Rio, Ilha Grande & Paraty: Natural Jewels of Brazil's Atlantic Coast

Breakfast at the hotel

Full Day: Sugarloaf Mountain and Corcovado by Train
Some days of travel are better than others. This is one of the best ones.
The morning begins with a panoramic drive through downtown Rio before you board the famous cable car — not once but twice — to the summit of Sugarloaf Mountain. The view from the top is the kind that makes you stop mid-sentence and just look. The city below, the bay, the beaches, the mountains beyond — all of it laid out like a gift.
Lunch is at a traditional Brazilian churrascaria — a proper meat feast, with vegetarian options if that is more your thing — before the afternoon takes you to Corcovado.
The train up to Corcovado winds through Atlantic rainforest before emerging above the city, and then Christ the Redeemer appears — arms outstretched, impossibly large, looking out over everything. One of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, and every bit as affecting in person as you hoped it would be.

Overnight in Rio de Janeiro

Meals: Breakfast & Lunch

Breakfast at the hotel

Half Day: Santa Teresa, Lapa and Cinelândia with Tram Tour

This is the Rio that does not make it onto most postcards — and it is the Rio that most visitors end up loving the most.
The journey starts with a tram ride from downtown, rattling across the iconic Arcos da Lapa aqueduct and up into Santa Teresa — Rio's most bohemian, most creative, most genuinely characterful neighbourhood. Artists, writers, and musicians have been living here for generations, and the streets show it: colourful murals, independent cafes, the kind of architectural beauty that happens when a place is left to its own devices for long enough.

Along the way: Parque das Ruínas, with its extraordinary views over the bay. The Selarón Steps, each tile a different story. Passeio Público, Rio's oldest park. The elegant, slightly faded grandeur of Cinelândia. And Confeitaria Colombo — a Belle Époque café of such extraordinary beauty that stepping inside feels like stepping into another century. Overnight in Rio de Janeiro

Meals: Breakfast

Breakfast at the hotel

Some places sound too good to be true. Ilha Grande is one of them — until you arrive and discover it is exactly as extraordinary as it sounds.
This morning, our representative transfers you from your Rio hotel to Ilha Grande: an island of no cars, no noise, and no particular agenda beyond the Atlantic rainforest, the crystal-clear water, and the kind of quiet that cities have entirely forgotten how to produce. Check in, breathe the air, and remember what unhurried feels like. Overnight in Ilha Grande

Meals: Breakfast

Breakfast at the hotel

Full Day: Blue Lagoon and Beaches Tour
If yesterday was about arriving, today is about exploring — and Ilha Grande's waters do not disappoint.
The first stop is Lagoa Azul — the Blue Lagoon — where the water is so clear and so full of colour that it functions as a natural aquarium. Snorkelling here, surrounded by tropical fish in water you can see straight through, is one of those experiences that rewards every early morning you have ever endured to get somewhere extraordinary.

From there, Praia de Japariz — a beautiful beach where one side is perfect for swimming and the other side has restaurants serving snacks and lunch with views that make eating feel like a special occasion. The afternoon brings a final stop at Enseada das Estrelas — the Bay of Stars — for more beach, more water, more of whatever Ilha Grande is doing to you by this point. Overnight in Ilha Grande

Meals: Breakfast

Breakfast at the hotel
No schedule. No transfers. No agenda.
Ilha Grande has over a hundred beaches and no roads between them — just trails through Atlantic rainforest that open suddenly onto stretches of white sand with no one else on them. Pick a direction and walk. Swim when you find water you want to swim in. Eat when you are hungry. This is what the island is for. Overnight in Ilha Grande

Meals: Breakfast

Breakfast at the hotel

The transfer from Ilha Grande to Paraty is part of the experience — the Costa Verde coastline unfolding as you travel, the mountains and forest and sea that have defined this stretch of the Brazilian Atlantic coast for centuries.
Paraty arrives like something from a different era. Cobblestone streets too narrow for modern traffic. Colonial buildings in faded pastels. Churches from the 18th century are still standing exactly where they were built. The town floods at high tide — the water simply rises through the stones of the historic centre and then retreats again, as it has done for three hundred years. Settle in. Paraty works best slowly.
Overnight in Paraty

Meals: Breakfast

Breakfast at the hotel

Historic City Tour + Cachaça Tasting
Paraty was one of the most important ports in colonial Brazil — the gateway through which gold from the interior reached the coast and, eventually, Portugal. The historic centre that remains is one of the best-preserved colonial townscapes in the Americas, and walking through it with a guide who knows its stories is a completely different experience from wandering it alone.
Every building has something to say. Every symbol carved above a doorway carries meaning. Every cobblestone street leads somewhere worth arriving at.
The tour ends at the cachaçarias of the historic centre — the traditional distilleries that make Paraty's most famous export. Cachaça, Brazil's sugarcane spirit, is tasted in small glasses alongside liqueurs of various descriptions. It is a fitting end to a walk through a town built partly on the trade of exactly this. Overnight in Paraty

Meals: Breakfast

Enjoy breakfast at the hotel, then spend the day at leisure exploring the charming streets of Paraty.

Meals: Breakfast

Sugarloaf. You have stood in front of Christ the Redeemer. You have snorkelled in the Blue Lagoon. You have drunk cachaça on cobblestones that are three hundred years old. At the appropriate time, our representative will transfer you to the airport for your journey home.
Take the memories. Leave some room to come back.

Meals: Breakfast