Brazil: Rio de Janeiro, Paraty and Iguazú Falls

Arrive in Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro airport (GIG) to your hotel near Copacabana or Ipanema

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Rio de Janeiro

Soir

Then we walk to a local restaurant for a welcome dinner together. Plan to land by mid-afternoon to make the briefing; late arrivals are met and briefed the next morning.

Compris

• Pick-up at Rio de Janeiro airport (GIG)
• Welcome briefing with your guide
• Welcome dinner

Christ the Redeemer on an early train, then Santa Teresa

Copacabana to Cosme Velho and Corcovado, then Santa Teresa and the Selarón Steps

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Rio de Janeiro
• En train

Matin

Going early matters: by mid-morning the terrace at the foot of Christ the Redeemer is packed, and cloud often gathers on the summit as the day warms. The statue, finished in 1931 and about 30 m tall, stands on a peak of about 700 m, with Sugarloaf, Guanabara Bay and the beaches laid out below. Back down, we drive across to Santa Teresa, the hilltop neighbourhood of old mansions, artists' studios and the yellow tram, and walk its streets with your guide.

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal in Santa Teresa. Then we walk down the Selarón Steps, the 215 steps that Chilean-born artist Jorge Selarón covered in tiles sent from around the world, and drive back to the hotel. The rest of the afternoon is free for the beach.

Compris

• Corcovado train and Christ the Redeemer, on one of the first departures
• Santa Teresa on foot with your guide
• Sit-down lunch in Santa Teresa
• The Selarón Steps

Tijuca Forest, the Botanical Garden and Sugarloaf at sunset

Tijuca National Park and the Vista Chinesa, the Botanical Garden, then Urca and Sugarloaf

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Rio de Janeiro

Matin

We drive up through it in the morning, stop at the Vista Chinesa pavilion for the view over the lagoon and Ipanema, and walk to the Cascatinha Taunay waterfall.

Après-midi

Then down to the Botanical Garden, founded in 1808 by the Portuguese prince regent, for its avenue of royal palms and the orchid house, and lunch nearby in the Jardim Botânico neighbourhood.

Soir

The afternoon is free to rest or swim, and that break is what makes a forest morning and a sunset evening sit comfortably in one day. Late in the day we take the two cable cars up Sugarloaf, first to Morro da Urca and then to the 396 m summit, timed for sunset, when the lights of Copacabana come on and Christ the Redeemer catches the last of the sun across the bay. Dinner afterwards is your choice; Urca and Botafogo are good for it.

Compris

• Tijuca National Park: the Vista Chinesa and the Cascatinha Taunay waterfall
• The Botanical Garden
• Sit-down lunch in Jardim Botânico
• Sugarloaf cable cars at sunset

Little Africa and the old centre

Gamboa and Saúde in the port district, then Praça XV and Cinelândia

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Rio de Janeiro

Matin

This morning a local guide from the community leads a walk through Pequena África, Little Africa, the port district at the heart of Afro-Brazilian Rio. At the Valongo Wharf, uncovered during port works in 2011 and listed by UNESCO in 2017, you stand on the stone landing where enslaved Africans were brought ashore in the early 19th century, in numbers the UNESCO listing puts in the hundreds of thousands. Nearby, the Instituto Pretos Novos keeps the memory of a burial ground found under a family house in 1996, and Pedra do Sal, the rock stairway where Bahian dockworkers and musicians gathered, is remembered as one of the birthplaces of samba. We walk on past the Museum of Tomorrow on Praça Mauá into the old centre: Praça XV and the colonial Paço Imperial, then the Theatro Municipal on Cinelândia.

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal in the centre.

Soir

The afternoon is free, and in the evening your guide can take anyone who wants to the samba at Pedra do Sal when it runs.

Compris

• Little Africa walk with a local guide: the Valongo Wharf, the Instituto Pretos Novos and Pedra do Sal
• The old centre: Praça Mauá, Praça XV, the Paço Imperial and the Theatro Municipal
• Sit-down lunch in the centre

Activités en option

• Samba at Pedra do Sal, when it runs (usually Monday nights)
• A samba school rehearsal (roughly September to Carnival)
• A football match at the Maracanã when the fixtures fit

The Costa Verde road to Paraty

Rio de Janeiro to Paraty on the BR-101 along the Costa Verde

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Paraty
• Environ 4 h de route

Matin

After breakfast we leave Rio on the Rio-Santos road, the BR-101, which follows the Costa Verde, the green coast, for about 250 km and four hours to Paraty. It is the most scenic drive of the trip: forest running down to the sea, fishing villages and the island-dotted bay of Ilha Grande.

Après-midi

We make a coffee and viewpoint stop on the coast and reach Paraty in time for lunch. Paraty grew rich in the 18th century as the port that shipped gold from Minas Gerais to Portugal, then fell quiet for more than a century when trade moved to other routes, which is why its centre survived almost untouched; with Ilha Grande it was listed by UNESCO in 2019. In the afternoon your guide walks you through the car-free historic centre, with its uneven stone streets built so that the highest tides wash into them, past the white church of Santa Rita, before a tasting at a cachaça distillery just outside town.

Soir

The evening is yours.

Compris

• Drive along the Costa Verde with a coffee and viewpoint stop on the coast
• Sit-down lunch in Paraty
• Guided walk of Paraty's historic centre
• Cachaça tasting at a local distillery

Trindade's natural pool and a schooner into the evening

Paraty to Trindade and back, then a schooner in Paraty Bay

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Paraty
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Après-midi

It is at its best at a low tide and before the day-trip buses arrive around midday, which is why we go early. Swim, snorkel or sit on the rocks, then a sit-down lunch in Trindade. We are back in Paraty by about 2 pm, and in mid-afternoon we board a schooner chartered for our group, not a shared party boat with loud music, and cruise the bay among its forested islands, with two stops to swim from the boat or a small beach.

Soir

We sail back into the harbour as the light goes gold behind the mountains, and the evening is free.

Compris

• Trindade and the Cachadaço natural pool
• Sit-down lunch in Trindade
• Afternoon schooner cruise in Paraty Bay, chartered for our group, with swim stops

Back along the coast and a flight to Iguazú

Paraty to Rio de Janeiro airport by road, then a flight to Foz do Iguaçu

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Foz do Iguaçu
• Environ 4.5 h de route

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal near the airport before check-in.

Soir

The flight to Foz do Iguaçu (IGU) leaves in the mid to late afternoon (ops confirm the schedule) and takes a little over two hours, and the airport sits between the town and the national park, so you reach the hotel by late afternoon or early evening. Foz is a working border city close to where Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay meet at the junction of the Iguaçu and Paraná rivers. The evening is free; your guide suggests places to eat and briefs you on tomorrow's border crossing.

Compris

• Drive from Paraty to Rio de Janeiro airport with a coffee stop
• Sit-down lunch before check-in
• Flight from Rio de Janeiro to Foz do Iguaçu (IGU)
• Transfer to your hotel in Foz do Iguaçu

The Argentine side and the Devil's Throat

Foz do Iguaçu across the Tancredo Neves bridge to Iguazú National Park in Argentina and back

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Foz do Iguaçu
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Après-midi

From there we walk the Upper Circuit along the lip of the falls and, after a sit-down lunch in the park, the Lower Circuit, which brings you close to the foot of the cascades through forest where coatis, toucans and butterflies are common.

Soir

We are back in Foz by late afternoon for a farewell dinner together.

Compris

• Border crossing to Argentina and back with your guide
• Iguazú National Park from opening: the park train, the Devil's Throat walkway, the Upper and Lower Circuits
• Sit-down lunch in the park
• Farewell dinner in Foz do Iguaçu

Activités en option

• Boat ride from the Lower Circuit into the spray at the foot of the falls (price shown at booking)

The Brazilian side and departure

Iguaçu National Park in Brazil, then Foz do Iguaçu airport (IGU)

• Petit-déjeuner

Matin

After breakfast and check-out we are at Brazil's Iguaçu National Park, a UNESCO site since 1986, when it opens at 9 am. Most of the falls lie on the Argentine side, which is exactly why this side has the view: a park bus takes us to the start of the Falls Trail, about 1.2 km of path along the canyon with the whole front of the cascades in sight across the water. It ends on a walkway that reaches out into the spray below the Devil's Throat, so wear clothes that can get wet or bring a light poncho, and a panoramic lift climbs back to the upper viewpoint. The walk takes about two hours at an easy pace. Afterwards there is time for the Parque das Aves bird park across the road, or a coffee, before the short drive, about 15 to 20 minutes, to Foz do Iguaçu airport (IGU). Book a flight leaving after about 2 pm to see the falls first; your guide sees you to the airport.

Compris

• Iguaçu National Park from opening: the park bus, the Falls Trail and the Devil's Throat walkway
• Drop-off at Foz do Iguaçu airport (IGU)

Activités en option

• Parque das Aves bird park (price shown at booking)
• Helicopter flight over the falls (price shown at booking)