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| ARACATI. BRAZIL Name: Pousada Litoranea Address: r. Cel Alexandrino 1251 Price: $9.50 Rating: Best Value Reviewed: 1994 Review: Good hotel located a couple of blocks from the bus terminal and is in the center of town. Rooms are immaculate, fairly spacious, well kept and come with a fan. An exceptional value. Highly recommended! Price includes breakfast. Drawback: Road construction is tearing up the streets in a few block radius including the couple of blocks going from the bus terminal to this hotel. Also, the sidewalks are badly in need of repair. This could make it difficult (to say the least) for the traveler who has luggage on wheels. ARACATUBA, BRAZIL Name: Hotel Gasper Address: Price: $12 Rating: Mediocre Reviewed: 1993 Review: Good hotel located a short distance from the bus terminal by taxi ($3) and four blocks from the downtown area. Rooms are basic but clean and come with a fan and sink. The bathroom is located down the hall. There are more expensive rooms available with a private bathroom, tv and air conditioning. Friendly. Limited English spoken. Recommended. Price includes breakfast. ARACRUZ, BRAZIL Name: Hotel Flores Address: av. Venancio Flores 1263 Price: $6 Rating: Best Value Reviewed: 1994 Review: Very good hotel located a couple of blocks from the bus terminal and is in the downtown area. Rooms are spotless, spacious and come with a fan. The bathroom is located down the hall. An exceptional value. Friendly. Highly recommended! Price includes breakfast. ARAGUARI, BRAZIL Name: Hotel Orsi Address: Price: $16 Rating: Honorable Mention Reviewed: 1993 Review: Good hotel located a ways from the bus terminal by taxi ($3.50) and on the main street in the downtown area. Rooms are spotless and come with color tv and fan. In-house laundry and mending done very quickly (within a couple of hours). When checking out of the hotel the following day I noticed that there was no additional charge for the laundry and mending of my trousers. Friendly. Helpful. Very much recommended! Price includes breakfast. ARAPOTI, BRAZIL Name: Hotel e Restaurant Impacenter Address: Price: $27 Rating: Honorable Mention Reviewed: 1999 Review: Very good hotel located a couple of blocks from the bus terminal and approximately three blocks from the downtown (what very little downtown there is) area. Rooms are spacious, spotless and come with color tv and remote control, air conditioning and a frigo bar. The enormous lobby is worth mentioning. Highly recommended! Price includes breakfast. ARARANGUA, BRAZIL Name: Alvorada Palace Hotel Address: Price: $5 Rating: Worst Reviewed: 1992 Review: In this ordinary city, hotel choices are severely limited. The hotel is located next to the bus terminal. Rooms are basic and could be cleaner. Drawback: The window in the bathroom doesn’t close so mosquitoes could be a problem. Also, the lock on the bathroom door doesn’t work so when closing the door you may find yourself locked out. Finally, it may be noisy at night since the hotel is in close proximity to the bus terminal. This hotel is not recommended in the least. Price includes breakfast. ARARAQUARA, BRAZIL Name: Hotel Eldorado Morada do Sol Address: av. Brasil 477 Price: $43 Rating: Best Reviewed: 1999 Review: Very nice, indeed! Excellent four star hotel located a ways from the bus terminal by taxi ($3.50 - fair price! - the cabs in this city have meters which is unusual for Brazil) and a couple of blocks from the downtown area. Rooms are very comfortable, spacious, clean and come with color tv, air conditioning and a well-stocked frigo bar. If you’re fortunate enough to get a room on one of the upper floors (I was on the 10th) you’ll get a superb aerial view overlooking the beautiful city of Araraquara with a population exceeding 168,000. Breathtaking! Amenities include a swimming pool. The excellent but pricey restaurant is worth trying. Helpful staff. Highly and enthusiastically recommended. Price includes breakfast. ARARAS, BRAZIL Name: Hotel Marques Address: rua Nunes Machado 802 Price: $45 Rating: Mediocre Reviewed: 1996 Review: Good hotel located a few blocks from both the bus terminal and the downtown area. Rooms are simple, clean and come with color tv. There are more expensive rooms available that also include air conditioning for a whopping $65. It’s a bit high in price for what you actually get. While the rooms are a little on the plain side, you probably end up paying for the very impressive and elegant lobby. It doesn’t take a genius to see that the hotel clearly spent much more on the ornate lobby than on the rooms themselves. Even though this hotel is “nothing to write home about” it can still be recommended. Price includes breakfast. Add’l info: For all of you MTV fans, you might be interested to know that the hotel does carry it. ARAXA, BRAZIL Name: Hotel Tururu Address: Price: $14 Rating: Mediocre Reviewed: 1993 Review: Good hotel located a short distance from the bus terminal by taxi ($9 - too high!) and a couple of blocks from the downtown area. Rooms are spotless and come with color tv, frigo bar and fan. Friendly. Good value. Highly recommended! Price includes breakfast. Travel Tip: There’s a restaurant adjacent to the hotel that might be worth trying. While it’s a bit pricey the food is excellent. Advisary: Be wary of taking cabs from the bus terminal to your hotel. The driver will “claim” that the hotel that you want is not downtown (when it is) and will try taking you to a very expensive five star hotel located several miles from the bus terminal. When protesting he will drive you back to the hotel that you’ve selected in the first place. However, he will try to charge you double for the round trip (from the bus terminal to the five star hotel that you didn’t want and back to the hotel that you did want) when he clearly made the mistake (I’m convinced that it was deliberate to hike up the fare). Pay only the $9 fare and not the $18 that he wanted. I later learned where the bus terminal was located in relation to the hotel and walked it since it was very nearby. AREGUA, PARAGUAY Name: hospedaje (unnamed) Address: Price: $8 Rating: Worst Reviewed: 1991 Review: Very friendly and very basic hospedaje located in a very poor town. The rooms are shabby and come with bugs on the wall along with cobwebs and dirt and filth. This place is best avoided. ARICA, CHILE Name: Residencial Chungara Address: Price: $6.50 Rating: Mediocre Reviewed: 1990 Review: Basic but clean. This place can definitely be recommended, ARRAIAL D’AJUDA, BRAZIL Name: Pousada Aquarela Address: Price: $9.50 Rating: Best Value Reviewed: 1994 Review: Very good pousada located near the bus stop, in the center of town (what very little center there is) and conveniently situated near the beach where the ferry docks. Rooms are comfortable, spotless and come with a ceiling fan and mosquito net (which I felt was unnecessary since I didn’t see one mosquito there during my visit). An added touch is the hammock out on the individual porch in front of the room (all rooms have their own porch). Indeed, an exceptional value. There’s an extra charge for breakfast (usually in Brazil it’s included in the room rate). Highly recommended! ARROIO DO SAL, BRAZIL Name: Hotel D’Italia Address: Price: $22.50 Rating: Honorable Mention Reviewed: 1996 Review: In this small and friendly seaside resort there are several hotels to choose from but, unfortunately, most aren’t open out of season which was the time of my visit (later October). Quaint hotel conveniently located a block from the bus terminal, across from the beach and a few blocks to the center of town. Rooms are cozy, spotless, spacious and come with (besides a double bed) bunk beds, color tv and a frigo bar. An abundance of blankets for those chilly nights. “Sleep to the slap of the waves” as most windows face the beach. Friendly and helpful staff. Some English spoken. Highly recommended! Price include breakfast. ARROIO DO SILVA, BRAZIL Name: Scaini Palace Hotel Address: Price: $10 Rating: Best Value Reviewed: 1993 Review: Good hotel located a block from the bus terminal and two blocks from the beach. Rooms are clean, spacious and come with air conditioning and color tv with remote control. Very friendly and helpful staff. Good value. Highly recommended! Price includes breakfast. ARROIO TEIXEIRA, BRAZIL Name: Hotel Alvorada Address: Price: $22.50 Rating: Best Value Reviewed: 1996 Review: In this small beach resort the above mentioned hotel seems to be the only one that was open out of season which was the time of my visit (late October). In season there are a total of three hotels to choose from. This one, however, is an adequate hotel conveniently located next to the bus terminal (the inside of the bus terminal was also closed out of season) and a block from the beach. Rooms are simple and clean and that’s about it. However, what makes this a truly exceptional value is that besides the usual standard Brazilian breakfast that is usually included in the room rate, lunch and dinner is also included. I definitely would stay here again if my travels took me to this quaint and peaceful town. Recommended! ASSIS, BRAZIL Name: Hotel Santa Rosa Address: rua Cap. Francisco Rodrigues Garcia 93 Price: $18.50 Rating: Mediocre Reviewed: 1999 Review: Good hotel located a ways from the bus terminal by taxi ($3.50 - fair price!) and just off the main shopping street in the downtown area. Rooms are adequately sized, clean and come with color tv and remote control (good cable) and air conditioning. I was fortunate enough to get a room with an aerial view of the downtown area. Helpful staff. Recommended! Price includes breakfast. Drawback: Very noisy traffic at night and lots of young people riding their motorcycles into the wee hours of the morning. It makes for a very sleepless night. ASUNCION, PARAGUAY Name: Hotel Husa Address: Price: $40 Rating: Honorable Mention Reviewed: 1991 Review: This hotel is owned by a Braziilian chain of hotels. Very good hotel located in the center of the downtown area. Rooms come with air conditioning, color tv and frigo bar. Reasonably priced and prompt laundry service. Friendly and helpful staff. Only one person speaks fluent English. Excellent restaurant. Highly recommended! ATIBAIA, BRAZIL Name: Grande Hotel Atibaia Address: av. 9 de julho 98 Price: $30 Rating: Honorable Mention Reviewed: 1996 Review: In this picturesque hilly tourist city (population: 86.000) there are a few hotels ranging from the very cheap (not recommended) to the very expensive. The above mentioned hotel falls somewhere in between. Good and pleasant reasonably priced hotel located a short distance from the park where all of the buses arrive and depart from. To take a cab to the hotel expect to pay roughly $7 which is much too high (since it’s within walking distance) but with luggage, cobblestone streets to cope with and unpredictable rain a traveler may not have a choice and cab drivers know this. The hotel is also located within walking distance from the downtown area and is situated in a quiet section of the city. Rooms are simple, somewhat small, spotless and that’s about it. However, it does have its’ own bathroom. If you want a tv and fan then the price jumps up to $40. While the rooms are a little on the plain side, the hotel has a certain charm to it. Also, there’s a lovely porch to sit and people watch. Friendly and helpful staff. Highly recommended! Price includes breakfast. Travel Tip: While the craft shops aren’t much to speak of, the ornate churches themselves are enough reason to visit this beautiful city. ATLANTIDA DO SUL, BRAZIL Name: Johsil Hotel Address: Price: $19 Rating: Mediocre Reviewed: 1996 Review: One of two hotels that was open out of season at the time of my visit (late October) in this rather small beach resort. It might be better to stay in the much larger city of Capao da Canoa (which is also a resort) where you will find a better selection of hotels and restaurants in all price ranges. Fortunately, Atlantida do Sul is within a 45 minute walking distance from Capao da Canoa where you’ll find more to do. Anyway, the above mentioned hotel is only for the person who financially can’t afford to stay in any place better. Rooms are basic, dingy looking but, surprisingly, fairly clean. It’s stilll recommended as being a good value in spite of the shabbiness of the rooms because all three meals are included in the price of the room. ATLANTIDA, URUGUAY Name: Hotel Rex Address: Price: $11 Rating: Best Value Reviewed: 1991 Review: Adequate and clean hotel located across from the beach. AVARE, BRAZIL Name: Hotel Villa Verde Address: av. Paulo Novaes 1 Price: $53.50 Rating: Honorable Mention Reviewed: 1996 Review: Very nice, indeed! Excellent three star hotel located a short distance from the bus terminal by taxi ($5 - too high! can be walked but only without luggage) and several blocks from the downtown area. The hotel is also located in a very peaceful and serene setting. Rooms are spotless, spacious, comfortable and come with air conditioning, color tv and a well-stocked frigo bar. A plus to the room is the fact that the bed is enormous (one of the largest I’ve ever seen). Also, the lobby is enormous and impressive, and on display are the various awards that the hotel has received. Amenities include a good size swimming pool. Very high in price but efficient laundry service. Highly recommended! Price includes breakfast. Travel Tip: The hotel’s restaurant is worth trying. At noon I tried the hot and cold buffet, and with one soft drink and tip it came to only $11. Drawback: There are a couple of drawbacks to this otherwise excellent hotel. When I’m paying this kind of money ($53.50) I expect the quality of service to be higher than it was at this hotel. 1) Even though the hotel had their own courtesy van they wouldn’t offer to take me the short distance to the bus terminal. 2) For being a three star hotel no one would offer me assistence into the cab with my luggage when departing. Advisary: Unscrupulous cab drivers will try to charge $1 more if you have luggage. Refuse to pay it and they’ll back down. AZUL, ARGENTINA Name: Hotel Cervantes Address: Price: $17 Rating: Mediocre Reviewed: 1991 Review: Adequate hotel located across the street from the bus terminal. The hallways are not well lit so be careful! Otherwise, can be recommended. |
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