Brazil
Florianopolis
One of the islands off the Southern coast. You can fly there or take a bus from Rio de Janeiro, I don't really remember how long the bus took but it might've been something like 6-9 hours. You have to absolutely go there though, it's amazing. Floripa is a very safe place and definitely more of a beach culture than Rio. They're known for their spectacular beaches, garlic peel-and-eat shrimp that come in buckets, and oysters.
Jurere is one of the posh areas on the island. Alessandra Ambrosio and Madonna spent NYE there back when she was dating that Brazilian model. The beaches there are nice and chill and it's a big shopping zone.
Get Around
If possible, rent a car and drive all over the island but definitely get one with a GPS. The last time I went there was with a boyfriend, and it was like Mr. Toad's magic ride trying to find a specific restaurant.
There's also a pretty strong bus system, but beware that often the drivers don't speak any English so have someone write down the name of the area you want to go to on a piece of paper and point to it.
Stay
I stayed at a gay-friendly posada last time I was there and for the life of me I don't know the name of it. Definitely not the cheapest option. However, when I went to Floripa alone I stayed at Tucano House Backpacker Hostel and it was friggin' awesome. People were really friendly, speak perfect English, and are super helpful.
Eat
Floripa is known for their abundance of shrimp but on the east side they’re known for their oysters because the water is so calm.
The last time I was at Tucano House in 2009 or so there was a Danish chef working there who made spectacular hostel dinners. I usually only eat hostel food if breakfast is included or if I'm desperate, but I can vouch for him (he was trained as a professional chef). If he's still there eat at the hostel for at least one night because his food was amazing.
The restaurant Ostradamus has some of the best peel and eat shrimp although it's more expensive than other places. The Ostradomus place is located in this tiny old colonial village that seemed interesting to drive through and looks different from the rest of the island.
There's also a restaurant, Peri Restaurante, in Lagoa do Peri- just south of Lagoa de Conceicao and when you're headed south on the paved road that goes along the coast there (the coast would be on your left-hand side with the jungle on your right). YOU HAVE TO GO THERE. I've had three (positively) memorable meals in Brazil, two in Rio and one in Floripa. All over the island, restaurants have this kind of seafood special where there's like shrimp prepared 3 ways, a few fish dishes (it sounds disgusting but there's this fish dish that has a deep fried fish covered in clear brown jelly-gravy: it's AWESOME) and some sort of stuffed crab shell thing. If you go to this restaurant, get the deluxe menu with all of the dishes and force feed yourself if need be. If the quality of the place is the same as when I went a couple of years ago, it's worth the search. Also, when I went there there was this kind of traveling band that did a medley of pop songs but with the lyrics about food. With an awesome meal, sitting in a plastic chair under an umbrella on a trampled lawn off the highway, it definitely completed the experience. Peri Restaurante, Lagoa do Peri, Rod. SC 406 Phone: 3389-5454
In the downtown area there’s Taisho Sushi Bar, an all-you-can eat sushi place that actually has good quality sushi, you’ll just have to wait to get a table. Don’t break down and eat at the all-you-can-eat Brazilian BBQ place underneath it- it’s worth the wait. There’s something called salmon sashimi with oyster sauce- GET IT. It’s damn good. Overall, the sushi I’ve had in Brazil has been pretty awesome, and Brazil has the second largest Japanese population in the world (most of them are in Sao Paulo), so you can trust it.
Ilha Grande
This is a strange but really cool place. There are no cars on the entire island, except for those belonging to the fire department and police. Once you get here you'll understand why.
Go
You have to take a ferry to this island, there's no road that connects it to the mainland like Floripa.
Do
It was a slave ship stopping point, and you can definitely get that vibe if you go hiking through the jungle. If you do go on one of these long jungle hikes, you'll be led to hidden coves and beaches where slave ships would pull in illegally after the Portuguese abolished slavery. There are also creepy things like crumbling aqueducts covered in vines in the jungle and abandoned beachfront insane asylums, but all in all it's a beautiful place. If you do go on a long hike, I'm talking 22km in a day, take a guide. You will most definitely get lost. But on the shorter hikes the trail is marked... alright.
My guide on the long hike was Joao Pontes, joaopontes@ilhagrande.org, phone: (024) 8816-9212, (024) 8623-6312. The guy can only speak Portuguese though, so find a friend who can understand and have them translate for you.
Get Around
You can take taxi boats around, but you should beware that they either charge per person or if you're alone then the equivalent of 4 people. I'd recommend traveling on one though, because you get to see parts of the island that aren't accessible to hikers.
Stay
I stayed at HI Holandes which despite being an HI hostel wasn't all gross and full of loud, underage drunkards and bros. It's out in the back of some alleys so it's good that when the ferry comes in there are people from the hostels waiting for you at the dock. If your bags are heavy or on wheels, it would be best to pay one of the dudes to help you with your luggage because the road is super uneven and unpaved. At HI Holandes I stayed in a room that was a hut-dorm, but the place was beautiful, the free breakfast epic, and it was more like a rustic camp than anything run down or hospital-like
Beware: Do
Watch out for the bugs on this island though, they too are epic.
Rio de Janeiro and Santa Theresa
The places I ventured to in Rio were Botafogo, Ipanema, and Leblon. Very rarely did I go to Copacabana and have been to Lapa and Santa Teresa once.
Botafogo
The location while safe and chill, is a bit far from the nice beaches (you’ll have to take the bus) and popular restaurants. Still a nice, laid-back vibe if you want to get out of the city craziness for a bit.
Stay
In Botafogo I stayed at El Misti Hostel, and from what I saw of the area it was pretty safe and chill, not clubby like Leblon or Ipanema. I think that the hostel was great although the room I was in only had a fan and no air conditioning, and of course the bathroom always had a line. But the people who worked there were very friendly and overall the place was nice and safe. Just don't wait too long to get breakfast because they do run out of stuff, although from what I saw it wasn't that much of a tragedy that I missed it.
Eat
Near El Misti Hostel is this one Brazilian BBQ place called Estrela do Sul, it's open late and really good. It's definitely more of where the locals eat since I asked two different people down the street and they both told me to go to this place.
Ipanema
Ipanema is pretty touristy but that area and Leblon are two of the safest (and richest) in Rio. There are a lot of foodie places, juice bars, and excellent shops here, which is awesome. The beaches are some of the best too, just watch out because the waves are super powerful- I had gotten knocked down on my ass onshore because I wasn't paying attention.
Stay
When I traveled to Rio by myself, I stayed in Ipanema. I tried staying in Leblon but the hostels there were always full when I went. The hostel I stayed at was Terasse Hostel, DO NOT STAY THERE. The location is great, but no matter which room you stay in it's incredibly loud. Like street traffic can be heard through your earplugs loud, and the room shakes when a bus passes by which is sort of often.
I heard a lot of good things about the Mango Tree Hostel which is about a block from the beach, and probably when I go back to Rio I'll stay there. They also have rooms with air conditioning which is definitely a plus. Book in advance because as you can imagine, it's pretty popular.
Eat
As far as restaurants go, Porcão is probably the most famous Brazilian BBQ place there. The walls are lined with pictures of celebrities, and while I'd say that Fogo de Chão in Beverly Hills is still my favorite Brazilian BBQ place, Porcão is definitely a close second, especially since the buffet includes sushi. Just because I was in the area I went to Porcão Ipanema (I think I've been there 3 or 4 times) but there are other locations throughout Rio.
Togu is the restaurant I went to most in Rio, it is some DELICIOUS sushi, cheaper than a lot of places, and when it's hot outside and you don't wanna go to the beach with a food baby, this is the place to go. My last meal in Rio during a 15 hour stopover was at this restaurant.
Sushi Leblon was also good and had some interesting dishes, but for just plain, awesome traditional Japanese sushi go to Togu instead.
If you for some reason are in Ipanema and are jonesing for some pizza (or everything else is just closed) go to Capricciosa. While the pizza there is definitely not cheap, I remember it hitting the spot.
In Brazil they also have this thing where they do buffets and charge you by weight rather than having a set price for all-you-can-eat. Frontera is definitely one of the better ones, and has a bunch of locations.
Beware: Eat
I had some of my most memorable meals in Brazil, which includes some of the most horrible ones. Here are restaurants you definitely DON'T want to visit:
Antiquarius is definitely at the top of my list. It was insanely expensive, the food was just plain horrible, the wait long, and the people other than the waitstaff absolutely rude despite us being dressed up (I mean, props to my then-bf who showed up in a tailored Hugo Boss suit in 80 degree, 100% percent humidity weather). The experience was so crappy that we left outraged and hungry enough to create a Tripadvisor account just to write them a bad review. You can read it here. And according to this August 2013 New York Times article, the restaurant was recently raided for violating the food saftey code, with inspectors "finding more than 50 pounds of expired food like ham, endive and beef tripe in its kitchen, including more than 10 pounds of snails with an expiration date of July 2012." Yup, food that had been expired for over a year, in a tropical climate, and served to people like me.
I went to Santa Teresa to see the area and eat at a restaurant that had been touted as one of the best in Rio, blah blah blah. I can't remember the name, but it's this restaurant that's part of a beautiful modern hotel up in the hills, had a fancy European chef and all that. I had probably one of the most horrible meals of my life at this place. The food was just plain bad, and every patron there waited a long time for theirs just to send it back. I think I've sent back food maybe 2-3 times in my life and this was one of them. I got a traditional Brazilian shrimp risotto dish, and it was just horrible. The risotto was undercooked, the shrimp overcooked, and the dish overall just tasted strange. I actually sent it back twice because both times the risotto was so undercooked it was inedible. They ended up letting me order something different, which from what I saw is what a lot of people ended up doing no matter what they ordered originally, and I ended up getting some sort of lamb stir-fry which was like fancy Yoshinoya. For a 40 minute one way taxi ride, we were definitely not impressed.
For their sake, I'm hoping that the restaurant was having an off day due to the fact that it was a few days after New Years and everyone was probably still hungover, but I think that if you're a restaurant you shouldn't have off days, and there shouldn't be such a thing as "ordering the wrong thing." Just stay closed and don't put bad food on your menu.
Beware: Do
I have to make a little note about Lapa: no matter what anyone tells you, it’s pretty dangerous and very dirty. I’d recommend wearing closed toe shoes when you go there, bring only enough money for the night and keep it in your pocket or your bra (DON’T BRING A BAG), and if you bring a camera, always keep it in your hand (not even dangling from your wrist) and know that you’re risking getting it stolen. Also, DON’T GO ALONE, AND DON’T GO DURING THE DAY. During the day there’s no one out and that’s when it’s the most dangerous (according to the locals I asked when I was there in 2009). If you and whoever you’re with are meeting with a group there, tell them to meet at the well-lit gas station facing the aqueducts. It should be easy to find as it’s really bright. Don’t meet around the aqueducts because it’s the most crowded and dangerous point. Try to go with a Brazilian Portuguese speaker who’s been there before, if you can. I went on a random Thursday night, and this place was so crazy it was like being in a cartoon.
Another thing: if you want to go see the Christ statue, take a taxi or bus to the tram. DON’T take a taxi all the way to the top. One of two things will happen: you’ll either be stuck with a fare 3x as much as you paid to get there because there will be only 2 taxis waiting around, or the taxi you took to the top will ask for half the fare to go back down to wait for you, and then drive away. My friend and I actually got conned by the second scam because one of our friends living in Rio said it was ok to trust the taxi guy and we wrongly believed him. Don’t make the same mistake.