Petrópolis Day Trip from Rio de Janeiro including Imperial Museum and Crystal Palace

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

9 hours (approx.)
Pickup offered
Group discounts
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Explore the mountain retreat of Petrópolis on this full-day guided tour. Once a summer holiday destination for the royalty of Brazil, Petrópolis features landmarks like the Crystal Palace, the Imperial Museum and the burial place of Dom Pedro II. Purchase a tour upgrade for a stop at Cervejaria Bohemia, where you'll taste one of Brazil's favorite lagers and learn about the history and science behind this brewery through a tour and interactive exhibits. Round-trip transportation from most Rio hotels is included.

Full-day guided tour from Rio de Janeiro to Petrópolis, also known as the Imperial City
Visit St Peter of Alcantara Cathedral and observe royal burial sites
Upgrade and take a tour of Cervejaria Bohemia
Museum entrance fee and round-trip transport from most Rio de Janeiro hotels included

What's Included

Guided tour
Hotel pickup and drop off
Imperial Museum Entrance Ticket

Gratuities
Food and drinks
Entrance fee - Santos Dumont House
Entrance fee - Bohemia Beer Factory

Meeting and Pickup

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Pickup details

* Roundtrip transfer to/from most hotels located in Sao Conrado, Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon (South Zone) * Please wait for your guide in the hotel lobby of your selected hotel. if your hotel is not listed, contact us so we can inform you the closest pick up location and time.

Operating hours
.8:00 am

Itinerary

Following morning pickup from your hotel in Rio de Janeiro, board your vehicle for the 1.5-hour ride to Petrópolis. Pass by waterfalls and through scenic forests on the way, learning about the history of the 'Imperial City' from your guide as you drive.

When you arrive in Petrópolis, tucked in the forested hills of the Serra dos Órgãos, start your tour at the Imperial Museum. Located in the former palace of Pedro II, the Austrian-style palace from 1845 gives a glimpse into how Brazil's royalty once lived. See the ostentatious imperial crown, decorated with over 600 diamonds as well as luxurious tapestries and antique furniture.

Visit St Peter of Alcantara Cathedral to admire its Gothic-style architecture and pay respects to the burial place of Brazil's last emperor. Then, take a walk through a tranquil park to the Crystal Palace, a glass and steel ballroom imported from France as a gift for Princess Isabel. Listen as your guide describes the lavish parties and royal exhibitions once held there.

Head back to the center of town to purchase lunch (own expense.) After lunch and some free time to explore on your own, your vehicle will head back to Rio for drop-off at your hotel.

Tour Upgrade: Visit to Cervejaria Bohemia. Take a tour of the factory to learn about Brazil's popular lager, which was first produced in 1853. Use your coded wristband to take advantage of the brewery's interactive exhibits and learn about the history of beer. End the tour with a taste of some freshly brewed Bohemia, then spend some time trying other beers (own expense) or snacks in the brewery's bar and restaurant.

At the conclusion of your day exploring Petrópolis, enjoy drop-off at your Rio hotel.

Palácio Quitandinha

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Imperial Museum

1 hour 30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Petropolis

1 hour • Admission Ticket Free

Catedral de Sao Pedro de Alcantara

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Museu Casa de Santos Dumont

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Crystal Palace

40 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Rua Teresa

1 hour • Admission Ticket Free

Cervejaria Bohemia

1 hour 20 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Infants must sit on laps
Stroller accessible
Most travelers can participate

The specific departure time for this tour will be determined upon reconfirmation.
Tour has free time for visiting other main sights. Only tickets for Imperial Museum are included in price.
Entrance fees to any other attractions are optional and therefore not included. Ask your guide for more information.
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 40 travelers

Supplied by

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 3 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 4 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 5 (from a traveler's review)

Featured review

Elpidio_R

It was a delightful, well-organized trip. The guide - Adriana - was super! It included a trip to the Imperial Museum, Cathedral and Cerveceria.

Reviews

4.0

based on 101 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

Petrópolis day trip from Rio

Barbara_P, Nov 2025

Marco was our guide on this well organised excursion. He was extremely knowledgeable, and handled the group admirably - especially with explaining everything in different languages - his English being excellent. We enjoyed the lunch stop; the food was very good. The palace was interesting, but slightly underwhelming. We were rather disappointed with the ‘shopping’ stop, as the direction we were recommended was of little interest to us, but apparently is favoured by those wanting typical Brazilian fashion. However the main thoroughfare, (in the opposite direction), which we discovered later, was far more interesting for us. We finished the trip with a stop at the chocolate factory cafe, which turned out to be longer than planned, due to the police incident and unrest that day in Rio. This was handled well by the company, obviously concerned for our safety. Thank you.

Enjoyable day. 8-6. Nice...

sjpridding, Jul 2025

Enjoyable day. 8-6. Nice to go up into the mountains and out of Rio. The hour shopping wasn’t for us (English) but the Brazilians loved it!

Tour guide great

Gloria_G, Jun 2025

Very dangerous walking into the museum with booties. I fell when trying to remove them. They should have chairs for senior citizens so you can sit down when you’re removing dishes.

You will feel like royalty!

Elpidio_R, Dec 2024

It was a delightful, well-organized trip. The guide - Adriana - was super! It included a trip to the Imperial Museum, Cathedral and Cerveceria.

Response from Host, Dec 2024

Dear Customer. Thanks a lot for the review. We are glad that you liked the tour. Please count on us on future trips. Thanks.

Spent more time on the bus than on the trip

JuanManuel_V, Sep 2023

The tour guide Carlos was nice and informative. The reason for the low review is that they were 30 minutes late in picking us up without letting us know. Petropolis is 1.5 hours from Rio, yet it took more than three hours to get there due to having to pick up 30 passengers. During the tour, there was no set deadlines or control of other passengers wondering off, on several occasions we had to wait for others. The lunch was okay. But it took 30 minutes after the lunch to finally get going again. By 3pm (mind you the trip started at 8:30am for us) we had only done one attraction and lunch. Then we had to rush the attractions because there was no time. On top of all, one of the attractions was closed by the time we got there and the tour operator did not know. Spent more time waiting for other people and on the bus. I don't recommend for the price.

Don't be fooled into "seeing Rio in a day"

JohnR_C, Jan 2023

For English speakers, the guide was necessary to translate museum descriptions and to help provide context for what you are seeing. Rain unfortunately changed some aspects of our tour (driving more than walking and not being able to get closer to the Crystal Palace). Quick note - the Museum was more than expected, including an easy view of the imperial crown, though the “crystal” palace was only a large greenhouse converted to an event center.

Horrible company Voator

Gidi_L, Nov 2022

We were not doing it, car come late had to cancel, never been refundedbad, bad, horrible experience g

Response from Host, Dec 2022

Dear Client. good afternoon. All exchange was made through Viators Extranet Guide was at the lobby. thank you KInd regards

Great history tour

Andrea_R, Aug 2022

Guide was knowledgeable, gentle and caring… she was also fun! Totally recommended for a day full of different activities

Response from Host, Aug 2022

Dear Andrea. Thanks a lot for the review. We are glad that you liked the tour. Please count on us on future trips. Thanks.

Beautiful scenery

David_M, Feb 2020

Great to see an area outside of Rio. The museum was fabulous. The drive into the mountains was beautiful.

A wonderful day in Petropolis

Escape51572355481, Oct 2019

We had a wonderful day discovering Petropolis, the imperial city of Brazil. We had a wonderful tourguide, full of energy, fun, attentive to the needs of all participants of the tour. She spoke perfect Spanish and English and very good French. We were able to visit all the sites of Petropolis (and even had time to give a look at the house of Stefan Zweig that was not included in the tour but that we could go visit thanks to the advice of our guide). We highly recommend this day tour. Nous recommandons chaudement cette excursion.

Full day Petropolis day

vinguyen611, Sep 2019

We really enjoy our tour guide. She is on time and very good with her explanation. We enjoyed her fun personality and energy. We will want to have her again for future tours.

Tour Guide made the trip

MariaL_R, Nov 2018

Honestly if the tour guide TT hadn't been so funny and entertaining I don't know that I would have enjoyed this tour so much. She and the Imperial Museum are what made it worthwhile. The other sites on the tour were somewhat meh. And the hour spent shopping I could have done without, absolutely nothing of interest on that street. I would have enjoyed more time walking in the historical area by the imperial museum. It looked much more charming than anything on the street for the shopping area.

First rate trip to see the...

James M, Feb 2018

First rate trip to see the highlights of Petropolis. The hotel pickups in Rio at the start of the tour included too man stops. But, once we were on the way our guide, Tanya, was great. She efficiently and effectively communicated to a diverse group in Portuguese, English and Spanish. The tour was well organized once we reached Petropolis. We saw or visited most of the highlights before a late 2:30 pm delightful, bargain-priced lunch next door to the cathedral. It was smart of Tanya to suggest waiting until after lunch to visit the Imperial Museum. By then the crowds had thinned out and we were to tour at a leisurely pace. Tanya was exceedingly accommodating in having the driver drop me off close to the port so as to reboard my ship. The tour was well worth the price, and the guide was worth her weight in gold.

Well I was the 1st stop for pick up...

Zairi_G, Feb 2018

Well I was the 1st stop for pick up and we did about 9 pick ups this took over an hour out original pick up time was 8:10 but the arrival of the tour guide was :20 mins later due to inclement weather. Call it a drive by, stop in a few places for 3-5mins photo opportunity and move on type of trip

enjoyed the trip, very outgoing tour...

mlbrzo1, Jan 2018

enjoyed the trip, very outgoing tour leader. Packed day, quite long.

Very good saw lots of things beautiful...

carol q, Dec 2017

Very good saw lots of things beautiful screeners. Tour guide was great. Carol australia

Petropolis is a fascinating place if...

Robert M, Nov 2017

Petropolis is a fascinating place if you are interested in history. The guide was very knowledgeable about the different places we visited and could answer our questions. It is also a very picturesque place and we had plenty of opportunities for photographs, except in the Imperial Museum where it is not allowed. My only issue were there were times when things could be more organized. We were left in downtown for shopping for over one hour, and everyone felt that was a waste of time.

The mini bus transport was clean and...

Stephen G, Nov 2017

The mini bus transport was clean and comfortable, our tour guide TTUHLALA was brilliant, she kept us entertained and informed even though we were the only British couple on the tour. The Petropolis trip started at a chocolate store, which was okay then on to the shopping centre in Petropolis which was not for us. From there we visited the Crystal Palace, quite interesting. We made a short trip to Santo Dumont's house 8 reals entrance fee where a video explained the inventors life. We then had a buffet meal 40 reals good food and value. Next was a visited to the Cathedral followed by the museum Royal Summer Palace, for us this was the highlight of the tour and our guide kept us informed throughout. A worth while day trip made more enjoyable by our guide TT.

Great tour outside of the city...

Michelle W, Oct 2017

Great tour outside of the city. Nice seeing the Museum and Crystal Palace. Long drives but worth it. Hey when stopping for lunch the guide wanted everyone to eat at a local restaurant. But my husband and I noticed a brewery with a beer garden right by where we stopping for lunch. Which lunch is on your own. So we walked over to the Brewery. Free brewery tour and great beer and food to enjoy after. So happy we did this extra stop at Bohemia Brewery in Petropolis. If you a beer fan, this is a must check out at lunch time!

The only trip we have been...

David L, Oct 2017

The only trip we have been disappointed with. We were seated over the back wheels and i hit my head on the roof twice. The seat belt was broken and very uncomfortable. The tour guide had three groups. Spanish at t6he front, Portugese in the middle and English at the back. She struggled with English and although we couldn't understand her we were compelled to pay attention and we misses a lot of the scenery. We would recommend this tour only with a better tour guide and road worthy vehicle.

Really good. The guide kept calling...

Malia V H, May 2017

Really good. The guide kept calling places while we were on the tour to make sure that we were not caught in crowds at any of the locations. She was funny and knowledgeable. Kept the tour moving without feeling rushed.

The place was really interesting. I...

MILDRED_B, Mar 2017

The place was really interesting. I wish they've allowed us to take photos of the Imperial Museum. However, the tour was great.

Excellent choice! Wonderful trip and...

ElenaV_Z, Jan 2017

Excellent choice! Wonderful trip and competent guide! It was a pleasure to spend one day in Petropolis, far from the madding crowd in Rio!

Excellent but could have spent less...

SC_H, Sep 2016

Excellent but could have spent less time in shopping area and more time looking at the really interesting places. Needed stronger travel medicatioN to cope with the winding roads of the ascent might be worth making this clearer in your description of the day.

the tour was fine, it was the tour...

Linda W, Aug 2016

the tour was fine, it was the tour diretor Tonya I did not like.. Even though I had requested the tour in English, she spoke mostly in Portuguese as most of the other people spoke both languages. She would talk 5-10 minutes in Portuguese and then just a few words in English. As a result I missed seeing one of the tour highlights because she did not tell me when we were to see it. Also she caused undue stress on me when on our way back the bus stopped and people started to get off I did not know why as she spoke in Portuguese. When I asked what we were doing she just told me to stay on the bus for the time. Turned out it was the free time about 40 minutes to look around the city, but she could not be bothered to explain that in English. When I came back to get the bus, no bus and no around causing me to think the bus had already left without me. She gave no apologies.

This was a good tour. Interested...

Peter L, Aug 2016

This was a good tour. Interested parties should be aware that there is a fairly long drive between Rio and Petropolis. Google Maps will say that it's 1 hour 15 minutes from Copacabana, but there are hotel stops to make to pick up fellow tourists. The countryside was pretty, but it would have been nice to have some dialog over the speakers or headsets to describe what we were looking at along the drive. The Imperial Museum was truly impressive! It's good to see how the 0.1 lived in the 1800's. My fiancee was particularly taken with the opulence of the solid gold baby cribs. The Cathedral Sao Pedro was an excellent stop to see the final burial sites of Brazilian royals. The Crystal Palace is actually more of a community venue for music, not a palace that was ever lived in. Some reviews panned it for not being an actual palace, but it's a reasonable stop on the tour as long as your expectations are in line.

The guide we had was truly a delight...

Jennifer P, Jun 2016

The guide we had was truly a delight and well versed in the history of Rio de Janeiro. It was though she made the vacation....Rio at its best!

Good tour as it was nice to see a...

Jabari W, Jun 2016

Good tour as it was nice to see a different part of Brazil and learn its history of the Portuguese royal family. Lunch was superb. Disappointing you couldn't take pictures inside the Impetial Museum.

excellent knowledgeable guide speak...

aldon m, Apr 2016

excellent knowledgeable guide speak many language,keeps everyone entertained.

Great trip. Tété was our guide and...

Ralph D, Mar 2016

Great trip. Tété was our guide and she was fabulous. Effortless transition from Portuguese, to Spanish to English. This is exhausting work, but Tété brought humour with her knowledge and everything went extremely well.

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