Discovery Hostel in Rio de Janeiro was awesome. I would definitely recommend staying there if you’re in the area. Some unique features are:

1. Free Breakfast – hostels that offer free breakfast are great, but ones that offer a big selection of tasty items are rare and fantastic! They had french toast, frittatas, pastries, fresh fruit, cheese, meat, bread, juice, coffee, tea, milk, and cereal. There’s one dish that changes every morning, but it’s hot and tasty.

2. Open Common Space – I loved waking up each morning and going down to the common area outside. It’s walled into the center of the hostel, but was pretty cool.

3.  Organized Tours  – They have organized tours that you can arrange or impromptu, free types of things to do written on the wall of their reception desk. It’s cool to have some options. Also, the employees encourage social time as they live in the hostel, so if they’re not working they will go out drinking with you!

4. Great Location – a 10 minute taxi ride from SDU airport (local Rio de Janeiro airport), right next to the Gloria subway station, 15 minutes away walking from Lapa (big party area), and close to the beach, this is a really good location for the hostel. Sometimes on the way back from Lapa, it gets a little sketchy around the neighborhood at night, but mostly harmless prostitutes that don’t mess with you unless you mess with them. ‘

5. Triple  Bunk Beds – Definitely wins the award for the highest bunk beds ever. I got one my first night and was terrified of getting down the next morning. It took me 10 minutes to get off my bed because I had to stop at each step, take a deep breath, and tell myself I can do it without falling. If you like feeling like the king of the hill, then this could be fun.

6. Cat – This could be a pro if you love cats. Overall cat is super chill and minds it’s own business, but if you are allergic to animals, especially cats, just bring allergy meds. Luckily the common area is huge and open so I didn’t have any issues and the floor is all hardwood, so my allergies weren’t bad at all.

For more info, check out the Discovery Hostel Website or Hostelworld for bookings.