4 star Brazil Highlights Tour

Arrival in Rio, reception and transfer to your hotel. Choose from between the Excelsior Copacabana Hotel, the Ipanema Plaza Hotel, Marina Palace Hotel, Orla Copacabana Hotel or the Plaza Copacabana Hotel.

After breakfast, a full day visit in group tour service of the “marvelous city” including a sightseeing tour to Sugar Loaf Mountain. A two-stage cable car takes you to the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain where you will enjoy a splendid view of Rio, Copacabana Beach, and Guanabara Bay. After lunch, a trip to the heart of Rio for a historical city tour including Santa Teresa, the Teatro Municipal and the Fine Arts Museum. The trip also includes a visit to the São Bento Monastery, the Candelaria (the candle-makers), Praça XV (where the royal family landed when they first arrived in Rio. Paço Imperial was their first residence), the "Travessa do Mercado", the Imperial Palace, the cultural centre located in the beautifully-restored Banco do Brasil and Casa Franca-Brazil (a masterpiece by the architect Grandjean de Montigny). Return to your hotel and dinner at the Pergula restaurant.

After breakfast, a half day group tour to Corcovado, the mountain home to the world famous, Christo de Redentor statue for a magnificent 360° panoramic view of Rio. After, a trip to the Tijuca forest, a luxuriant tropical forest only minutes away from this huge metropolis. The Tijuca Forest is considered the largest urban forest in the world. It has 330 square kms of preserved Mata Atlântica (Tropical Forest), the highest mountaintops of Rio, waterfalls and hidden caves. A rich flora, with a great biodiversity and an incomparable natural beauty. The caves in the Tijuca Forest are formed of limestone and were originally formed by movements of the crust that caused the collapse of stones from the Papagaio Peak and the Archer Mountain. These stones started to form caves with rocky formations.
Another important point is the great variety of bromeliads. The Tijuca Forest is considered to hold the largest concentration of different species of bromeliads in Brazil. Even more than the Amazon Jungle. Return to your hotel.

A Full day visit in group service by boat to the tropical islands around Rio. The Tropical Islands, the islands that permeate Sepetiba Bay, are a natural paradise situated only a few short kilometres from the city.

The tour begins by transfer to the fishing village of Itacuruçá, where you will board a saveiro (schooner) for a cruise through ItacuruçáBay, bypassing several beautiful islands and tropical forests that rise from the sea.
During the cruise, there will be stops for swimming on semi-desert beaches to give even more charm to this fabulous tour. Lunch is served on the island: an assortment of wonderful fish stews, assorted seafood, salads and barbecue of your choice. After lunch, there is free time to enjoy the beach on the island. Board of the schooner for your return to Itacuruçá and return to Rio.

After breakfast, we will head south in group service towards Paraty, a lovely colonial town, 125 miles from Rio de Janeiro on Ilha Grande Bay, Brazil's southeastern coast. It lies on the border between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo states. Enjoy a half day walking city tour.

In the 1700's when the mines of Minas Gerais were pouring out gold, the perfect bay of Paraty was a busy port, the second most important in Brazil during the Ciclo de Ouro, or Golden Century.
Return trip to Rio and to your hotel.

Transfer to the airport for the flight to Iguazu. Transfer to your hotel, the Bourbon Cataratas Hotel or Mabu Thermas & Resort. Free time to enjoy this wonderful world heritage site.

Full day group excursion of the Iguazu falls, the most voluminous falls in the world and more than three times the width of the Niagara Falls. The falls lie on the three borders of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. Return to your hotel.

Today, you will cross the border and enter Argentina for a closer view of these magnificent falls. Set in a subtropical rain forest reserve of over 180,000 hectares, Iguazu is home to jaguars, pumas, caiman and over 400 species of bird. It also offers a chance of seeing the falls close up. The tour will include a Aventura safari boat ride on the Parana River, heading towards the Iguazu falls themselves. Return to Brazil and your hotel.

After breakfast, transfer to the airport for the flight to Rio de Janeiro and your connecting flight home.