Pousada Aurora

Okay.

The garden entrance made a lovely first impression, and Inês, André, and Janaina were genuinely kind and attentive throughout our week. The breakfast was generous, with plenty of fruit and other drinks, though I wasn't keen on the packaged juice. The location also worked well for getting to the tourist pier and historic center. The room was disappointing: it was small, smelled unpleasant, and had problems with both the air conditioning and bathtub. The owners came to sort those out. There were loads of mosquitoes, and the plug-in repellent and racket barely helped, so I bought my own spray and had to be quick coming in and out. My mother wanted to move rooms because ours was right by the entrance, but there wasn't another room available. We spent a rainy day indoors, and the TV only had local, news, and other open channels, so there wasn't much to do. I also noticed weeds from the neighboring lot growing into the inn's grounds. It looks like this place was once very beautiful, but could use maintenance, better gardening, mosquito control, and some updates to its amenities. The people we dealt with made the stay much more pleasant.

The staff were very helpful, and the simple breakfast was perfectly satisfactory for this kind of inn. The rustic decor suits the place, though the Xingú room where I stayed needs updating. I like cozy, unfussy places, but the rooms could be improved while keeping their character, and the cleaning and tidying deserve more attention. One night I came back from an outing to find a broom and cloth beside the room door. They were still there the next morning. The location is about a 15-minute walk from both Paraty's bus terminal and its historic center, which could be inconvenient if you're arriving by bus. Value for money seemed average, but I would still recommend staying at the Pousada.

We booked a room for four well ahead of time, choosing the place because the photos made it look beautiful and cozy. Instead, the room smelled moldy, then leaks got our luggage wet. We were told to move, but the next room still had lots of mosquitoes and an unpleasant smell. We asked for a refund and were refused at first. While we were out on a tour the next day, they messaged asking us to leave that room and go back to the first one. After a lot of stress, they refunded just one night's stay. The people were extremely unpleasant. I'll never go back to that dump.