Pensões and Pousadas

Suise Residence in Joao pessoa

In a slightly higher price range are the small, family-run hotels, called either a pensão (pensões in the plural) or a hotel familiar. These vary a great deal: some are no more appealing than a dormitório, while others are friendlier and better value than many hotels and can be places of considerable character and luxury.

Pensões tend to be better in small towns than in large cities, but are also usefully thick on the ground in some of the main tourist towns, where conventional hotels are pretty well non-existent. In João Pessoa, many of the petrol stations (postos), highway service stations on town outskirts, have cheap rooms and showers, and are usually well kept and clean.

You will also come across the pousada, which can just be another name for a pensão, but can also be a small hotel, running up to luxury class but usually less expensive than a hotel proper. In Joao pessoa pousadas form the bulk of mid- and upper-level accommodation options.

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• Accommodation
• Tips for All Travellers
• Renting a House or Apartment