I'm considering spending ten days to two weeks in Rio de Janeiro with my family this August, and think perhaps finding a modest apartment with some self-catering facility would be best.

I see there are a number of agencies promoting apartments in English on the Internet.

Is this one of those situations common in many other countries in which booking long-distance in one's own language ensures paying far too much?

If not (or if the surcharge is thought acceptable for the convenience) can anyone report a happy experience with an agency, and if so which one?

Or can anyone suggest an alternative method of finding an apartment?

With thanks,

Peter N-H

Anyone? Or alternatives for family travel there? Any suggestions or recommendations very welcome.

Peter N-H

Hi, Peter. I'm off to Rio today and staying at an apartment in Ipanema. I'll report when I get back early April. We got the apartment through VRBO.

Try www.ez-riorentals.com

Hi, Peter. We're back from Rio and I have mixed feelings about the apartment we rented. The location was great, in the Arpoador-Ipanema area. We felt very safe there. Close to supermarkets, metro, 24 hour security. The apartment has a safe so we meandered all over town without worrying about having our passport/money stolen. The apartment was very spartan. The air conditioner was erratic. One of the bathrooms and the kitchen flooded during a heavy rain storm. It had a tiny kitchen with a decent refrigerator. We never used the stove or oven just the microwave. There were coffee filters but no coffee pot. The bed was comfortable and the shower was fine. Comparing this apartment to the ones we've rented in Paris, London, Madrid, Barcelona, the French Riviera, Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile it was definitely overpriced for what it offered. But I might add that we loved Rio and hope to return.

Many thanks for taking the time to reply and for doing so in such detail.

Treesa or others,
Did you see an apartment or neighborhood while you were there that you wished you had selected? We are looking for an apartment in Rio for 6 weeks this summer. Any thoughts will be appreciated.

The website posted above by Ken is a reputable agency, you can't go wrong with him. I rent apartments all the time in Rio if you would like to pick by brain or other recommendations email me at [email protected]

Probably anyone booking an apartment through a foreigner-targeting English-language website can expect to pay more than necessary (see Treesa's post, above), and to leave themselves open to renting an apartment that differs in reality from the expectation created by promotional language and images.

Surely there must be a way to find an apartment on arrival, and at a more realistic price?

What you are saying is partialy true but you can negotiate. The above English speaking website is by an American Ken who lives in Rio.

What some people do is arrive in Rio and stay in a hotel for a day or 2 and go shopping for an apartment, for example you can arrive in Rio, give Ken a call and have him show you around and when you find an apartment you like then you negotiate the price and rent there.

I'm finding it hard to understand why, if I've gone all the way to Rio, I would want to involve a third-party, and a foreigner at that, instead of dealing directly with the apartment owners. What would be the point of leaving it until arrival in order to avoid the commission-seeking third parties pricing for the ignorant outsider, only to re-insert the third party on arrival?

I'm not sure how this helps. All the other agencies being suggested are already based in Rio, and what seems to be suggested here is a newcomer no different from the others, about which the following observations and query have been made:

'Probably anyone booking an apartment through a foreigner-targeting English-language website can expect to pay more than necessary (see Treesa's post, above), and to leave themselves open to renting an apartment that differs in reality from the expectation created by promotional language and images.

'Surely there must be a way to find an apartment on arrival, and at a more realistic price?'

Thanks for the response, but how does suggesting yet another agency with a foreigner-targeting English-language website help?

'Surely there must be a way to find an apartment on arrival, and at a more realistic price?'

Yes, it's called speaking fluent Portuguese!! Or just arrive in Rio and start walking around the city dragging your suitcase behind you and you will meet a lot of locals willing to rent you an apartment. Unfortunately mny of the apartments you will be shown are sub standard at best. That's how I like spending my first day of my vacation.

What an utterly pointless, silly, and thoroughly unhelpful posting.

Lack of a local language is never a barrier to trade for anyone with the slightest common sense.

'Many' of the apartments shown through apparently over-priced foreigner-targeting websites are also 'sub standard' [sic] by all accounts, and regardless of source many may be as long as some are not. Walking the streets with a suitcase looking for an apartment would be the action of someone with very little brain and is very obviously not the only alternative.

The obvious action is to begin by checking-in to a hotel and then investigating from there. Perhaps we end up staying in hotels or apartment hotels.

But if anyone else actually has a sensible answer to the question of how to find an apartment while avoiding third-party rip-offs, I'd still be glad to hear it.

As I have no intention whatsoever of booking an apartment in advance (or, at least, not unless some much more persuasive and better-informed arguments than those so far presented come along), I'll report on my efforts after my Rio visit in a couple of months. Perhaps booking via some over-priced central system will turn out to be the only way, and if so I'll say so. But that really does seem highly unlikely, and arguments along the lines of 'this is the way I did it and the only way I tried, so it's the only way and the best way' don't persuade at all.

The post I made on June 24 was tongue in cheek but I guess that just flew over your head! You expect to arrive in Rio, not speaking any Portuguese and expect to be able to deal with the locals in finding an apartment. PLEASE tell us just how you are going to find your apartment in Rio.

So since this follow-up post has much the same content presumably it must also be 'tongue-in-cheek'?

As I've already mentioned, I'll report how we progress, and if it all proves impossible I'll say so. But we can hardly end up paying more for an apartment (if that's what we end up with) and are far more likely to end up paying less, and having seen for ourselves what we'll get rather than ending up with somewhere that doesn't match its photographs.

As for language, we'll manage exactly the same way we do in Bulgaria without Bulgarian, in Japan without Japanese, in Chile without Spanish, and so on: with just the tiniest amount of imagination and a smidgin of common sense.

Try this place. If there are a few of you it is affordable. It is a penthouse in Ipanema and I have been to a pool party there and it is really nice. The guy who owns it is French and the girl who manages it is English so she can answer any of your questions in English!

http://www.flat-in-rio.com/