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Rio Downtown Tour with Selaron Metropolitan Cathedral and more

Recommended by 94% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 3 hours (approx.)
  • Pickup offered
  • Mobile ticket
  • Offered in: English

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Overview

Get a comprehensive whirlwind tour of Rio's downtown in just a few hours. With your guide, learn about the city's culture and history through visits to landmarks such as the The São Bento Monastery, the Sambadromo, Maracanã Stadium, and others. Round-trip transportation from Zona Sul hotels included.
  • Half-day sightseeing tour of downtown Rio
  • See the landmarks and highlights in a short time period
  • Small group ensures personalized attention from your guide
  • Pickup and drop-off at your Zona Sul hotel

What's Included

  • Professional guide
  • Hotel pickup and drop-off (selected hotels only)
  • Transport by air-conditioned minivan
  • Gratuities

Meeting and Pickup

You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Pickup details

If your hotel is not in the list, please contact us so we will help you finding the nearest pick-up point

or

Meeting point

  • Hilton Rio de Janeiro Copacabana
    Av. Atlântica, 1020 - Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, 22010-000, Brazil

    Pick up at the Hilton Copacabana hotel is at 1:30pm

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Operating hours
.1:30 pm

Itinerary

Be ready for pickup at your hotel in Copacabana, Ipanema or Leblon. Climb into a comfortable tour vehicle and depart for your whirlwind tour of downtown Rio. 

See Maracanã Stadium and the Sambadromo, then head down the Avenida Presidente Vargas to see the Central Railway Station, Duque de Caxias Palace, and Itamaraty Palace. Get views of Campo de Santana, Tiradentes Square, and Avenida Chile. Take in the impressive modern architecture of the Metropolitan Cathedral before stopping in Lapa to see the neighborhood's famous arches. 

Check out the Escadaria Selarón and the São Bento Monastery, then cruise down Aterro do Flamengo, home to the Church of the Outeiro da Glória, the Monument to the Fallen in World War II, and the Museum of Modern Art. 

End your tour with drop-off back at your hotel.
1

Mosteiro De Sao Bento

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

2

The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

3

Maracana

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Forte Duque de Caxias (Pass By)

Arcos da Lapa (Pass By)

4

Escadaria Selaron

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Botafogo Beach (Pass By)

Praia do Flamengo (Pass By)

5

Rua do Lavradio

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

  • Confirmation will be received at time of booking
  • Wheelchair accessible, please advise at time of booking
  • Wheelchair accessible
  • Children up to 5 years old with ID and on the lap will be free
  • Most travelers can participate
  • This tour/activity will have a maximum of 19 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)

Reviews

4.8
based on 32 reviews
Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor
We perform checks on reviews

Very unprofessional...

gregory_l, Apr 2025
Very unprofessional company. Late for pick up for almost 1 hour. Driver drive van very fast and guide make little comments. On each spot we stay not more than 5-10 min with little comments

Response from Host, Apr 2025

Hi Gregory, I'm sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy your tour. As you know, we offered you a complimentary second tour when you decided to end the initial one due to rain, and this was free of charge. Please note that weather conditions are beyond our control. This tour typically lasts 3-4 hours, during which we visit many historical sites in the center of Rio, where all customers are welcome to disembark and explore. Our guides are specialists in the city's rich history. Regards,

Monica was knowledgeable,...

Ravi_P, Dec 2024
Monica was knowledgeable, engaging, and passionate, offering insightful stories, local history, and vibrant cultural experiences. Highly recommended for exploring the city!

Good Rio city tour.

NIAN_Z, Dec 2024
This Rio de Janeiro city tour is worth to take. It covers most of the key sight seeing spots for people who are short of time to stay.

Excellent

memetgorgeous, Dec 2024
Monica was good n knowledgeable in her job…she toured us around according the description of the tour.

Great time!

Kayin_R, Sep 2024
Victoria was awesome and made sure we had a lively and great experience! Excellent introduction to the downtown area and a warm welcome to an amazing city.

Riveting Rio Background Tour

Brian_H, Aug 2024
Arthur and Andre were a great team efficiently wisking us around sites safely. Arthur’s deep knowledge of history and architecture enriched the experience and really added to understanding the significance of each stop and the narration along the way. Andre was the formidable force behind the wheel expertly navigating the rather crazy traffic with grace and assertiveness.

Amazing

Thomas_H, Jul 2024
The tour guide was amazing very knowledgeable and very organised tour. Definitely, recommend if you are on a short time period and want to see a bit of Rio

Rio Downtown tour

Cora_M, May 2024
Monica was wonderful! She captured the heart of Rio and engaged our attention throughout the tour. We saw many of the historical and relevant sites. Highly recommend this tour.

Worthwhile

George_S, May 2024
The English speaking guide was excellent, as was the driver. There were only 4 of us English speakers, but all was top notch

Great experience

Gavin_J, Feb 2024
Learning about the history of Brazil and Rio de Janeiro, as well as about the monuments and key historical figures and neighborhoods in Rio

Downtown tour

NEAL_M, Jul 2023
Victoria, our tour guide was warm very knowledgeable and adapted tour - an excellent way to see a snap shot of downtown Rio , cathedral and steps, thoroughly recommended.

This is an ideal tour...

balagopal, May 2023
This is an ideal tour when you just have a few hours to spend in Rio, after visiting the important landmarks like Christ the Redeemer and Sugar Loaf Mountain. The guide, Sabina and the driver Ricardo very excellent and made sure the 3 hours were spent in seeing all the sights without rushing us

Great tour for a solo...

Alicia_B, Jan 2023
Great tour for a solo traveler. Our guide was very friendly, gave great information and was very knowledgeable of the areas. Would definitely recommend.

Excellent Tour

mhaskell, Jan 2020
Our tour guide was Vincent Thomas (a freelance tour guide for Carioca Tropical Tours). He was excellent. It turned out that we were the only two people on the tour. His English was very good and understandable and he took a personal interest in making this tour memorable.

GREAT WAY TO SEE RIO DE JANEIRO

Edward_R, Oct 2018
If you want to see the other many attractions Rio has to offer, this is a great way to see them in 3 hours. Did not stop at all the attractions like the Maracana Stadium and the Arches but did stop at most of the places like the Rio de Janeiro Cathedral, The Sambadrome and the Escadaria Selaron Steps. Can be very busy with the traffic and to get round these places in 3 hours was excellent. Would of liked to of spent more time at the Steps but with the limited time and busy traffic i would recommend this tour to see Downtown Rio in one afternoon.

I chose this tour thinking that it...

Mari B, Jan 2018
I chose this tour thinking that it would orient me to the city on my first day there. It was pretty good for that. Our guide was quite good, both personable and knowledgeable about the city. I had a good time but some of the sights on the tour just aren't much fun. For example, the Sambadrome must be great fun when there are events going on, but it isn't very interesting when it is empty. Our guide realized the same was true of the Maracana stadium so she gave us the option of walking in another area instead, by the port area, which was a great choice. My favorite point on the tour was the Selaron steps, which I revisited later.

From $74.50

per person

up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)

Book ahead!
On average, this is booked 38 days in advance.

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