Che Lagarto Copacabana - Hostel

Stay away from this place! The staff is very unfriendly, not helpful at all. They make you wear wristbands while you stay there, which made me very uncomfortable. It definitely makes you an easy target to criminals while walking around the city wearing it. The room had a leak in the roof. The floor got disgusting with the water and people stepping in and out, it took like a day for them to clean it up. The beds make a lot of noise at night. There are lockers under the beds, but they look very unsafe and old, very rusty and some of them completely useless. The bathrooms are also horrible, smelly with drains full of hair. They also turn off the water at night, so if you get there late at night sweaty and dirty, you can’t even shower before going to bed. The kitchen was the thing that grossed me out the most. Cockroaches everywhere! They don’t feel intimidated by human presence at all, they might sit with you and eat from your plate. The pool was pathetic, just an old jacuzzi filled with dirty water. The breakfast was okay, but it could use some improvements. The price is very attractive, but it’s not worth the pain… I felt like leaving the place on my second day there, but I would’ve lost the money I paid for it. BEWARE!

I just left this hostel to take my Uber to the airport and I’m actually shaking writing this review. While leaving the doorman/not the receptionist who welcomed me who was very kind during the day, but a bouncer like doorman wearing all in black refused to allow me to leave the premises he screamed and me and physically blocked the door, he then asked his colleague who was wearing the shirt of the hotel to also block the door. I tried to explain my confusion of the situation, told them my Uber was outside and I left the keycard on the front desk. They continued to scream at me in Portuguese extremely loudly and block my way out of the hotel. One of the men wearing the hotel shirt actually pushed me back up the step I was standing on and I almost fell. It was an extremely distressing situation. I asked a guest at who was outside the hostel for help and he explained that they were screaming at me for the keycard and the bedsheets from the room. I asked him to translate back to the security that I left the keycard on the desk (as I already explained) and that my Uber was already waiting outside for 2 minutes at that point and I had to leave straight away. Had the doorman simply explained to me at the start what he wanted this could have been avoided but I was met with screaming and aggression from the start. I have never been treated like this by a hostel/hotel before in my life and I have travelled a lot. This is definitely the worst experience I have ever had. Please avoid this hostel.