Top Rio de Janeiro Bus Tours - page 4

Excellent day in Rio. Our guide Vitor, met us on time at our hotel in his comfortable van, including water and light snack, and suggested the perfect itinerary for our day. We are six adults, two from US and four from Argentina. None of us speaks Portuguese, but that was no problem as Vitor switched between English and Spanish easily. Our first stop was Sugar Loaf mountain and the beautiful views from the top. Vitor gave us the history of the sight and pointed out buildings and neighborhoods. He also explained about the flora and fauna we saw. Next we did a brief stop at Maracana Stadium, and again Vitor pointed out significant sights and gave their history along the route. He also gave the history of Brazil and Rio. We went past the sight for carnival parade and Vitor explained its history and perfectly described the floats and parade. We then went to Tijuca forest. We stoped at many vistas throughout the park, each more beautiful than the previous. We learned about how the park was created and about the flora and fauna in it. Last Vitor dropped us off at a bar we selected in Botofogo neighborhood. He provided suggestions for other activities for the rest of our stay in Rio. We had a marvelous day in the Marvelous City. We highly recommend Gregtur for booking. They were informative and responsive to all our questions and very accommodating to all our specific needs. Vitor was pleasant, informative, and helpful. We would do this again.

We toured with an incredibly knowledgeable and engaging guide named Myllena. She gave us so much information about the history of the slave trade in Brazil and an informed perspective on the repercussions of the social and economic impact it has had and still has on the Black Brazilians to this day. The tour sparked comparisons to the US (where I am from) and other colonized nations where I have lived (Vietnam, Singapore, Egypt, India, and Nigeria), especially with the recent Ghana resolution that passed in the UN declaring the transatlantic slave trade and the racialized chattel enslavement of Africans as the "gravest crime against humanity." This was an extremely enlightening and informative tour, which also highlighted the resilience of the people and the strong influence Africans had on Brazilian culture. Highly recommend the tour and our guide Myllena who was excellent.

This was well worth the early departure from the hotel. Our pickup was ontime, safe, and very professional. We met our guide Ederson at the site for the view of the sunrise. He was very knowledgeable about the Redeemer and Rio as a whole. After sunrise we went up to the Redeemer and he continued to explain the history, opinions and conflicts of the citizens at the time. He went above and beyond the topics of the tour and explained a lot of other cultural topics about the country he obviously loves. He did such a great job that we hired him for the next day to take us around to some markets, the forest, a tour of the city, and to a nice quiet beach restaurant an hour outside the city. It was hands down the best experience we have had with a tour guide in our years of traveling. We inadvertently through conversation discovered that our son had Ederson as his guide 6 months prior and had been raving about him before we left for Brazil what are the odds. Thank you Ederson for the wonderful experience. We look forward to seeing you again soon. Matt and Trina.