TotallyOz Posted January 21, 2013 Posted January 21, 2013 A friend is going to Rio in March and gets to stay at the Sheraton because his family gets a nice discount. I have never stayed in this hotel and he asked me about it. Has anyone stayed here? What was your experience? The TripAdvisor reviews are all over the place. flipao 1 Quote
Members msclelovr Posted January 21, 2013 Members Posted January 21, 2013 Is this the same Sheraton at the end of the beach and hard up against the 'favela' of Vidigal? If so, I would check that the drug-gangs have been cleared out of Vidigal. About 18 months ago, there were repeated shootings that came close to the hotel. Quote
Guest tomcal Posted January 21, 2013 Posted January 21, 2013 Msclelovr is Right!! It is a nice hotel! I think it is a poor choice for two reasonsl My very first trip to Rio in October of 2001, we picked the Sheraton as we knew nothing about Rio/Copacabana/Ipanema and the photos showed a nice hotel with all the ammenities. BUT it is at the very far end of the beach area past Leblon/Ipanema, you are rather isolated there and literally your hotel room windows look across the road at the Favela on the hills surrounding it! We paid for a week and stayed one night and move to the Sol Ipanema hotel along the stretch of Ipanema close to the gay beach. The Hotel is very safe as long as you stay within the hotel compound/beach, but it a fairly long downhill walk to get to the stretch of beach where leblon meets Ipanema. It's a cab ride to everywhere. If they want a American Hotel, the Marriott is a better choice as it is centered in the middle of Copacabana Beach. I can honestly say that even If I was given the room for points or free I wouldn't stay there. In the photo the Sheraton is at the yellow marker in the far bottom left of the picture and I would estimate about 2 miles from the center of Ipanema/farme de amoedo beach which is marked in the far right of the photo Quote
Members ihpguy Posted January 21, 2013 Members Posted January 21, 2013 Definitely within spitting distance of the Vidigal favelados. But a very short taxi/bus ride to the wonderful lifestyle of the beaches and restaurants and bars of Leblon and Ipanema. flipao 1 Quote
Members Lucky Posted January 23, 2013 Members Posted January 23, 2013 Tomcal gives excellent advice on this subject. Quote
Members ihpguy Posted January 23, 2013 Members Posted January 23, 2013 Depends how much the discount is for the hotel that they will receive. Only about 1/2 mile distance from the hotel to the start of Leblon. Quote
Guest lurkerspeaks Posted January 23, 2013 Posted January 23, 2013 another thing to consider about the Sheraton, (unless things have changed in the past 8 months) is that the last stop on the subway is at the beginning of Ipanema, so about 3 miles or so from the Sheraton..so subway is not an easy transportation option from there. Quote
