Rio takes three days. Then come the falls, the river and the northeast.
Whether the cog train beats the van up Corcovado. Which bank of Iguaçu gives you the panorama. Reviews of every tour you can book in Brazil, priced and timed.
The cog train, a Rocinha morning, and both sides of Iguaçu.
Four days that a first Brazilian itinerary tends to hang off. What each costs, and what the people who took it say.
01The whole city at onceRio de Janeiro: 6-Stop Highlights of Rio with LunchSix stops, one van, one guide: the statue, the cable car, the Selarón steps and lunch. The day most people wish they had booked first.
02The cog train upChrist the Redeemer Entry Ticket by Corcovado TrainThe rack railway has climbed through Tijuca forest since 1884. Take an early departure — the platform at the top fills by mid-morning.
03A morning in RocinhaRio de Janeiro: Rocinha Favela Walking Tour with Local GuideThe biggest favela in Brazil, walked from the top lane down with guides who live in it. Nothing about it is a viewing platform.
04Both banks in a dayIguazu Falls: Full-Day Tour of Brazil & Argentina SidesPanorama from the Brazilian side before lunch, the Argentine walkways to the Devil’s Throat after it. Carry your passport.
Corcovado, the cable car, the hillside or the water. Pick your Rio day.
Almost half the tours on this site happen in one city, so the real question is which kind of day you are buying. Four of them, what each costs to join, and the pick that carries the most travellers.
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · Rio de Janeiro: 6-Stop Highlights of Rio with Lunch
The icon dayCorcovado by cog train or van, then the statue before the coaches.
The cable-car dayTwo stages, Urca then the sugarloaf, best in the last hour of light.
The hillside dayRocinha or Santa Marta on foot, guided by people who live there.
The water dayGuanabara Bay under sail, or a speedboat out to the islands.
All 425 days out in Rio →
Rio first, then the falls, the river and the Bahian coast.
A city wedged between granite and sea, the biggest in the southern hemisphere, a colonial capital that still runs on drums, the waterfall border, the river port and a gold-trail town in the hills. Six places to start, and the best day out in each.
The falls drop 275 times, and the panorama belongs to Brazil.
Argentina puts you on catwalks above the water; Brazil stands you back and shows you the whole thing at once. Most visitors do both in two days, and the walkway at Garganta do Diabo is the reason nobody regrets the border queue.
The cable car, the cog train, and everything else Brazil books first.
Every Brazilian tour we have reviewed →The cable car, the cog train, a morning on the hillside: what Brazil actually books, and what each one gives you for the money.
1
Rio de Janeiro: 6-Stop Highlights of Rio with Lunch
See Rio’s icons in one day, from Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf to Selarón Steps, with lunch, hotel pickup, and a multilingual guide.
From · $130
Read our review →
2
Christ the Redeemer Entry Ticket by Corcovado Train
from $45
3
Rio de Janeiro: Rocinha Favela Walking Tour with Local Guide
from $36
4
Rio de Janeiro: Sugarloaf Cable Car Official Ticket
from $46
5
Rio: Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf, Selaron & BBQ Lunch
from $69
6
Rio De Janeiro: Half-Day Rocinha Favela Walking Tour
from $35
7
Rio de Janeiro: Angra dos Reis and Ilha Grande Full-Day Tour
from $77
8
Rio: Maracanã Stadium Official Entrance Ticket
from $24
Salvador, the dunes at Jericoacoara, the lagoons in the Lençóis.
Two thousand kilometres of coastline north of Rio, warm all year, and almost none of it on a first itinerary. Bahia has the drums and the food; Ceará and Maranhão have buggies, dunes and rain-fed lagoons that fill between June and September.
What Rio, the falls and the northeast cost by the day.
Every tour on the site, grouped by what one person pays. A samba class costs less than a taxi to the airport; a seat in a helicopter over Guanabara Bay costs more than the flight to Salvador.
Stadium and statue tickets, samba classes, favela walks and the city tours that run on foot.
The full days: both sides of Iguaçu, Angra by schooner, jeep runs through Tijuca, the Amazon out of Manaus.
Private drivers, hang gliding off Pedra Bonita, helicopter loops and the flights out to Noronha.
- 1Rio de Janeiro: 6-Stop Highlights of Rio with Lunchfrom $130
- 2Rio de Janeiro: Hang Gliding Adventurefrom $229
- 3Rio de Janeiro: Helicopter Tourfrom $220
Carnival workshops, favela mornings, and a river that refuses to mix.
Beaches and rainforest turn up all over the tropics. A parade industry with its own warehouse district, hillside neighbourhoods that guide their own visitors, and two rivers running side by side for six kilometres do not.
Samba City and the schools
Carnival is built all year in a warehouse complex near the port, where each samba school assembles floats the height of a house. Visits go behind the doors, and the classes attached to them run in Copacabana and Ipanema studios most evenings. The parade itself moves with Easter, so February and March change places from year to year.
- 1Rio de Janeiro: Beginner Samba Lesson in Ipanema★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 1,071 reviews
- 2Rio: Pub Crawl in Lapa with Cachaça Tasting and Live Samba★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 881 reviews
- 3Rio: Carnival Backstage Tour at Samba City with Cocktail★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 520 reviews
Rocinha and Santa Marta
Rio’s hillside neighbourhoods run their own visits, led by residents, and the money stays on the hill. Santa Marta is the small one, climbed by its funicular past the mural squares; Rocinha is the largest favela in the country and takes a morning on foot from the top lane down. Go with a resident guide or not at all.
- 1Rio de Janeiro: Rocinha Favela Walking Tour with Local Guide★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 3,052 reviews
- 2Rio De Janeiro: Half-Day Rocinha Favela Walking Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 2,272 reviews
- 3Rio de Janeiro: Favela Santa Marta Top Tour with Local Guide★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 488 reviews
The meeting of the waters
Below Manaus the coal-black Rio Negro meets the sandy Solimões and the two run side by side for kilometres without mixing — different temperatures, speeds and densities. Boats cut the line so you can see it under the hull. The same trip usually takes in stilt villages, a floating restaurant and the flooded forest, which is only walkable by canoe in high water.
- 1From Manaus: One-Day Amazon Jungle Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 408 reviews
- 2Manaus: Full-Day Tour on the Amazon River★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 362 reviews
- 3From Manaus: Presidente Figueiredo Waterfalls Daytrip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 149 reviews
Carnival, the derby, Noronha and the lagoons run on their own calendars.
Most of Brazil can be arranged the night before over a beer. These four cannot: they run on a moving religious calendar, a fixture list, an island visitor cap and the rain.
- 01Rio: Carnival Backstage Tour at Samba City with CocktailCarnival follows Easter, so the dates move every year. The city fills, the schools rehearse for months, and the parade week is booked long before it arrives.
- 02Rio: Maracanã Stadium Official Entrance TicketFixtures are published weeks ahead, not months, and a Flamengo derby clears the stadium’s 78,000 seats in hours.
- 03Discover Noronha: 7-Hour Ilhatour AdventureThe archipelago caps how many people are on it, and every visitor pays a daily environmental charge on top of the tour. Flights are small and go early.
- 04Full-day excursion Lencois Marnahenses, Lagoa Azul & Lagoa Bonita combinedThe lagoons between the dunes are rainwater. They fill from about June and dry through the second half of the year — turn up in December and you are walking on sand.
Lapa on a Friday, a samba lesson, and a stadium under lights.
Rio does not really start until the sun is off the beach. The arches at Lapa hold the bars, the classes run early enough to eat afterwards, and a night match at the Maracanã is the loudest room in the country.
By place — city, falls, river and coast
By kind of day — statue, stadium, water or dunes
Rio, Paraty, Iguaçu, Manaus, Salvador: the fortnight most people fly for.
Arraial do CaboJust reviewed, from Rio to the Lençóis dunes.
Keep going through the new ones →
São Paulo: Downtown Walking Tour with Farol Santander Entry
Read our review →
São Paulo: Full-Day Guided City Tour from the Port of Santos
Read our review →
Foz do Iguacu: Skydiving Experience with Photos and Videos
Read our review →
Discover Rocinha: Guided Tour of the Famous Favela
Read our review →
Rio de Janeiro: Hang Gliding or Paragliding Flight
Read our review →
Rio de Janeiro: Pedra Bonita & Tijuca Forest Hike Tour
Read our review →
Rio de Janeiro: Doors-off 30-min helicopter tour
Read our review →
