Where to stay in Florianopolis

August 11, 2013 7:17 PM

My lovely wife is going to a conference held at UFSC in Florianopolis for 4 days in September. Where should she stay?

She'll be travelling alone, speaks Spanish and English but no Portuguese. The conference recommends some hotels near the university or in the city center. Being close to the conference is nice, but it sounds like it would be more interesting to be downtown. How hard is it to get around? Safe?
She's looking for midrange, nothing fancy but clean, spacious, etc.

posted by signal to Travel & Transportation around Florianopolis, Brazil (2 answers total)

Best answer: I went to a conference in Florianopolis a few years ago and stayed at the Slaviero Executive, which is very near the university. I speak English and a little Spanish but no Portuguese. Perfectly fine hotel, no complaints. Several people we knew stayed downtown and they were also happy with their hotels, but the commute was sometimes a bit long because of traffic in the city.

The advice we were given is that the city centre can be a bit sketchy (but pretty safe in comparison to other Brazilian cities). The island in general though is fairly safe - I never felt concerned for my safety at any point, even as a woman going off for walks on her own. It's also very easy to get around - there are lots of buses and they are super-easy to use. In my opinion the most interesting parts of the island were outside the city, and it was easier to get to them from the university area than from the city area because of the traffic problems.
posted by gnimmel at 3:13 AM on August 12, 2013

Response by poster: She stayed at the Slaviero Executive. Nice enough, good breakfast, a bit loud / thin walls (she could hear other people's TVs). The staff got into a lot of fights with her and the other people from the conference, but all in all it was OK.
posted by signal at 12:26 PM on September 11, 2013