Windsor Excelsior

A five-star location (on the beach next to the Copacabana Palace), four-star fittings (spacious modern rooms with over-the-ocean sunrise views, a rooftop bar and pool) and a two-star price: this Copacabana beachfront is superb value.

Rooms may be business-hotel plain – wood-panel floors, cream walls and fitted desks big enough to prepare a Powerpoint presentation – but they’re modern and well-maintained and those facing east have wonderful beach views. And the location couldn’t be more quintessentially Rio: Copacabana Beach is outside the lobby, Bossa Nova was literally invented a block away and the La Trattoria restaurant, a stroll from the lobby, is a carioca institution.