which overlooks Sugarloaf. Ipanema’s rooms are small, in modern whites and primary colors, but the beach is a 15-minute walk away. Botafogo’s rooms are similarly decorated but are a little larger, with simple workstations. The location is good, on a quiet backstreet a minute from the metro station and 10 minutes’ walk from those Sugarloaf views.

Despite the name, this hostel isn’t in the Pantanal wetlands themselves – they’re a three-hour drive away. But you are just 10 minutes’ drive from the centre of hot and steamy Cuiabá city. Staff can organize tours to the Pantanal for wildlife spotting, as well as to the canyons and waterfalls of Chapada dos Guimarães national park. The hostel is also a convenient overnight stop on the way to or from the airport. Rooms are big and airy, plus there’s a swimming pool, a garden, a big communal lounge and a handful of restaurants an easy walk away.

With walls in lime green, eggshell blue and tangerine, this centrally located hostel feels bright and friendly – even in the grey winters that befall Porto Alegre, capital of Rio Grande do Sul state in southern Brazil. It’s well-located, next to Farroupilha Park, in the bar- and restaurant-packed Cidade Baixa, 20 minutes on foot from the historic center. Doubles, quadruples and dorms are fan-cooled – some have ensuites – and they edge a lush garden with a small swimming pool. The standout? The staff: multilingual and always eager to please.