Rio is where you land. Brazil starts after that.
Which Christ the Redeemer ticket skips the queue. What a full day at Iguaçu costs from the Brazilian side. Whether the Amazon is worth the flight out of Rio. Reviews of every tour you can book in Brazil.
Rio de JaneiroThe statue, the cable car, the forest behind itfrom $1
Foz do IguaçuThe falls from the panorama sidefrom $24
ManausBlack water and flooded forestfrom $42
SalvadorBaroque Bahia and the Bonfim ribbonsfrom $12
São PauloPaulista, the market, the museumsfrom $29
ParatyCobbles, schooners and cachaçafrom $11
BarreirinhasDunes with lagoons in themfrom $30
Christ the Redeemer, Iguaçu, the Amazon, and one long day in Rio.
The four bookings a first Brazilian trip gets built around. What each one costs, and what the travellers who took it say.
01The whole city in a day6-Stop Highlights of Rio with LunchChrist, Sugarloaf, the Selarón steps and lunch, in one loop. It saves three arguments with three taxi drivers.
02The cable car upSugarloaf Cable Car Official TicketTwo stages from Praia Vermelha to the summit, with Guanabara Bay opening up underneath. Go for the last hour of light.
03Both sides of the fallsFull-Day Tour of Brazil & Argentina SidesThe Brazilian panorama in the morning, the Argentine catwalks after lunch. Passports go in the day bag.
04One day on the riverOne-Day Amazon Jungle ExperienceMeeting of the Waters, flooded forest and a canoe through the igapó. The Amazon without giving it a whole week.
The days out Brazil books before anything else.
The full Brazil list →More travellers take these than anything else in the country, and each one earns the slot for a different reason.
1
6-Stop Highlights of Rio with Lunch
See Rio’s top sights in one day, from Christ the Redeemer to Sugarloaf, with hotel pickup, lunch, a guide, and practical local tips.
From · $130
Read our review →
2
Christ the Redeemer Entry Ticket by Corcovado Train
from $45
3
Rocinha Favela Walking Tour with Local Guide
from $36
4
Sugarloaf Cable Car Official Ticket
from $46
5
Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf, Selaron & BBQ Lunch
from $69
6
Half-Day Rocinha Favela Walking Tour
from $35
7
Angra dos Reis and Ilha Grande Full-Day Tour
from $77
8
Maracanã Stadium Official Entrance Ticket
from $24
Corcovado, Sugarloaf, Tijuca: Rio in the order that works.
Go up Corcovado first thing, save the cable car for the light at the end of the day, and give the forest behind the city a morning of its own. Three kinds of Rio day, and what it costs to start each one.
What a day out in Brazil actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by what you pay to start it. Plenty of the best Brazilian days come in under the price of dinner in Leblon.
Favela walks, the Selarón steps and Lapa on foot, stadium entry, cable-car and cog-train tickets.
The full days out: Iguaçu from the Brazilian side, Tijuca by jeep, the Angra schooner, a São Paulo city loop.
Helicopter passes over the bay, hang gliding off Pedra Bonita, river days out of Manaus and private guides.
- 16-Stop Highlights of Rio with Lunchfrom $130
- 2Hang Gliding Adventurefrom $229
- 3Skip the Line to Christ Redeemer, Sugar Loaf and Barbecue Lunchfrom $113
Iguaçu, the Amazon, and the waterfalls nobody flies in for.
Brazil keeps its two great set pieces two thousand kilometres apart and fills the gap with escarpments, swimming holes and rivers. These are the days people plan a domestic flight around.
The best Brazilian days start at a jetty in Angra or Arraial.
Schooners threading the islands off Angra dos Reis, water off Arraial do Cabo clear enough to see the anchor, a sunset sail out of Marina da Glória. The coast runs seven and a half thousand kilometres and the good parts are reached by hull.
- 1Sunset Sailing Tourfrom $75
- 2Sunset Sailboat Tour with Open Barfrom $57
- 3Angra dos Reis Boat Trip with Lunchfrom $63
Three things that only happen in Brazil.
Beaches and waterfalls belong to everybody. A samba school building floats in July, a desert that fills with freshwater lagoons, and a glider stepping off a ramp above a city of six million do not.
Samba City and the Lapa arches
The escolas de samba keep enormous sheds in the old port district and spend the whole year building floats for one night in February. Visits walk the workshops, put a costume on you and hand you a drum. Lapa needs no season at all: the arches, the pavement bars underneath them and a run of clubs that fill after midnight.
- 1Beginner Samba Lesson in Ipanema★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 1,071 reviews
- 2Pub Crawl in Lapa with Cachaça Tasting and Live Samba★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 881 reviews
- 3Carnival Backstage Tour at Samba City with Cocktail★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 520 reviews
The lagoons of Lençóis Maranhenses
For most of the year this is white dune to the horizon. Then the rain arrives, the valleys between the dunes fill with clear fresh water, and a desert turns into a field of warm lagoons until they evaporate again. The window runs roughly June to September and the 4x4s leave from Barreirinhas.
- 1Full-day excursion Lencois Marnahenses, Lagoa Azul & Lagoa Bonita combined★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 171 reviews
- 2Full Day Tour -2 Lagoons (Azul and Bonita)★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 137 reviews
- 3Sunset Experience in Bonita Lagoon★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 86 reviews
Hang gliding into São Conrado
Tandem gliders run off a wooden ramp on Pedra Bonita and land on the sand at São Conrado a few minutes later, Tijuca forest on one side and open sea on the other. Flights go early while the air is still stable, and the whole operation lives or dies on the wind that morning.
- 1Hang Gliding Adventure★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 760 reviews
- 2Hang Gliding Tandem Flight★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 426 reviews
- 3Paragliding Tandem Flight★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 186 reviews
Four Brazilian bookings that will not wait.
Most of this country can be arranged the night before over a cold beer. These four run on timed slots, match calendars, river levels and a season that takes no interest in your flight.
- 01Christ the Redeemer Entry Ticket by Corcovado TrainThe rack railway runs to fixed departures with a cap on each one, and the cool early slots go first.
- 02Maracanã Stadium Official Entrance TicketThe stadium tour stops on match days and shuts early the day before a big fixture.
- 03Full Day Tour -2 Lagoons (Azul and Bonita)The lagoons only exist while the rains hold them, roughly June to September. Outside the window there is nothing to swim in.
- 04One-Day Amazon Jungle ExperienceRiver level decides which flooded forest a canoe can actually reach, and the lodges upriver fill months out.
Rio rains hard and briefly. Have somewhere to be.
A tropical downpour puts Corcovado inside a cloud and empties the beach in ten minutes, then stops. The answer is indoors and close: a stadium, a museum built out over the water, a cachaça counter, a samba show that starts before dinner.
- 1Maracanã Stadium Official Entrance Ticketfrom $24
- 2Beginner Samba Lesson in Ipanemafrom $25
- 3Pub Crawl in Lapa with Cachaça Tasting and Live Sambafrom $33
Lapa on a Friday, and the cachaça that starts it.
Under the arches the street fills up, the bars put their speakers on the pavement and nothing stops until the buses start again. Go with somebody who knows which door is worth the queue.
Every samba and nightlife tour →
By place — coast, capital and Amazon
By kind of day — icon, boat, forest or samba
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