373472 4 Location 511884 <p>Having read one review decribing the hotel as quite dated with muddy carpets we weren´t expecting too much, but we were pleasantly surprised. </p><p>The apartments have obviously recently had a makeover and our spacious 1 bedroom apartment had new wooden flooring with new modern furnishings. Nothing too fancy but certainly very comfortable. The shower was great and the kitchen facilities OK too. Televisions with satellite TV in the lounge and bedroom and good air-con units in each.</p><p>The buffet breakfast was extremely good indeed and there are great views of Christ the Redeemer and surrounding beaches from the 19th floor where breakfast is taken. The pool (also on the 19th floor) is a reasonable size, although the beach is less than 200m away. The exercise room consists of one running machine, one exercise bike and one multigym, none of which work very well. There is a also a sauna which we didn´t try out.</p><p>A slight down side was the language barrier at&nbsp;reception. Most of the staff only speak Portuguese and even my pigeon Spanish wasn´t any use.&nbsp;</p><p>We would recommend this as a good place to stay in Rio. Leblon is a nice, relatively safe area and the Mercure Apartments Leblon are a good cheaper alternative to some of the more expensive hotels in Copacabana. Shop around online for a good deal. We paid about US $100 per night through Hotelopia, although the rates advertised at the hotel are nearer US $200.</p><p>If you are thinking of doing a Rio day tour, save yourself some money and a lot of waiting around and take a taxi (or a bus) to Sugar Loaf and another one to Corcovado. The organised tours are a rip off and you will spend most of the day waiting around, sitting in traffic whilst they drive around picking people up.</p> 2007-03-23T08:13:15-07:00 1080033301 2007-03-22T17:00:00-07:00 0 18 210518 4067266 373472 0 211148 0.0459710818375628 2007-03-22T17:00:00-07:00 Published 20.0 2007-03-23T21:09:55-07:00 96519 0