My opinion is exactly the opposite of everyone elses...... I went to Rio for Carnivale back in 95 or so and stayed at the Luxor, Rio is a complete dump. It's loud, it smells, and the trash piles are 10' high. You go in one block from the beach and you're in the slums. I did the whole club Scala and Help on various nights, some of the chicks are smokin' but many more are fat, and they LOVE to show off their fat there. They ALL wear the "dental floss". Honestly, I have a lot of fond memories and I'm glad I went, but I clearly recall that when I was there I couldn't wait to get back to civilization and vowed never to go back, at least to Rio. Christ, the supermarket meat dept had flies landing all over the meat. It was truly 3rd world. We met a couple of guys from Switzerland that were way cool, too bad they were robbed *THREE* times, and one of them knocked out with a rag with chemicals, his shoes stolen, and then they threw him into the ocean. We found him later with chemical burns all over his face. Rio might be great if you know someone there that knows all the places to go, but as someone who went on my own only with the guidance of Fodors, it sucked. Varig sucked too, I'll never fly on them again either
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