Family Outing in Brazil

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

Night at the B&B Villa Laurinda (breakfast included).
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, take the cable cart to the summit of the Sugarloaf (el. 400 m.a.s.l.), another symbol of Rio which marks the entrance of the Guanabara Bay. Return to the hotel at 05:00pm.

Option: Helicopter flight of a few minutes from the mirador of Sugar Loaf (book on site).

Night at the B&B Villa Laurinda (breakfast included).
Included : english speaking guide, private transport, entrance fees, room & breakfast

Meet at the hotel with your English speaking guide to walk to Ipanema (you can take the metro if preferred). There, meet your English speaking instructor for a ten minute talk about instructions. He will be with you during the two hour lesson. On a stand up paddle the surfer is up on a board that is longer and larger than a classic long board (between 3 and 4.5m) and gets around with a paddle. The stand up surf comes from the Polynesians but it has become very popular in Rio de Janeiro.

Walk back to the hotel after a two hour class.

Your english speaking guide will pick you up at 14:00m at the hotel.

After a short transfer 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.

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

Your english speaking guide will pick you up at 14:00m 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: this excursion can not be planned on Sundays and Banking holidays.

Night at the B&B Villa Laurinda (breakfast included).
Included : local guide, english speaking guide, public transport, room & breakfast

Departure from the hotel for a journey to Paraty with your local driver in private car with air conditioning. 4 ½-hour drive on a sealed road along the Green Coast, a vegetation corridor between ocean and mountains.

Night at the pousada do Principe (breakfast included).

Included : private transport, room & breakfast

Departure from Paraty with a local minibus for the village of Laranjeiras (30-minutes trip).

Trek - 3-hour of actual walking - 200 meters of elevation gain - easy.

The trek starts with a short climb before entering in the Atlantic forest (Mata Atlantica), at the heart of the "Ecological preservation area of Joatinga". After an hour and a half of pleasant walk you will reach the hamlet of Sono for lunchtime, on the border of one of the nicest beaches of the region, Praia Do Sono. Literally meaning "sleepy beach", Praia Do Sono will seduce you, firstly because of its name and also because as soon as you will get back on the track you will face a steep hill to climb. After this climb, the hike becomes a lot less demanding. This is the only difficulty of the walk.

You will successively pass Praia Da Velha and Praia Dos Antigos before arriving an hour and a half later in the fishing village of Ponta Negra. Stop for the night in this hamlet at the end of the world, in the recesses of a cove with the waves dying on the white sand beach as the only noise disturbing your sleep.

Dinner in Ponta Negra.

Night in basic but friendly huts (private bath and showers – mosquito net).

Included : bus ticket, english speaking guide, lunch (no drinks), porters, dinner (no drinks), room & breakfast

Life in the mountains around Paraty has little changed over the last 50 years. The day will be spent discovering the lifestyle in a village almost in autarky thanks to the local resources.

In the morning (depending on the weather conditions), you will go fishing with the men of the village who will explain to you and show you, their fixed-net fishing techniques. Back in the village, you will visit a manioc plantation and the "flour house" where the manioc is processed and reduced to flour. After lunch, a local guide will take you to a waterfall of crystal clear water. Depending on the season, visit of the village school, educating more than a third of the village population.

Dinner in Ponta Negra.

Night in basic but friendly huts (private bath and showers – mosquito net).

Included : lunch (no drinks), local guide, english speaking guide, dinner (no drinks), room & breakfast

Return to Laranjeiras by motor boat.

Trek - 3-hours walking - 100 meters of elevation gain - easy.

The trek starts with a short climb before entering in the Atlantic forest (Mata Atlantica). After an hour and a half of pleasant walk, you will reach the bottom of Saco do Mamangua, certainly the wildest place in the area. Though a vegetation opening, you will discover the narrow and deep Bay looking like a Scandinavian fjord. A few hundred meters lower, you will arrive to Regato, a little hamlet hidden near the mangrove. You will be welcomed by Sir Jurray and his family, living in the traditional lifestyle of the Caiçaras. For the last few years, an oyster farming project and the crafting of painted wooded boats replicates have providing an alternative source of income other than fishing which is the main resource of the area.

After lunch, you will continue the hike (1 ½-hour) to the "Refugio do Mamangua", where Paulo, a biologist-writer, and Cristina, his wife, will welcome you.

Settled here for the last ten years, they have been running a study on the equilibrium between a fragile ecosystem and its interdependency with human activity (fishing, oyster-farming, agriculture, tourism). If we are lucky, they will be available during your stay to share with you their real passion for the area. They will host you in their bungalows, offering basic comfort (no electricity, but hot shower) and a guaranteed peacefulness.

Dinner at the Mamangua Pousada.

Spend the night in chalets, in a humble setting (no electricity, but hot shower), very quiet and peaceful.
Included : boat ticket, lunch (no drinks), english speaking guide, dinner (no drinks), room & breakfast

In the morning, you will board a fishing boat adapted for the tour (benches and cushions, cooler…). Return to Paraty, from an island to another, from a beach to another. Stops planned on different sites suitable for swimming or snorkeling among hundreds of fishes (mask and snorkel provided): ilha Comprida, Saco Da Velha, Praia Vermelha...
Return to Paraty at around 04:00pm / 05:00pm.

Night at the pousada do Principe (breakfast included).

Included : local guide, private transport, english speaking guide, room & breakfast

Departure from the pousada 7 hours before departure for your transfer to the airport. Flight from Rio (airport, flight time and number to be confirmed).
Pick up at the airport and transfer to the hotel (or to the site depending on the arrival time).



Night at the San Martin Hotel & Resort hotel (breakfast included). Superior room.
Included : private transport, transfer departure, transfer arrival, room & breakfast

In a private vehicle, you will head to the Brazilian side of the Iguaçu Park and admire a wondeful panoramic view.

The Iguaçu national park, 185,000 acres, was created in 1939 and its ecological reserve was classified as a Natural Heritage site by the UNESCO. You will pass hundreds of small falls before reaching the last one, Floriano Fall. From this one you will have an arresting panoramic view over the "Devil’s Canyon", in front of you.

Return towards Foz de Iguaçu. On the way, you will stop at the bird park (parque das aves), where hundreds of different types of birds from Brazil are sheltered, but also from other tropical countries.

Note: 4h service.

Option: 12-minute helicopter flight over the falls, check with us.

Night at the San Martin Hotel & Resort hotel (breakfast included). Superior room.
Included : local guide, entrance fees, private transport, room & breakfast

Meet your english speaking guide at 08:45am at the hotel. Transfer to the Argentine side of the park (about 40 minutes). Stop at the symbolic and panoramic triple border point Paraguay - Brazil - Argentina. Visit of the falls from the Argentine side, from where you can get closer to the water, and of the impressive "Devil’s Canyon" below your feet. Then return to your hotel on the Brazilian side in the afternoon.

During the day, you will stop for the Gran Aventura Zodiac (1h30). In a 4WD vehicle, you will enter the silent forest (40 minutes). Shortly after, the trail will become narrower and steeper, and you will continue by foot (10 minutes) at the heart of an opulent vegetation, until you reach the shores of the river. There you will wait for the powerful semi-flexible hull zodiacs (2 x 250 CV) in which you will follow up the river… until finding yourselves right under the fall! (30-minute navigation time).

Back to the hotel at the end of the afternoon.



Night at the San Martin Hotel & Resort hotel (breakfast included). Superior room.
Included : entrance fees, private transport, local english-speaking guide , room & breakfast

Private transport to the airport 2 hours prior departure. Domestic flight from Foz do Iguaçu (arrival airport, flight time and number to be confirmed).
Included : transfer departure