The Best Party Hostels in Rio de Janeiro

Glória, once one of the plushest neighborhoods in Rio, is a little down-at-heel nowadays. On the plus side, it’s very close to Lapa, Rio’s samba party central, home to the cream of the city’s small clubs and bars. In a large Belle Epoque townhouse with shuttered windows and parquet floors you’ll find Discovery. Rooms are well-kept with sturdy wooden bunks, big lockers and large windows. Extensive communal areas include a big open-plan TV lounge and an al fresco patio that’s made for impromptu partying. When bronzing beckons, Copacabana Beach is a 15-minute subway ride away.

This Santa Teresa hostel, covered in street art, is resolutely aimed at partygoers, known for dangerously strong caipirinhas, hangover-cure breakfasts and the world’s largest collection of dress-up hats in a hostel. Mixed and gender-segregated dorms cover the bare essentials – wooden bunks and lockers – but most guests don’t do much sleeping. Large windows ensure plenty of air, shared bathrooms have tub showers and there’s a beanbag-dotted TV lounge if you’re too partied-out to take the 15-minute cab ride to the beach.

This flashpacker hostel is perfect for travelers with a little more to spend, who want in-house partying, the option of private rooms and easy access to the beach the morning after. Decor is clean, with minimalist white throughout. Dorms have backpack-sized lockers and beds with reading lights. Doubles have private breakfast balconies and the hostel organizes tours, including a Monday all-night boat party. The real selling point is the easy beach access – the choicest stretch of Ipanema is a mere block away.

Where do Cariocas, as the people of Rio are called, go to dance samba and party? The answer is Lapa, which is where this poshtel is situated. Close to the city center, it’s part of a global chain aimed at party-obsessed digital nomads. Decor and furnishing have boutique-y touches: lounge spaces with drape curtains and leather sofas, blocks of color, distressed woods and tasteful street-art murals. Expect, too, coworking areas, a yoga space on the roof and a bar with live music and DJs.

Dorm beds are squeezed in snugly, doubles and suites are compact, and the location of this big hostel is hard to beat; it’s a block from Copacabana Beach and a 10-minute walk from Ipanema. Parties happen every night in the huge, in-house Taverna bar and club, where live bands and DJs play and you can buy beer passes valid for a week or buckets of caipirinhas. Organized events here include karaoke, pub crawls and caipirinha-making workshops.

Beginning life as a single hostel, El Misti is now a well-established Rio chain, with hostels in Copacabana, Ipanema and the beach town of Búzios. An excellent location (El Misti on Copacabana is practically jumping distance from the beach), combines with lots of communal spaces to meet (and party with) fellow travelers. Expect great rates for the hotel-style hostel accommodation. El Misti Copacabana has no dorms, just simple suites with double beds or bunks. It throws great parties and offers nightlife tours throughout Rio.

The beach is a 15-minute cab ride away. It’s a quick hop to the samba clubs of Lapa. And with boho bars and restaurants on the doorstep, this Santa Teresa hostel is perfectly positioned for Rio after dark. There’s an in-house club here, with local musicians playing live samba or chorinho. Mixed dorms have bunks with privacy curtains and views over Santa Teresa’s terracotta roofs and lush hillsides. If you really want privacy, there are a handful of small doubles and suites.

Set in quiet, suburban Laranjeiras, Villa 25 is a 20-minute metro ride from the beach or Lapa, but it’s one of the plushest hostels in the city. Dorms have wooden bunks with reading lights and privacy curtains. Alternatively you could take one of the doubles, in modern whites offset with blocks of muted color, which occupy a restored 19th-century villa. There’s a swimming pool and garden as well as a modish restaurant-bar in brick and distressed wood. Come for strong cocktails, ceviches and petiscos (Portuguese tapas) on its large al fresco dining patio.