Brazil · self-catered
Apartments in Rio de Janeiro
Self-catered apartments and vacation rentals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Full kitchens, more space than a hotel room, and weekly rates on longer stays. Expedia surfaces apartments across Rio de Janeiro's neighborhoods.
- ✓Full-kitchen apartments and aparthotels across Rio de Janeiro
- ✓Per-neighborhood filtering for the Rio de Janeiro area you want
- ✓Weekly and monthly rates on longer-stay bookings
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What things cost in Rio de Janeiro
The Corcovado train is R$134 for a foreign adult and the Sugarloaf cable car costs more again. A metro ride stays under ten reais and a chopp on the beach around the same. Comida por quilo lunch remains the cheapest good meal in the city. Uber across the Zona Sul is a few dollars. Carnival week roughly triples every hotel rate in Copacabana.
What to eat in Rio de Janeiro
Feijoada is a Saturday institution, black beans and cuts of pork eaten slowly, and Bar do Mineiro in Santa Teresa does the neighbourhood version. Botecos serve chopp, cold and in small glasses, with bolinho de bacalhau; the Bar Urca crowd drinks on the seawall opposite. Lunch is priced by weight at comida por quilo counters. On the sand the vendors call for Globo biscuits and iced mate.
What first-timers get wrong in Rio de Janeiro
Carry the bare minimum to the beach, keep the phone out of your hand on the Copacabana promenade, and leave the passport at the hotel. Uber is cheap and safer than flagging a taxi after dark. Chairs and umbrellas on the sand are rented by the day from a barraca rather than individually. Ten percent service is usually already printed on the bill, so check before adding.
Rio de Janeiro after dark
Lapa fills on Friday and Saturday, with samba inside Rio Scenarium and Carioca da Gema and a street party under the aqueduct arches outside. Pedra do Sal holds a free open-air roda de samba on Monday nights in the old port district. Nothing meaningful starts before ten and the clubs run past four. Botafogo's bar streets are the quieter midweek option.
Rio de Janeiro with kids, realistically
Praia Vermelha at Urca is a short sheltered strip with almost no surf, unlike Copacabana's dumping shorebreak. AquaRio at the port is among the larger aquariums in South America. Jardim Botanico offers imperial palms, marmosets and room to run. The metro is air-conditioned, clean and manageable with a stroller, while city buses are neither. Beach vendors will sell your children absolutely everything.
When to go to Rio de Janeiro
| Best months for apartments | Avg daily high | Rain days |
|---|---|---|
| July | 25°C / 77°F | 7 days |
| May | 26°C / 79°F | 8 days |
| September | 27°C / 81°F | 8 days |
The month to avoid is January — around 29°C (84°F) with roughly 16 rain days. Prices and crowds track the weather here: July is the sweet spot, January the month most people skip.
Pack for peak season: Summer clothes, plus one light layer for air-con and evenings, A packable rain shell or compact umbrella earns its space, Comfortable walking shoes — every guide on this site assumes you'll use them.