Rio Samba

Airport pick up (time and flight number to be confirmed) and transfer to the hotel.

Night at the Praia Ipanema hotel (breakfast included). Standard room.
Included : english speaking guide, reception with english-speaking guide, room & breakfast

At 09:00am start a city tour with your English-speaking guide, firstly going up to the Corcovado (el. 700 m.a.s.l.), worldly known symbol of Rio. Once up there, take the time to appreciate the unique and amazing panoramic view of the "cidade maravilhosa" (wonderful city).

Then way back down via Santa Teresa, which used to be one of the wealthiest residential neighborhoods of Rio, when the town was the capital of Brazil and all the principal institutions were located there. Surrounded by the agglomeration, the neighborhood has lost its former character, and the wealth of the area has moved to the Southwest of Rio, to Barra da Tijuca. Santa Teresa now shelters a diverse population in the bohemian quarter of the modern Rio. Walk through this area to get a taste of its quaint and old atmosphere. During the trip to Lapa, visit the colored stairs or "Escadaria do Convento da Santa Teresa", decorated by Jorge Selarón.

Later, private visit of Rio’s city center, from a colossal avenue framed by imposing glass buildings to quaint, small streets and their little affordable shops. Many styles, one spirit, is the best definition to describe the architectural cocktail of the center, where past and modernism coexist in harmony. Among the possible visits (to be coordinated with the guide depending on opening times, your preferences, or eventual manifestations organized that day): Imperial Municipal (replicate of the Opera Garnier in France), foundation Banco do Brasil, casa da França (old custom house), national History museum, largo da Carioca, convento Santo Antônio, metropolitan cathedral, plaza Tiradentes...

Return to the hotel at 05:00pm.

Note 1: Entrance fees in the city center not included.

Note 2: For the visit of the center, avoid Sundays and bank holidays.

Night at the Praia Ipanema hotel (breakfast included). Standard room.
Included : english speaking guide, private transport, entrance fees, room & breakfast

The morning will be dedicated to the discovery of the famous samba. This music, result of a fabulous mix of influences, takes its deepest roots from the African musical tradition, imported to Brazil by the millions of black slaves torn from their homeland to provide labor in the sugar cane, cafe or cacao plantations, which, for a long time, were the only resources of Brazil.

At 09:30am, transfer to the Centro Cultural Carioca with your English-speaking guide. An English-speaking samba instructor will welcome you and will progressively initiates you for 2 hours to the rapid moves of the different samba dances (samba no pé, samba de gafieira, jongo), and teache you how to recognize between cuica, agogo and pandeiro, the rhythm to be followed by the body in harmony with the music.

Note: 2 hours activity best recommended in the morning.

A samba class is ideally associated with a visit to the cidade do samba (preferably between November and carnival) and a show at the Plataforma or at the cidade do samba (shows only on Thursdays).


Your English-speaking guide will meet you at the hotel at 14:00pm.
You will go to the cable car which will take you to the summit of the Sugarloaf (400 m.a.s.l.), for a view of the city marking entrance of Guanabara Bay.

Return to the hotel at 18:00pm.


Night at the Praia Ipanema hotel (breakfast included). Standard room.
Included : private transport, english speaking guide, entrance fees, room & breakfast

At 08:45am, your English-speaking guide will meet you at the hotel. After a short transfer, you will take a boat (wooden escuna or saveiro) at Marina da Gloria, the Carioca port.
A tour in the calm water of the Bay will give you a new perspective of the various sights: the Sugarloaf, the fort at the entrance of the Bay, Niteroi and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC), the forts of Niteroi, the Presidente Costa e Silva bridge,the ilha do Governador, the military port ilha Fiscal, the ilha Villegagnon, the city center…

Return to the hotel at 01:00pm.

Note 1: snacks are sold on board (fruits, water…).
Note 2: 3 to 4 hours excursion only in the morning.




The afternoon will be dedicated to the discovery of the famous samba. This music, result of a fabulous mix of influences, takes its deepest roots from the African musical tradition, imported to Brazil by the millions of black slaves torn from their homeland to provide labor in the sugar cane, cafe or cacao plantations, which, for a long time, were the only resources of Brazil.

At 14:30pm, transfer to the Centro Cultural Carioca with your English-speaking guide. An English-speaking samba instructor will welcome you and will progressively initiates you for 2 hours to the rapid moves of the different samba dances (samba no pé, samba de gafieira, jongo), and teache you how to recognize between cuica, agogo and pandeiro, the rhythm to be followed by the body in harmony with the music.

Note: 2 hours activity best recommended in the morning.

A samba class is ideally associated with a visit to the cidade do samba (preferably between November and carnival) and a show at the Plataforma or at the cidade do samba (shows only on Thursdays).

Night at the Praia Ipanema hotel (breakfast included). Standard room.
Included : english speaking guide, private transport, boat ticket, room & breakfast

Leave the hotel with your English speaking guide for an exhaustive visit of Rio to see the favelas, neighborhoods resulting from the chaotic expansion that Rio lived through in the 20th Century. No voyeurism, we are welcome in the favelas where inhabitants want to make sure that their neighborhoods aren't reduced to clichés such as drug trafficking or dangerous life.

Here, children go to school, people go to work and have fun, just as anywhere else. The most extraordinary thing about favelas is how close they are from the fancy neighborhoods. You will visit the favela of Santa Marta in the Botafogo neighborhood with your English speaking guide as well as a local who lives in the favela.

Lunch back at the hotel.

The afternoon will be dedicated to the discovery of the famous samba. This music, result of a fabulous mix of influences, takes its deepest roots from the African musical tradition, imported to Brazil by the millions of black slaves torn from their homeland to provide labor in the sugar cane, cafe or cacao plantations, which, for a long time, were the only resources of Brazil.

At 14:30pm, transfer to the Centro Cultural Carioca with your English-speaking guide. An English-speaking samba instructor will welcome you and will progressively initiates you for 2 hours to the rapid moves of the different samba dances (samba no pé, samba de gafieira, jongo), and teache you how to recognize between cuica, agogo and pandeiro, the rhythm to be followed by the body in harmony with the music.

Note: 2 hours activity best recommended in the morning.

A samba class is ideally associated with a visit to the cidade do samba (preferably between November and carnival) and a show at the Plataforma or at the cidade do samba (shows only on Thursdays).

Night at the Praia Ipanema hotel (breakfast included). Standard room.
Included : english speaking guide, private transport, room & breakfast

Your english speaking guide will pick you up at 09:00am at the hotel.

After a short trip by subway to Ipanema, you will get your bikes for a half day discovery of the south area of Rio. The tour will firstly follow a biking track on the lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas´s banks (7.5 km circumference) just behind Ipanema (option to visit the Catacumba park, a nice park with modern sculptures).

Then you will follow the Leblon and Ipanema beaches, crowded in summer but quieter the rest of the year. You can take a break for a swim in the sea then enjoy the viewing point in arpoador, the rock marking the end of the beach.

A short distance to bike and you will be in Copacabana (option to visit the Copacabana fort, entrance fee not included).

Return the bikes late in the morning and return to the hotel by subway.

Note 1: this excursion can not be planned on Sundays and Banking holidays.

Note 2: 3 to 4 hours excursion recommended in the morning.

The afternoon will be dedicated to the discovery of the famous samba. This music, result of a fabulous mix of influences, takes its deepest roots from the African musical tradition, imported to Brazil by the millions of black slaves torn from their homeland to provide labor in the sugar cane, cafe or cacao plantations, which, for a long time, were the only resources of Brazil.

At 14:30pm, transfer to the Centro Cultural Carioca with your English-speaking guide. An English-speaking samba instructor will welcome you and will progressively initiates you for 2 hours to the rapid moves of the different samba dances (samba no pé, samba de gafieira, jongo), and teache you how to recognize between cuica, agogo and pandeiro, the rhythm to be followed by the body in harmony with the music.

Note: 2 hours activity best recommended in the morning.

A samba class is ideally associated with a visit to the cidade do samba (preferably between November and carnival) and a show at the Plataforma or at the cidade do samba (shows only on Thursdays).

Night at the Praia Ipanema hotel (breakfast included). Standard room.
Included : english speaking guide, public transport, private transport, room & breakfast

Meet with your English-speaking driver/guide at the hotel at 09:00am. Knowing town perfectly, he will drive you where you want to go (Corcovado, Sugarloaf, botanical garden, museums, Maracanã stadium...) as you wish and with his good advice, depending of the weather or the season. Return to the hotel at the end of the day. The transportat with the English-speaking driver is included only from 09:00 to 05:00pm.

Night at the Praia Ipanema hotel (breakfast included). Standard room.
Included : english speaking guide, private transport, room & breakfast

Transfer to the airport 3 hours prior to departure. Flight from Rio de Janeiro (time and number to be confirmed).

Included : transfer departure