The Full Monty

Detailed Itinerary

Day One - Your Brazil Holidays Begin

You’ll land in Rio on an evening flight as you begin your holiday in Brazil! We’ll be there to meet you at the airport and drive you to your hotel in the stylish Copacabana area of the city - once you’re settled in, you might want to take a walk along the waterfront or take in an evening meal on your first night here in Rio. Of course, since this is your first night on holiday in Brazil, Copacabana is a great place for a night out if you’re feeling up to it.

Day Two - Tour of Corcovado and Tijuca National Park

After some free time this morning to recover from your journey, this afternoon we will pick you up from your hotel and drive through Rio to the base of Mt. Corcovado. Here we will board a funicular railway which carries us up through the dense Tijuca Atlantic Rainforest to the top of the mountain and the base of the famous Christ the Redeemer statue that has become one of the most famous symbols of Rio, and indeed Brazil. The views over the city from the top are absolutely amazing and it's the perfect way to get your bearings and pick out where to visit next. (Breakfast included)

Day Four - Sugarloaf Mountain Tour

Today, you will have a free morning to explore Copacabana, and then after lunch we’ll pick you up from your hotel and take you for a tour through downtown Rio. You will pass the famous Sambadrome, which is the heart of Rio’s annual Carnaval celebrations, and the Metropolitan Cathedral, which stands like an immense 80-metre-high pyramid. We will also enjoy some of the republican and old colonial buildings such as the Municipal Theater, the National Library and the National Museum of Fine Arts. We will finish this section of the tour in the neighbourhood of Urca, at the foot of the iconic Sugar Loaf Mountain, where we will board a cable-car heading first to Urca Hill. Here, at a vantage point of 215 meters, we’ll have beautiful views of Guanabara Bay and its islands, the Rio-Niterói Bridge, and Corcovado Mountain. A second cable car takes us the all the way to the top of Sugarloaf, from where you can enjoy the amazing view of Rio spread before you, with its hills, beaches, favelas and bays. (B)

Day Four - Free day in Rio

A holiday isn't a holiday if you don't have a chance to relax so today is all yours - you could head to some of Rio's other neighbourhoods, such as Ipanema or the bohemian Leblon area. You could take a trip to the Maracana or head up into the hills to the arty Santa Teresa area, or even just relax in Copacabana and go for a stroll along the beach... (B)

Day Five - Fly to Iguazu

You’ll have time for breakfast at the hotel this morning before we pick you up and take you back to the airport to catch a short flight inland to the town of Foz do Iguacu, on the border with Argentina. We'll be there to meet you and take you to your hotel in this small town, which is the base for visits to the amazing Iguazu Falls. Since you’ll be arriving in the early evening, you will have some time to wander around and soak in the laidback atmosphere of Foz. (B)

Day Six - Iguazu Falls (Brazil side)

This morning we will take you for your first visit to the incredible Iguazu Falls. Higher than Niagara Falls, and wider than Victoria Falls, Iguazu will take your breath away with its spectacular beauty and awesome power. We will visit today from the Brazilian side, where a long walkway along the canyon top allows you to appreciate the true scale of Iguazu from above. You'll get some fantastic photos, as you work your way along to a viewpoint giving you a panoramic vista of the famous Devil's Throat, where 14 separate falls combine in a single 350-foot drop, sending spray over 100 feet into the air for a dramatic permanent rainbow. (B)

Day Seven - Iguazu Falls (Argentina side)

Today we will cross the border into Argentina for your second visit to Iguazu Falls, this time from the Argentinian side, where a system of walkways project right out into the middle of the waterfall system, allowing you to get close and really feel the power of the waterfalls all around you. Most people feel that this experience trumps even the amazing views of yesterday... (B)

Day Eight – On to the Amazon

It's time to leave the modern world behind for a while today, as we take you into the Amazon jungle... We'll catch a flight to the jungle city of Manaus and here we'll board our motorized canoes as we head downriver to the Amazon Ecopark Lodge. This comfortable jungle lodge is located on a tributary of the Amazon itself, and offers us great access to the rainforest so we won't waste any time and as soon as you've unpacked we'll head out to spot our first monkeys! After returning to lodge for dinner, we'll go out for another evening excursion, searching for caiman. (B/D)

Day Nine - Exploring the Amazon

After breakfast this morning we will go for a hike through the jungle to allow us to get up close to as much wildlife as possible. Our expert local guides will make sure you don't miss a thing. In the afternoon we will have a visit to an indigenous community who will show us how they live with the rainforest and how it provides them not only with food but with medicines and other materials before we return to the lodge for dinner. (B/L/D)

Day Ten - Meeting of the Waters

We will be away from the lodge for the whole day today, as we travel upriver to where the dark Rio Negro and the coffe-coloured Rio Solimôes meet to form the Amazon proper. During the day we also hope to see animals such as both grey and pink river dolphins, as well as having a chance to go fishing for piranhas! After a full day exploring the river, we will return to the lodge for dinner. (B/L/D)

Day Eleven - On to Salvador

After a final jungle breakfast this morning, we will board the boats to take us back downriver to Manaus to catch a flight out of the jungle to the fabulous city of Salvador de Bahia. Upon arrival we’ll take you to your lovely hotel in the centre. (B)

Day Twelve - City tour of Salvador

Today we will pick you up and take you for a tour of Salvador, letting you see the highlights of its colonial Old Town, with its brightly-painted and tiled grand houses, churches and squares, and visiting some of the other historical sites of interest before we take you to the lovely beach town of Praia do Forte, which will be your home for the next few days. Here you can relax and then head to the beach to enjoy one of the nicest stretches of golden sands that Brazil has to offer. (B)

Days Thirteen to Fifteen – Relaxing in Praia do Forte

These days are about total relaxation, so it’s up to you what you do with them. You can wander up and down the twelve kilometres of golden beaches, backed by dunes and coconut palms, go for a swim, or visit the Garcia d’Avila fort or the marine turtle reservation run by the Tamar project. Of course, if you’re looking for something more active, it you can always rent a surfboard or go horseback riding down the beach! (B)

Day Sixteen - Last day of your Brazil holidays

Depending on your international flights home, you may be able to enjoy a full last day on the beach here in Praia do Forte, or we may need to pick you up this morning and get you back to the airport in Salvador to start your journey home... (B)

What's Included?

The standard price for our "Full Monty" Brazil holidays is £3095 per person, which is based on two sharing a double or twin room in our standard hotels.

That price includes all your accommodation, internal transport, transfers, tours, guides and entrance fees, plus all your meals in the Pantanal and breakfast every day.

We don't have any "local payments" or sneaky charges: everything you have read about on this itinerary is included in that price. And because everything we do is tailor-made, we don't have fixed departure dates or minimum numbers for our trips. Outside of national holidays or other special events, this price is valid for the whole of 2020.

International flights

So with the exception of a few meals, everything on your holiday is included. What we don't include as standard is your international flights, because with these you have a huge range of options depending on the date you want to travel, the route you want to fly, and your preferred departure airport in the UK.

We aren't tied to any particular airline, and we will be delighted to discuss all options with you, or you can even book the flights yourself if you prefer: it's totally up to you.