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Rio - Iguaçu Falls - Manaus - Salvador
Luxury Brazil Tours & Travel.
Land Price 14 days/13 nights)
De Luxe US$ 5,645
The land price includes escorted transfers, private excursions with professional guides and chauffeurs, entrance fees, indicated category of accommodations, all breakfasts and specified meals except beverages, all transportation except air flights, and travel insurance for guests through the age of 59 years. Over that age, there is a supplementary fee. All prices are per person based on two people sharing a guest room. For a detailed description of our services, see About Our Tours.
Intra-Tour Air Flights & Fares
Air fares are in addition to the land price. A "Visit Brazil Air Pass" is recommended.
Brazil is as diverse as its continental size. This itinerary presents some of Brazil's most spectacular natural highlights and famous cities in an exhilarating journey that features Rio, Iguaçu Falls, Manaus and Salvador.
Luxury Brazil Tours & Travel.
This fascinating classic roundtrip starts in one of the world's most famous and beautiful cities: Rio de Janeiro. With a dreamlike beauty that exceeds even the greatest of expectations, Rio is a city that has to be seen to be believed. From its two famed peaks, the Sugar Loaf and Corcovado Mountain, atop which stands the statue of Christ the Redeemer with outstretched arms, Rio de Janeiro is truly "The Wondrous City", her spectacular landforms embracing sandy beaches, glittering bays, fine residential districts and towering forest-covered mountains. The landscape is so dramatic that even the largest areas of modern high-rise are still dwarfed by the overwhelming grandeur of numerous peaks and the largest urban tropical forest in the world, itself a monument to environmental preservation.
Day 1: Rio de Janeiro
Arrival at the airport, meet-and-greet with our local bilingual guide and transfer in private air-conditioned vehicle to the hotel. After check-in, free time to relax around the hotel and beachfront following the long journey. Time permitting, there will be a delicious grill dinner accompanied by a variety of spectacles ranging from authentic samba to folklore and rhythms such as capoeira, lambada and even a taste of Carnival, with samba school drummers and dancers in lavish costume presenting the best of Brazil in alluring, glittering shows. Overnight at the hotel.
Luxury Brazil Tours & Travel.
Day 2: Rio de Janeiro
A fascinating full-day tour takes the visitor to the top of the two most majestic landmarks of Rio de Janeiro: The Sugar Loaf and Corcovado Mountain. After a tour of downtown Rio de Janeiro, the tour proceeds through the old Urca neighbourhood towards the Sugarloaf, where a cable-car starts the steep, exhilarating 215m climb up Morro da Urca. From here, the cable-car travels high above the rugged, vegetated terrain to the Sugarloaf's 395m summit. Visitors can enjoy wonderful panoramic views of Rio de Janeiro from the top. The next visit is Corcovado Mountain: Perched atop the Corcovado (Hunchback) at an altitude of 710m, the statue of Christ the Redeemer is certainly one of the world's best-known and most-visited monuments. Clad with a soapstone mosaic, the statue is also one of Rio's finest Art Nouveau monuments and at night becomes a shining landmark visible from all over the city. A rack railway takes the visitor up to the foot of the statue, climbing the steep slopes through the Tijuca Forest. Located around the base of Corcovado and with many springs and waterfalls, this dense forest was proclaimed a National Park in the early sixties. After descending, the tour stops at Mário Filho Stadium, known worldwide as Maracanã, and the Sambódromo, designed by Oscar Niemeyer and the stage for the largest and most flamboyant carnival celebrations in Brazil. Evening free to explore Rio's vibrant city centre. Overnight at the hotel.
Day 3: Rio de Janeiro
Morning tour of Guanabara Bay by boat: Guanabara Bay is the second largest bay on the Brazilian coastline, its shores having been densely vegetated with Atlantic Rainforest and inhabited by native tribes. Aboard a schooner, passengers are treated to fabulous views of the Rio coastline, passing the ruins of various fortresses that overlook the entrance to the bay. The visitor will also see the extraordinary Contemporary Art Museum designed by Oscar Niemeyer to house the paintings and sculptures of Brazil's foremost modern art collectors. Further sights include the Rio-Niterói Bridge that spans the bay and the Fiscal Island with its green Neo-Gothic palace, designed by Adolfo Del Vecchio. During the afternoon, one of Brazil's most impressive botanical gardens is visited, the Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, laid out in the 19th century. Located right in the heart of the city, these lush, spacious gardens are an oasis of calm in the middle of a buzzing metropolis. Visitors are met with an astounding array of native and foreign plant species (about 6,200 in all), some of which grow to gigantic proportions in this ecological paradise. Tamarins (small omnivores related to monkeys) and a myriad of colourful bird species thrive amongst the flamboyant vegetation. Overnight at the hotel.
Iguaçu means "great river" in the indigenous Guarani language and there could hardly be a more fitting name. After rising in the Brazilian highlands near Curitiba, the Iguaçu river runs westward on a 1,100km journey, receiving some 30 tributaries on its course to the plateau where, just before merging with the great Paraná river, it plunges thunderously over an 80m high cliff in virgin forest. The Iguaçu falls are the most spectacular in South America. A total of 275 falls cascade over a precipice that is 3km wide, sending up an endless wall of spray laced with rainbows. Iguaçu is also the meeting point of three countries: Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. Straddling the Iguaçu River, the twin National Parks of Foz do Iguaçu were set up to preserve the region's precious rainforest environment.
Day 4: Rio de Janeiro - Iguaçu Falls
Morning airport transfer the Iguaçu Falls, meet-and-greet with the local guide and transfer to the hotel. Afternoon visit to the Brazilian side of the Iguaçu Falls: The excursion begins at the Iguaçu National Park Visitors' Centre, from where tourists board a vehicle for a drive through the park's lush sub-tropical vegetation. Near the falls, visitors leave the vehicle and proceed on foot along a walkway that leads into the canyon and onto a spectacular panoramic viewpoint of the falls. The awe-inspiring trip along a walkway, which takes the visitors right into The Devil's Throat, leads to a glass elevator that climbs the cliff face for a view of the upper falls. The Iguaçu National Park, along with its sister park in Argentina, is the most significant area of remaining rainforest in the southern cone, and, together with the cataracts, has been declared a National Heritage Site by UNESCO. In the evening, there will be a dinner and musical show that combines Broadway with folklore and typical dances, demonstrating the exuberant culture of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. Overnight at the hotel.
Luxury Brazil Tours & Travel.
Day 5: Iguaçu Falls
In the morning, there is a visit to the Bird Park, which is located at the entrance of the Iguaçu National Park and is fully integrated with its natural surroundings. The enclosures house more than 900 birds and 150 species. During the walk in the beautiful Mata Atlantica (Atlantic Rainforest) the visitor has the opportunity to interact with many spectacular native and exotic bird species, some of which are endangered. Toucans swoop low over tourists wandering along the special paths and, besides the different bird species, snakes, caimans, marmosets and beautiful butterflies can be seen. From here, visitors proceed to the Argentinean side of the Iguaçu Falls. The excursion offers lovely views over the Iguaçu Canyon on the way to the National Park. The upper walkways are visited, allowing a birds-eye view of the falls and adjoining rainforest. A highlight of this trip is a visit to a suspended platform at the edge of The Devil's Throat. Overnight at the hotel.
Day 6: Iguaçu Falls
In the morning, a visit to the Itaipú Hydroelectric Power Plant, the world's largest single power station. Situated on the Paraná River bordering Brazil and Paraguay, the plant took eighteen years to build, at a cost of around US$18 billion. Supplying 10 Brazilian states, including the Federal District of Brasília, as well as Paraguay, the plant produces over 26% of the electrical power generated in Brazil and 20.6% of the electricity produced in the countries that make up the MERCOSUL (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Bolivia). In addition to becoming a tourist attraction in its own right, the dam has brought the building of the town of Foz do Iguaçu, which has flourished through tourism and trade with the neighbouring countries. In addition to the Dam and its visitors' centre, the main observatory is visited to see the impressive water spectacle and a panorama of the plant. In the afternoon, there's the option of an exciting rubber motorboat tour of the falls. It's a thrilling sensation, bringing the adventurous tourist close to the thundering waters. Participants should be prepared to get wet, as the boat navigates through the rough waters and mist of the falls.
Day 7: Iguaçu Falls - Manaus
Pick-up from the hotel and transfer to the airport for the flight to Manaus. Arrival plus meet-and-greet with the local bilingual guide and transfer to jungle lodge by boat.
Luxury Brazil Tours & Travel.
The North or Amazonia is the largest region of Brazil and perhaps the most internationally famous. The Amazon is also the largest area of tropical rainforest in the world, having become a worldwide synonym of biodiversity. However, in relation to the rest of the country, it is sparsely populated and includes vast areas that are virtually inaccessible, despite countless attempts at taming the jungle through agriculture, industrial development and farming. In the Amazon, and especially along the Amazon River, there are numerous Jungle Lodges located in magnificent spots from which the visitor can enjoy various fascinating guided excursions. Most accommodation of this type provides a rustic yet luxurious ambience surrounded by the vast Amazon Rainforest.
Days 8 & 9: Amazon Jungle Lodge
On the day of arrival and during the days that follow, visitors will embark on excursions involving canoe trips to explore the surroundings of the lodge; an early morning tour to see the birds flying out during sunrise; exhilarating guided night tours in search of caimans (alligators), which are spotted by scanning the water surface with a strong flashlight; guided treks through the Amazon forest, followed by a visit to a fishermen's settlement; piranha fishing; observing spectacular sunsets and botos (freshwater dolphins). Visitors will also see the confluence of two great masses of water: the Negro and Solimões rivers. This is where the two tributaries join to form the Amazon River in a spectacular phenomenon in which the black waters of the Negro do not mix with the brown Solimões until several kilometres downstream.
Day 10: Manaus - Salvador
The morning is free to relax or explore the lodge's surroundings. In the afternoon, transfer to Manaus airport for the flight to Salvador. Pick-up from the airport and transfer to the hotel. The evening is free to relax after the long trip.
Luxury Brazil Tours & Travel.
Salvador sits on a peninsula overlooking the bay that gave the state its name: Bahia. For Brazilians, Bahia is synonymous both with a more relaxed pace of life and a special intensity in all that Brazil represents: colour, music and religiousness. This is undoubtedly a consequence of Salvador being Brazil's strongest link with Africa, having been the principal port of entry for slaves. Eighty percent of Salvador's inhabitants are of Afro-Brazilian origin, and they express their cultural roots in every way from their lively musical rhythms to their cuisine.
Day 11: Salvador
Full-day historical and panoramic tour of Salvador: This charming excursion first takes the tourist into the historical heart of Salvador The Cidade Alta, revealing some of the first streets laid in Bahia. By far the most significant site visited during the excursion is the Pelourinho, the historical centre of Salvador and a true World Heritage Site, considered by UNESCO to be a highlight of XVII and XVIII century colonial architecture. Clinging to steep terrain, the picturesque colonial houses and churches (such as the Igreja do São Francisco) of the Pelourinho, artistically decorated in a myriad of colours, make this enchanting part of town a must for anyone visiting Bahia. Lunch is served at one of a choice of restaurants in the Pelourinho, depending on the visitors' tastes. After lunch, the excursion proceeds to offer the tourist various beautiful panoramic views of the city. In the evening, a wonderful dinner and spectacular evening show, set in a beautiful 18th century architectural complex comprising a main house (Casa Grande), a chapel and outlying slave quarters, making it one of the most traditional entertainment spots in Salvador. As the tourists help themselves to a self-service buffet of typical traditional Bahian cuisine, a folklore show presents some of the major Afro-Brazilian traditions, such as the fishermen's dance, a special Capoeira performance and much more. Overnight at the hotel.
Day 12: Salvador
Full-day schooner cruise, visiting tropical islands: This fantastic tour by schooner takes passengers into the Baía de Todos os Santos (Bay of All Saints) and to two of its numerous tropical islands with lush vegetation and pristine beaches. After the schooner drops anchor at one of the islands, visitors can relax and swim in the warm, clear waters of one of its most beautiful beaches. A bountiful traditional buffet is served on another paradisiacal island, during which visitors enjoy a typical Bahia Capoeira show. Return trip back to Salvador and overnight at the hotel.
Day 13: Salvador - Home
Depending on the time available, a late breakfast and the morning free to relax. Transfer to the airport for the flight back home.
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