Finding a place to stay in Copacabana

Finding a place to stay, on New Year's Eve, is VERY complicated, especially if you're traveling on a small to medium budget. This is why you should not be last minute like us, and start looking more than a month before !

I recommand Airbnb, which is an Internet plateform that allows people from around the globe to rent their place. It is less expensive than a hotel, and you feel like a local, in my case, a Carioca ! Make sure to check the host information :)

If you don't want to spend a penny, I recommand CouchSurfing, which is a web service that allows you to sleep on someone's couch for a night or two, for free ! CouchSurfing is a very tight community of people who wants to help each other to travel all around the world for nothing, and to discover the city from a local perspective. And ever if you don't feel like spending the night on the couch of a perfect stranger, there's a lot of activities and meet-up that you can do with the natives, once you get there. For example, I receive invitations from Cariocas to spend some times with them, go to the beach, take a coffee, and go surfing.

After looking for hotels, hostels, bed & breakfast, etc., we booked a nice designer appartment for the first 5 nights in Botafogo (30 minutes walk to Copacabana's beach), in a very secure district. The host seems very generous, he is answering my hundred of questions in less than an hour. He even created a guidebook so guests could know where to go, what to eat and what to see in the neighborhood. He is my source of inspiration for the name of my blog : The Carioca Life ! Take a look :

From : https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/241981

During our 6 days stay in Copacabana, beside the big NYE party on the beach, we will be going to the Christ Redeemer (Cristo Redentor), which is 99 ft tall statue, on top of Corcovado Mountain. 

We'll also go to the Sugarloaf Moutain (Pao de Açucar).