Rio is the start. Brazil is the whole trip.
Which Corcovado ticket actually gets you up the mountain. Whether the falls need one day or two. What a night in Lapa costs. 602 tours across Brazil, reviewed and ranked.
The tours travellers in Brazil book most.
The full Brazil list →More people take these than anything else on the site, from a timed Corcovado ticket to a rafting morning in the hills behind São Paulo. What each one is, and what it costs.
1
6-Stop Highlights of Rio with Lunch
See Rio’s top sights in one day, from Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf to Selarón Steps, samba, football, cathedral, and lunch.
From · $130
Read our review →
2
Christ the Redeemer Entry Ticket by Corcovado Train
from $45
3
Rio’s City Tour – Tickets for Christ, Sugar Loaf & Lunch included
from $159
4
Rafting – Brotas – Rio Jacaré Pepira
from $37
5
Full Day: Christ Redeemer, Sugarloaf, City Tour & Barbecue Lunch
from $74
6
Rocinha Favela Walking Tour with Local Guide
from $36
7
Sugarloaf Cable Car Official Ticket
from $46
8
Rio’s Full Day: Selarón Steps, Christ & Sugarloaf – Tickets & Lunch Included
from $159
The days people fly to Brazil for.
The statue, the falls, the river, the island beaches, the granite peaks above Rio and the ramp off Pedra Bonita. Six days most Brazil itineraries are built around, and the best way to book each.
Christ the Redeemer: pick the way up.
All 53 Redeemer and Sugarloaf tours →
Cog railway through the forest, official van from Paineiras, or the long day that pairs the statue with Sugarloaf and a churrasco lunch. These three carry the most travellers; the full list splits the rest by how much of Rio you want in one go.
Corcovado by cog railway
The rack railway has climbed through Tijuca forest to the statue since 1884. Slots are timed and the early ones beat the cloud far more often than the afternoon departures.
Sugarloaf at the end of the day
Two glass cars, Urca first and then the summit, with Guanabara Bay going gold behind you. The last hour of light is the one worth queueing for.
Both summits, Selaron, lunch
Statue in the morning, the tiled steps above Lapa, a churrasco lunch, then Sugarloaf while the light goes. One day, most of the postcard.
Four days in Rio and you have only seen the postcard.
The statue and the cable car are day one. What people actually come home talking about is the rest: the scramble up Pedra da Gavea, a Rocinha walk led by someone who grew up there, Lapa on a Friday, Ipanema at the hour the sun drops behind Dois Irmaos.
Iguazu is a two-day waterfall.
The Brazilian side gives you the panorama: the whole cataract wall in one sweep, then the walkway out into the spray below the Devil’s Throat. Cross the bridge on day two for the Argentine catwalks, and keep an afternoon for the Itaipu dam or the bird park.
What a day out in Brazil actually costs.
Three price bands, and what each one actually buys. A good number of Brazil’s best mornings cost less than lunch on the beach.
Cable car and train tickets, favela walks with a local guide, samba classes, city walks and the Lapa bar crawls.
The full days: both summits with lunch, Iguazu with the boat under the falls, Paraty island hopping, a jungle day out of Manaus.
Helicopter circuits over the bay, tandem hang gliding, private guides and the multi-day Amazon lodges.
In the Amazon the river is the road.
Everything out of Manaus starts at a jetty. The coffee-black Rio Negro runs alongside the pale Solimoes for kilometres without mixing. The igapo forest floods until the canopy is at head height and you paddle into it. Day trips work; two nights at a lodge work better.
- 1One-Day Amazon Jungle Experiencefrom $100
- 2Full-Day Tour on the Amazon Riverfrom $55
- 3Indian Village and Meeting of the Waters Tourfrom $150
Three days that exist nowhere but Brazil.
The Pedra Bonita Launch
Rio is the only big city where you can strap into a tandem hang glider, run off a wooden ramp high on Pedra Bonita and land on the sand at Sao Conrado ten minutes later. Flights go when the wind and the cloud base allow, which is most mornings and almost no afternoons. Book it early in the trip so there is room to slip a day.
- 1Hang gliding Hang gliding Experience Rotorfly★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,009 reviews
- 2Hang Gliding Adventure★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 760 reviews
- 3Rio de Janeiro Helicopter Tour – Christ the Redeemer★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 638 reviews
The Meeting of the Waters
Below Manaus the black Rio Negro runs beside the pale Solimoes for several kilometres without mixing: different temperature, different speed, different density, a visible seam down the middle. Boats cut the engine and drift along it. Around it lie the flooded forests you paddle into when the river is high, canopy at eye level.
- 1One-Day Amazon Jungle Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 408 reviews
- 2Full-Day Tour on the Amazon River★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 362 reviews
- 3Indian Village and Meeting of the Waters Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 241 reviews
Tijuca and the Rock Ledges
Tijuca is a forest that was replanted by hand from the 1860s after the coffee farms stripped the hills, and it sits inside the city. Trails climb from the suburbs to Pedra da Gavea and the Telegrafo ledge, granite fins with the Atlantic a long way straight down. On the scrambles a guide is not optional.
- 1Rio de Janeiro Tijuca Rainforest Hike with Waterfalls and Caves★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,082 reviews
- 2Christ, Selaron Steps, and Tijuca Park Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 857 reviews
- 3Guided Jeep Tour through Tijuca Rainforest★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 740 reviews
Some of Brazil sells out before your flight does.
Most of Brazil can be arranged from the hotel the night before. These cannot. They run on timed tickets, fixed departure dates and weather windows that do not care when your flight lands.
- 01Christ the Redeemer Entry Ticket by Corcovado TrainEntry runs on timed slots and each train carries a fixed number. High-season mornings clear well before the day.
- 02Brazil Iguazu Falls & Macuco Safari BoatThe boat that runs in under the falls works to a daily quota and stops altogether when the river is too high.
- 03Hang gliding Hang gliding Experience RotorflyFlights launch only in the right wind and cloud, and only a handful go per morning. Book it for the start of the trip so a washed-out day still leaves a spare.
- 043 Days Amazon Jungle Adventure TourLodge trips leave Manaus on set days and the boat fills. There is no turning up at the jetty.
Brazil finds its second wind around ten at night.
All samba and food nights →
Pub Crawl in Lapa with Cachaça Tasting and Live Samba
Read our review →
Rio’s summer rain arrives fast, hits hard and leaves.
From December to March the afternoon storm is part of the day: an hour of tropical downpour, then steam coming off the pavement. It cancels a hang-glider slot and very little else. Move indoors and go deeper — a samba class in Copacabana, a cooking table with the market run first, the museums around Praca Maua, a show that starts once it stops.
By region — sixteen places to sleep
Rio de Janeiro283 tours
Foz do Iguaçu49 tours
São Paulo56 tours
Manaus and the Amazon31 tours
Salvador and Bahia30 tours
Paraty and Ilha Grande29 tours
Fortaleza and Jericoacoara19 tours- All 16 regions →
By experience — what you feel like doing
Rio, the falls and the river: a first Brazil itinerary.
Rio de Janeiro
Paraty
São Paulo
SalvadorThe Brazil reviews that landed last.
All recent →
Arraial do Cabo Adventure: Guided Tour, Beaches, and Lunch.
Read our review →
Amazon Experience: Indigenous culture and nature phenomenon
Read our review →
Angra dos Reis: 5-Stop Ilha Grande Speedboat Tour
Read our review →
Angra dos Reis: Boat Tour in Ilha Grande and Lagoa Azul
Read our review →
All-day quad bike tour in the small Lencois and Cabure
Read our review →
Adventures in Angra and Ilha Grande with Guide and Lunch
Read our review →
