JO&JOE Largo do Boticário, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Historic Rio Reborn as a Tropical Social Playground Beneath Corcovado
Why DNA Hotels Loves It
● A remarkable adaptive-reuse project that has brought the historic mansions of Largo do Boticário back to life without erasing their age, texture, or architectural character.
● Tropical courtyards, pools, murals, communal spaces, and preserved heritage architecture turn the hostel concept into something far more atmospheric and distinctly Rio.
● Its Cosme Velho setting beneath Corcovado reveals another side of the city—lush, historic, residential, and far removed from the familiar beachfront version of Rio.
Saving a Forgotten Piece of Rio
Some buildings need restoration. Largo do Boticário needed rescuing. Hidden in tropical Cosme Velho beneath Christ the Redeemer, this tiny square of historic mansions had become one of Rio’s most romantic ruins: faded façades, old tiles, iron balconies, crumbling walls, and vegetation slowly reclaiming the architecture. JO&JOE could easily have polished all that history away. Thankfully, it didn’t. Instead, the Accor-backed hostel concept has turned the enclave into a wonderfully unconventional place to stay, allowing old Rio and a much younger generation of travellers to occupy the same space.
Beautifully Imperfect
The architecture is the star. From the outside, pastel façades, tiled roofs, arches, shutters, and balconies preserve the almost cinematic character of the Largo. Move inside and the mood becomes considerably less nostalgic. Murals collide with old masonry. Contemporary furniture sits against weathered surfaces. Strong colours, graphics, reclaimed materials, and playful interventions weave through buildings whose irregularities remain part of their charm. Rather than pretending the property has remained untouched for 150 years, the design makes its different lives visible. Old and new don’t always match. That’s precisely why it works.
Not Your Backpacking Bunkhouse
JO&JOE sits somewhere between hostel, hotel, bar, cultural venue, and very large shared house. There are dorms for travellers who actually want the social hostel experience, alongside private rooms and more independent accommodation for those who prefer their communal living in smaller doses. But sleeping is almost secondary to the concept. Long tables, lounges, hammocks, terraces, shared spaces, bars, and outdoor areas are designed to keep people moving through the property rather than disappearing behind their bedroom doors. It feels intentionally porous. And in a city as sociable as Rio, that makes perfect sense.
The Courtyard Is the Living Room
At its heart is a lush outdoor world enclosed by the historic buildings and dense tropical vegetation. Pools disappear between palms. Hammocks invite plans to be abandoned. Music, drinks, food, events, and conversations gradually take over as the day progresses. The contrast is fantastic. You can be sitting beside a pool with a cocktail while looking back at architecture that seems to belong to another century, with Corcovado rising somewhere through the greenery above. It feels less like a conventional hostel than a tiny tropical village hidden inside the city.
There Is More to Rio Than Ipanema
The location is another reason JO&JOE belongs on DNA Hotels. Cosme Velho offers a Rio that many visitors barely encounter. The neighbourhood climbs into dense Atlantic forest, with historic houses, steep streets, tropical gardens, and the unmistakable presence of Corcovado overhead. The train to Christ the Redeemer departs virtually on the doorstep, while Tijuca’s extraordinary urban rainforest is close by. Beaches will inevitably call. But staying here changes the geography of a Rio trip. Instead of experiencing the city almost entirely through its coastline, you wake up surrounded by one of its oldest neighbourhoods and one of the world’s great urban landscapes.
Why It Works
JO&JOE Largo do Boticário proves that memorable design hospitality has very little to do with thread counts or star ratings. Its greatest luxury is the place itself: a remarkable fragment of historic Rio rescued from decay and given a completely different purpose. The restoration leaves enough scars visible to retain its soul, while pools, art, music, communal spaces, and youthful energy make certain it never becomes a museum. Affordable, imperfect, exuberant, and deeply rooted in its surroundings, this is exactly the kind of hostel that makes the word “hostel” feel far too limiting.
