Brazil: Rio, the Pantanal, the Amazon and Salvador

1. Day 1: Arrive in Rio de Janeiro

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

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Rio de Janeiro
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Rio de Janeiro's Galeão international airport (GIG) and a driver meets you in arrivals for the drive of about 45 minutes into the city, past Guanabara Bay and through the tunnels to the beach districts. Your hotel is within a block of Copacabana or Ipanema beach, so whatever time you land you can walk the promenade, with its wave-patterned black and white paving, or swim before the evening. Plan to arrive by mid-afternoon to make the briefing. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group, talks through the two weeks ahead (three flights, two lodges, what to pack for the wildlife days and how early the dawn outings start) and answers questions about money, the e-visa and vaccinations. Then we walk to a welcome dinner at a local restaurant, where you can try feijoada or grilled fish and your first caipirinha, made with cachaça, lime and sugar.

   Included

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

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

2. Day 2: Christ the Redeemer early, then Santa Teresa

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

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Rio de Janeiro
   Day 2 details

   We leave the hotel early for the Cosme Velho station and one of the first trains of the day up Corcovado, a rack railway that has climbed through the Tijuca forest since 1884. Going early matters: by mid-morning the terrace at the foot of Christ the Redeemer is crowded, and cloud often builds on the summit as the day warms. The statue, finished in 1931, stands on a granite peak of about 700 m, with Sugarloaf, Guanabara Bay and the beaches laid out below. Back down, we drive to Santa Teresa, the hilltop neighbourhood of old mansions, artists' studios and the yellow tram, and walk its streets with your guide before a sit-down lunch. Then we walk down the Selarón Steps, covered in tiles by the artist Jorge Selarón, and drive back to the hotel. The afternoon is free for the beach or a nap.

   Included

   • 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

   Easier option: Skip the Selarón Steps and ride back to the hotel after lunch.

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: About 3 km on foot, on cobbles and steps walked downhill.

3. Day 3: The Botanical Garden and Sugarloaf at sunset

   Copacabana to the Jardim Botânico, then Urca and Sugarloaf

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Rio de Janeiro
   Day 3 details

   A slower morning. After breakfast we drive to the Jardim Botânico, the botanical garden founded in 1808 under the Portuguese prince regent, and walk the avenue of tall imperial palms, the orchid house and the shaded paths where marmosets and toucans are often seen, with Corcovado rising over the trees. Back at the hotel by late morning, the middle of the day is yours: lunch where you like in Ipanema or Leblon, the beach, or a rest before two busy weeks. In the late afternoon we drive to Urca for the cable cars up Sugarloaf, which have run since 1912, first to Morro da Urca and then to the summit at about 396 m. We time the ride so we are at the top for sunset, when the light goes gold on the bay, the city lights come on below Corcovado and the statue is lit. Dinner tonight is free.

   Included

   • Jardim Botânico with your guide
   • Sugarloaf cable cars, timed for sunset

   More active option: Walk up the forest trail from Praia Vermelha to Morro da Urca (about 30 to 40 minutes, steep in places) with your guide and take only the second cable car.

   Free time: Middle of the day and evening free

   Activity: About 3 km of easy, level walking in the garden.

4. Day 4: Fly to Cuiabá and down the Transpantaneira

   Rio de Janeiro to Cuiabá by air, then by road to Poconé and along the Transpantaneira to the lodge

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Pantanal
   Day 4 details

   A travel day, but the second half is part of the trip. We fly from Rio to Cuiabá, the capital of Mato Grosso, about two and a half to three hours in the air, direct where the schedule allows, and Cuiabá is one hour behind Rio, so clocks go back an hour. After lunch in Cuiabá we drive about 100 km on a paved road to Poconé, where the Transpantaneira begins: an unpaved road of red earth that runs south into the wetlands, crossing dozens of wooden bridges. The last hour or so is slow on purpose. Caiman lie in the roadside pools, jabiru storks and herons fish in the channels, capybara families graze the verges and hyacinth macaws may call from the palms, and we stop whenever the guide or driver sees something. We reach the lodge, with private rooms with their own bathroom, around dusk. Dinner is at the lodge.

   Included

   • Flight from Rio de Janeiro to Cuiabá (CGB)
   • Lunch in Cuiabá
   • The Transpantaneira by day with wildlife stops
   • Dinner at the lodge

   Activity: An early start for the flight and about 3.5 hours by road, the last part on a dirt road. The vehicle is open-windowed for wildlife stops, so bring a light layer and repellent.

5. Day 5: A full day in the northern Pantanal

   Around the lodge: on foot, by open vehicle and by boat

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Pantanal
   Day 5 details

   The Pantanal works on animal time, so the day starts at first light, when the birds are loudest and mammals are still moving. We walk the trails around the lodge with a local Pantaneiro guide, looking for toucans, parakeets, coatis and, with luck, a giant anteater crossing the grassland. After breakfast we drive along the Transpantaneira in an open vehicle, scanning the ponds that remain in the dry season, where caiman crowd together and storks, spoonbills and herons gather to feed. The heat of the day is for lunch and a rest in the shade or the pool. In the late afternoon we go out by boat on the lodge's river or channel to look for giant otters, kingfishers and caiman, and stay out for the sunset. After dinner there is a short night drive with a spotlight for nocturnal animals such as foxes, owls and, sometimes, an ocelot or tapir.

   Included

   • Dawn walk with a local guide
   • Morning wildlife drive on the Transpantaneira
   • Late-afternoon boat outing to sunset
   • Night drive with a spotlight
   • All meals at the lodge

   Easier option: Skip the dawn walk and join the group after breakfast for the drive.

   More active option: A morning horse ride across the fields with a Pantaneiro cowboy, where the lodge offers it, in place of the drive.

   Free time: Midday free at the lodge

   Activity: Wildlife sightings vary from day to day. About 3 km on foot, in heat; long sleeves help against mosquitoes at dawn and dusk.

   

6. Day 6: Looking for jaguars from Porto Jofre

   The lodge to Porto Jofre at the end of the Transpantaneira, by boat on the Cuiabá and its side rivers, and back

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Pantanal
   Day 6 details

   Today is the day most Pantanal trips sell as an extra. We leave the lodge early and drive south to Porto Jofre, where the Transpantaneira ends at the Cuiabá River, about one and a half to two hours on the dirt road depending on where our lodge sits. There we board small boats with local boatmen and spend the day on the Cuiabá, the Três Irmãos and the side channels around the Encontro das Águas State Park, where jaguars hunt caiman and capybara along the banks and rest in the shade of the riverbank forest. In the dry season jaguars are seen from the boats on many days, but not every day, and we do not promise one. Giant otter families, caiman and kingfishers are very likely either way. Lunch is a proper hot meal between the morning and afternoon sessions, then we drive back for a late dinner at the lodge.

   Included

   • Full-day boat safari from Porto Jofre on the Cuiabá and Três Irmãos rivers
   • Hot lunch at Porto Jofre between boat sessions
   • All other meals at the lodge

   Easier option: Stay at the lodge for a quiet day of birdwatching, the pool and a late-afternoon walk with a local guide.

   Activity: A long day: about 3.5 hours on the dirt road in total and 6 to 7 hours in small boats with shade canopies. Bring a hat, sunscreen and binoculars; long lenses help for photos.

   

7. Day 7: Out of the wetlands and north to Manaus

   The lodge to Cuiabá by road, then Cuiabá to Manaus by air

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Manaus
   Day 7 details

   A last dawn in the Pantanal: an hour on the lodge trails or the jetty while the birds wake, then breakfast. We drive back up the Transpantaneira to Poconé and on to Cuiabá, about three hours, stopping on the bridges for anything we missed on the way in, and have lunch near the airport. The afternoon flight to Manaus crosses the edge of the Amazon basin, about two hours direct where the schedule allows, longer on days that need a connection through Brasília; Cuiabá and Manaus share a time zone. We reach Manaus in the evening and check into a hotel within walking distance of the Teatro Amazonas. This is the trip's only one-night stop, and it is deliberate: it means nobody arrives at a jungle lodge after dark, and the opera house fits in tomorrow morning. Dinner tonight is free, and your guide can suggest somewhere for tambaqui, a river fish.

   Included

   • Early walk at the lodge
   • Drive from the Pantanal to Cuiabá with your guide
   • Lunch in Cuiabá
   • Flight from Cuiabá to Manaus (MAO)
   • Transfer to your hotel in central Manaus

   Free time: Evening free in Manaus

   Activity: The second long travel day: about 3 hours by road and a flight that can include a connection.

   

8. Day 8: The Teatro Amazonas and up the Rio Negro

   Manaus to the Meeting of the Waters, then up the Rio Negro by boat to the lodge

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Rio Negro lodge
   Day 8 details

   We walk to the Teatro Amazonas for a guided visit soon after it opens. The opera house was opened in 1896, at the height of the rubber boom, with a dome of tiles in the colours of the Brazilian flag and an auditorium of imported marble, ironwork and painted ceilings. From there it is a short walk to the Adolpho Lisboa market, under its iron hall from the 1880s, for river fish, guaraná and Amazon fruits. Late morning we board the lodge boat at the port. First we go downstream to the Meeting of the Waters, where the black Rio Negro and the sandy Solimões run side by side without mixing for several kilometres, then turn and head up the Rio Negro to the lodge, two to three hours in all, with lunch on arrival. Your room has its own bathroom. In the evening we go out by canoe with a torch to find caiman along the banks.

   Included

   • Guided visit to the Teatro Amazonas
   • The Adolpho Lisboa market with your guide
   • Boat to the Meeting of the Waters and up the Rio Negro to the lodge
   • Lunch and dinner at the lodge
   • Evening canoe outing to look for caiman

   Free time: Late afternoon free at the lodge

   Activity: Teatro Amazonas opening days and hours are not confirmed (sources differ on Mondays and Sundays); we check them for your dates, and if it is closed we visit the Palácio Rio Negro or the Museu da Amazônia instead and tell you before departure.

9. Day 9: Forest walks and a caboclo community

   Around the lodge on the Rio Negro, by canoe and on foot

   • By boat
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Rio Negro lodge
   Day 9 details

   Before breakfast we go out by canoe at sunrise, when mist lifts off the dark water and the macaws and parrots fly over in pairs; in June and July, when the river is high, we paddle through the flooded forest, the igapó. After breakfast a local guide leads a walk in the forest, pointing out medicinal plants, the latex of the rubber tree, leafcutter ants and how to find water in a liana. Late morning we visit a caboclo riverside community, people of mixed Indigenous and Portuguese descent who fish and farm manioc. We see how manioc flour is made in the casa de farinha and talk with a family about life on the river, then return to the lodge for lunch. The afternoon is free for a swim off the jetty (the acidic black water keeps mosquitoes lower than on many Amazon rivers) or a hammock. After dinner, a short night walk for frogs, spiders and insects.

   Included

   • Sunrise canoe outing
   • Guided forest walk with a local guide
   • Visit to a caboclo riverside community and its manioc flour house
   • Night walk
   • All meals at the lodge

   Easier option: Skip the forest walk and join the group for the community visit by boat.

   Free time: Afternoon free at the lodge

   Activity: About 3 to 4 km on forest trails, which can be muddy and humid; boots or closed shoes needed.

   

10. Day 10: A second day on the Rio Negro

    Around the lodge: by boat, canoe and on foot

    • By boat
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Rio Negro lodge
    Day 10 details

    The second full day gives the forest and the river a second chance, and the plan follows the water level and what the guides have seen. In the morning we take the boat to a side channel or lake to look for pink and grey river dolphins, sloths, monkeys and hoatzins in the trees along the bank; we watch dolphins from the boat and do not visit the feeding platforms some tours use. Then, depending on the season, either a longer forest walk to a giant kapok tree or, in the low-water months of September and October, time on one of the white sand beaches the falling river leaves behind. Lunch is at the lodge, and the afternoon is free. Late in the day there is a chance to try piranha fishing with a simple line and bait, and the lodge cook will fry the catch. We finish on the water at sunset, watching the sky over the Rio Negro.

    Included

    • Morning boat outing to look for river dolphins, sloths and monkeys
    • Forest walk or river beach, by season
    • Piranha fishing
    • Sunset on the river
    • All meals at the lodge

    Easier option: Stay on the boat while others walk, or spend the morning at the lodge.

    More active option: A longer guided forest walk of about 6 km in place of the shorter outing, where the lodge's trails allow.

    Free time: Afternoon free at the lodge

11. Day 11: From the Amazon to Salvador

    The lodge to Manaus by boat, then Manaus to Salvador by air

    • Drive about 45 min
    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Salvador
    Day 11 details

    One more early canoe ride for anyone who wants it, then breakfast and the boat back down the Rio Negro to Manaus, two to three hours, watching the riverbank houses and passenger boats as the city comes into view. We go straight to the airport for the flight to Salvador, the capital of Bahia, about three and a half hours direct where the schedule allows, longer with a connection, and clocks move forward an hour (Salvador is on Rio's time). This is the third long travel day, and we keep it simple: lunch is your choice at the airport, and a driver meets us in Salvador for the drive of about 40 minutes to a hotel in or a short walk from the Pelourinho, the old upper town. We arrive in the evening. If there is energy left, your guide walks anyone interested to the Largo do Pelourinho for a first look at the lit churches and a drink.

    Included

    • Early canoe outing
    • Boat from the lodge to Manaus
    • Flight from Manaus to Salvador (SSA)
    • Transfer to your hotel in Salvador's old town

    Free time: Evening free in Salvador

    Activity: A long travel day of a boat ride and a flight that can include a connection.

12. Day 12: The Pelourinho, a moqueca lunch and capoeira

    Salvador's Upper City and Lower City on foot, with the Lacerda Elevator between them

    • Drive about 30 min
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Salvador
    Day 12 details

    We walk the Pelourinho in the morning, before the heat and the day visitors. The historic centre of Salvador, Brazil's first capital, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a hillside of colonial houses painted in bright colours, cobbled squares and baroque churches. Your guide tells the story of the city as one of the main ports of the Atlantic slave trade into Brazil, and of the Afro-Brazilian culture, faith and music that grew from it. Inside the church and convent of São Francisco, the walls and ceilings are covered in gilded carved wood and the cloister in blue and white Portuguese tiles. We ride the Lacerda Elevator, built in 1873, down to the Lower City and the Mercado Modelo, then sit down to lunch: moqueca, a fish stew cooked with coconut milk and dendê palm oil. The afternoon is free. In the evening we watch a capoeira roda at an academy in the old town, with a short try-it session for anyone who wants it.

    Included

    • Pelourinho walking tour with your guide
    • Church and convent of São Francisco
    • The Lacerda Elevator and the Mercado Modelo
    • Moqueca lunch
    • Capoeira evening at an academy in the old town, with an optional short lesson

    Easier option: Return to the hotel after lunch by van rather than on foot.

    Free time: Afternoon free

    Activity: About 4 km on steep cobbled streets and steps. Keep valuables at the hotel and carry little in the old town, as in any big city.

13. Day 13: Praia do Forte and a farewell dinner

    Salvador north along the coast road to Praia do Forte and back

    • Drive about 2.5 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Salvador
    Day 13 details

    After breakfast we drive about an hour and a quarter north along the Estrada do Coco, the coconut coast road, to Praia do Forte, a fishing village turned small beach town. First we visit the Projeto TAMAR centre, part of Brazil's national sea turtle conservation programme, where tanks and displays explain the sea turtle species that nest on this coast and the work to protect their nests. Then we walk out to the ruins of the Garcia d'Ávila castle, a fortified house begun in the 16th century, one of the oldest Portuguese buildings in Brazil, with views over the coconut palms to the sea. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the village, and the rest of the afternoon is for the beach and the natural reef pools that appear at low tide. We drive back to Salvador in the late afternoon for a farewell dinner together.

    Included

    • Projeto TAMAR sea turtle centre in Praia do Forte
    • The Garcia d'Ávila castle ruins
    • Lunch in Praia do Forte
    • Farewell dinner in Salvador

    Easier option: Skip the castle and stay in the village and on the beach.

    Free time: Afternoon free on the beach

14. Day 14: Depart from Salvador

    Salvador old town to Salvador airport (SSA)

    • Drive about 45 min
    • Breakfast
    Day 14 details

    The trip ends after breakfast. The morning is free for a last walk in the Pelourinho or the Santo Antônio Além do Carmo quarter just beyond it, a coffee overlooking the Bay of All Saints, or shopping for ribbons, carved wood and cachaça in the old town. If your flight is later in the day, the hotel can store your bags. A driver takes you to Salvador's Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães airport (SSA), about 40 minutes from the old town, at a time set for your flight. Salvador has some international flights, but most journeys home connect through São Paulo or another hub, so allow time for the connection. Your guide says goodbye at the hotel or, if the group shares a flight time, at the airport. If you want more time in Bahia, we can add hotel nights in Salvador or at Praia do Forte.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Salvador airport (SSA)

    Free time: Morning free

    Activity: Book a flight leaving Salvador after about 12 noon so the morning is not rushed.

Wildlife and weather: We run June to October, the Pantanal dry season, when animals gather at the shrinking water and jaguar sightings near Porto Jofre peak (July to October). The Rio Negro is high in June and July, good for canoeing through flooded forest, and lower from September. Salvador can be rainy in June and July.

• Rio de Janeiro3 nights
• Pantanal3 nights
• Manaus1 night
• Rio Negro lodge3 nights
• Salvador3 nights