Favelas and Photos on the Dois Irmãos Trail
One-day Dois Irmãos hike for £90pp
It's hard to think of a more attractive city from the air than Rio de Janeiro. The deep green of the lush hills, the clear white of the buildings, the blue of the lakes and bays, fringed with golden sands, all make for some stunning photos. This great trail up to the top of the two brothers (Dois Irmaos in Portuguese) is almost entirely unknown outside of Rio but gives you some amazing views across the city, and without the hordes of tourists you'll find at the Christ Statue or on top of Mount Sugarloaf.
Best of all, the Dois Irmãos trail also takes you up through the favela of Vidigal. We're a bit uncomfortable with many of the favela tours in Rio - they feel a bit like a "people safari" at times, but here you'll walk up through Vidigal with a local guide, stop for a coffee, and generally get the chance to experience just how normal life in a favela is...
Detailed Itinerary
Day One – The Dois Irmãos Trail
This morning we will pick you up from your hotel in Rio and drive you to the entrance to the Vidigal favela. Here, you and your guide will board one of the local moto-taxis and begin a drive up through Vidigal. The guide is a local resident, and you'll have the chance to stop along the way and chat with friends, have a drink, and generally experience the huge sense of community you find in many of the favelas.
Near the top of the favela, we'll leave the moto-taxi behind and begin walking the last stretch up to the top of the first of the "two brothers" as the views of the city below slowly reveal themselves. From here, the trail continues across the tops of the hills for around an hour, giving you the chance to see the beaches of Sao Conrado, Leblon, Ipanema and Copacabana below, as well as the blue waters of the Rodrigo de Freitas lake and the Guanabara Bay. You're guaranteed of some fantastic photos, and hopefully you've also quite literally experienced Rio from a different viewpoint to most visitors!
What's Included?
Our standard price for the Dois Irmãos Trail is £100 per person.
That price includes pick-up and drop-off at your hotel, all local transport in Vidigal, and a private guide for the duration of the tour.
The other great thing about this trek is that we can fit it into just about any of our holidays to Brazil as they invariably include at least some time in Rio.
In particular, this trek would slot straight into our Samba Special or Brazil Nutshell holidays, so why not stretch your legs and ask to include it as part of one of these holidays?