Last Updated on January 27, 2023 by Jane
It is hard to believe that we have been back from Brazil for a month already! The trip was amazing and if you are thinking of travelling to Brazil I say GO! Today I am going to share our experience at our hotel in Buzios. This is my Rio Buzios Beach Hotel Review.
There are two sister properties on Joao Fernandes Beach. It is a bit confusing but the Rio Buzios Boutique Hotel is actually just across from the beach and the Rio Buzios Beach Hotel is built into the hillside and a short walk up the hill from the ocean. We stayed at the Beach hotel whereas much of the other Canadians in our group stayed at the Boutique hotel with the Bride & Groom. We were able to spend enough time at both properties that I can give you a compare and contrast between the two hotels.
Rio Buzios Beach Hotel Review:
One of the first things I noticed about the hotel was the trolley car that you can use to go up to the floors instead of a traditional elevator. There were 5 levels of rooms built into the hill. We tended to walk up the stairs but the trolley was great for when we were going up and down with luggage.
The Beach Hotel is the larger of the two hotels but since we were there in the off season it was the quieter of the two hotels. I can imagine that it would be difficult to get a lounge or even a seat in the restaurant if the hotel was full. But being steps from the beach and having access to the pool at the Boutique hotel there are plenty of options to spend the day in the sun.
The Rio Buzios Beach Hotel is not all inclusive but a buffet breakfast is included. Bacon, cereal, fresh fruit and all sorts of pastries. We were able to get our fill before heading over to the other hotel each day to hang out with the rest of our group. We were up at different times throughout the week while we were there and there was always lots of food to choose.
The rooms at the Rio Buzios Beach Hotel were pretty standard. Clean, very comfortable bed, decent sized washroom. The pressure in the shower was amazing. I do remember being a bit disappointed at first when I compared our room to those at the Boutique Hotel which are more modern. But I got over that pretty quickly as the view from our balcony was pretty fantastic. Also our rooms had an attachment at the bottom of our doors to keep the bugs out which surprisingly the other hotel didn’t have and over the course of the week we found this to be a big plus.
Rio Buzios Boutique Hotel Review
Even though we slept and had breakfast at the other hotel we spent most days lounging at the Rio Buzios Boutique Hotel. That is one of the perks of these sister hotels. You are able to use the resources at both hotels.
The Boutique Hotel is smaller as the name suggests and is a more modern hotel. The Beach Hotel is more what you might have come to expect from All Inclusive hotels in the Caribbean, but with fewer amenities (only 1 restaurant and pool per property). The rooms are more sleek and a bit larger compared to the standard room we stayed in. The rooms that have the walk out to the pool were particularly appealing especially for a group like ours as it gave us somewhere to hang out at night to talk and share some beers. But truly when you strip away a few finishes the rooms were really comparable and I though the view from our hotel was far superior.
While we ate breakfast at the Rio Buzios Beach Hotel every morning we had a number of dinners at the Rio Buzios Boutique Hotel, including the Rehearsal Dinner for our friends wedding. The only lesser meal we had here was one night when we ate after the kitchen was closed and we found that some of the meals were not done to the same standard as the other nights. I would recommend the bugers and if you have a chance to have an event some of the more traditional Brazilian meals were fabulous.
Our other meals while we were in Buzios were in town. Read about our walk into town along Orla Bardot here.
One of the things that I was absolutely mesmerized by was walking down the hill from our resort to the Boutique Hotel and the butterflies were everywhere. The area also felt very safe. We were walking back to our hotel later at night (sometimes around midnight) and I never felt threatened. The police had a strong presence in the area which is likely part of the safety factor. We did make it back to our hotel a few times only to find the front desk was locking the doors. This wouldn’t be an issue except in order to get up to the rooms you had to walk through the lobby. I am sure that taking the trolley up to the rooms would still work but we preferred to take the stairs.
The staff were extremely helpful at both hotels. There was at least one staff member at each of the hotels that was fluent in English which made communicating extremely easy. Our Portuguese was non existent so this was very helpful. English, Spanish and Portuguese were the main languages spoken at the hotel.
If you are trying to decide between the two properties you need to decide what is important to you in a vacation. I was happy that we were able to spend our days at the Boutique Hotel as it was more aesthetically pleasing. But to be honest if we weren’t hanging out with our group we would have been content to spend more time at our hotel.
We made our choice based solely on price. We were able to get our room for around $140 CAD. Initially I thought we should have paid a bit more to stay at the Rio Buzios Boutique Hotel but by the end of the week I was really happy with our choice of the Rio Buzios Beach Hotel. I thought the view alone was far superior and the food was essentially the same. Plus with access to the pool at the other property you can take advantage of that perk.
The beach is at the bottom of the hill and directly across from the Boutique Hotel. Your view of the beach is impeded by the restaurants that are directly on the beach. We never did end up eating on the beach because those restaurants were double the price for most items and it made more sense for us to go back to our hotel to eat lunch or walk into town.
That said you can get a free beach lounge if you spend some money at the restaurants so if you are spending the day at Joao Fernandes beach you might want to consider buying a beer to get a lounge! We did find that the tide came in quite far and our towels got soaked a few times even though we were well back from the water. We weren’t sure if the tide was higher because we were in the Fall/Winter season compared with Spring and Summer. Still the water, while cool was great for swimming and the undertow was not too strong.
Have you been to Buzios, Brazil? Where did you stay? Recommend it in the comments!