Downtown Ancient Rio Tour: Visiting Historical Landmarks with Hotel Pick-up and Drop-off

Step back in time and explore the historical landmarks of downtown ancient Rio on this half-day tour. Discover the rich history and culture of the city as you visit Cinelandia Square, Praça XV, Arco dos Teles, CCBB, and Mosteiro de São Bento.

Duration: 4 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Cinelandia - From the Cinelandia Square you can see the most important historical and political buildings in Downtown Rio: the Municipal Theater, the National Library, the National Museum of Fine Arts and the Municipal Chamber of Rio.
What's Included
  • Comfortable air-conditioned transport
What's Not Included
  • Snacks
  • Lunch
Additional Information

Join us for an exciting journey into the past. Perfect for lovers of history and arts, our half-day tour offers some of the best cultural experiences. We’ll start our exploration at Cinelandia Square, ringed by iconic structures like the Municipal Theatre, National Library, Fine Arts National Museum, and Municipality Chamber of Rio. Our expedition…

Location
Hotel Rio Othon Palace
Avenida Atlântica
If you do not provide us the pickup location at the time of booking and you do not inform us about it later, we will assume you will meet us at the Meeting Point at the Front Desk of the Rio Othon Palace (Avenida Atlântica, 3264 - Copacabana).
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.1
(15 Ratings)
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Nelia_c
Nov 8, 2024
Downtown tour with Alex Sargentelli - Very enriching tour with Alex. Coordinated trip well from pick up to drop off. Very knowledgeable and offered tips along the way. He needs a raise👍🏼⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Review provided by Viator
Nilufer_b
Dec 14, 2023
Great tour with a good guide. - This tour was excellent, it helped us to get to know Rio better, more in depth. Our guide was very nice.
Review provided by Viator
Petergf327he
Oct 5, 2023
Experience history of Rio and Brazil with an amazing guide - Monica is an amazing guide. She is very knowledgeable about the history of Brazil and the city of Rio. The tour really gave me a glimpse of several 100 years of history in just 4 hours. From the oldest churches and buildings to street art and Olympic venues, we have explored a lot and visited many interesting places. Monica made the tour fun and she was very engaging. We also visited the Colombo bakery and had time for some traditional cake. I highly recommend the tour!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
E2487afdanielaf
Aug 14, 2023
Discover some beautiful and interesting corners of Rio - The tour was amazing! We first took a look at Santa Teresa, which is a charming part of Rio with lots of nice corners to discover, then went to some historical sites and heard about the history of the city. It was absolutely worth it to see these parts of Rio!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Alexandrebs2023
Jun 14, 2023
Great experience! - It was a great way to see various parts of Rio that are hard to see and get to. We saw hidden residential neighborhoods and old historic downtown. We also saw scenic views and had lots of photo ops. It was both driving around and walking so it wasn’t exhausting. We were a group of four (5 with guide) so we got around by car stopping at 10 to 12 different places. We went to places that larger groups can’t go to easily since larger vans or busses don’t fit. Guide was kind, thoughtful, informative, flexible, and spoke excellent English. I have been to Rio many times before and most of what I saw was new to me. It was very safe way to share Rio with my family.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Yuliya_g
Dec 20, 2022
Dario is the best !!! - Our tour guy Dario was excellent. Very knowledgeable, experienced, polite and attentive. Our tour was so wonderful ! Lovely afternoon in Rio. Highly recommended
Review provided by Viator
Jocelyn_e
Oct 28, 2024
Joana was our tour guide . Carlos was the Driver . - Going to the churches and selaron steps Joana the tour guide was very good tour guide . Show us the old Rio
Review provided by Viator
Marc_v
Nov 14, 2024
A mix of good and learning points. - Enjoyable experience, but quite a mix. Our guide Marcos was a lovely person. He was extremely flexible. We visited on a Sunday when most buildings and attractions were closed, but Marcos drove us to Santa Teresa and Seleron steps, which were not initially programmed in the tour. A helpful suggestion would be for Viator to inform visitors that buildings and attractions are closed on Sundays, and to make alternative arrangements for the city tour, rather than leaving it to the last-minute initiative of the guide. Our guide would have preferred to leave us in Santa Teresa, to allow him to finish his tour early, but all three tourists asked to be dropped off at their hotels, as per tour description. Marcos remained courteous and polite, but was frustrated due to personal time commitments. Marcos drove like a lunatic to drop us off at our hotels, with violent braking and much beeping of horn. All in all, we visited the parts of Rio that we wanted to see and were grateful for Marcos' flexibility. A learning point would be for the tour to be better organised and less chaotic.
Review provided by Viator
Fred_s
Nov 9, 2024
Wasted my time - The driver was 45 minutes late and did not speak English, which was selected when I Booked the tour. We ended up getting out of his vehicle and taking a taxi to some of the sites that we wished to visit. Because of the delay, some of the other sites we wish to visit were closed. Refunded the cost of the tour once we complained
Review provided by Viator
David_d
Apr 22, 2024
A tour to avoid: it did not deliver as programmed - None of the downtown buildings are open on Saturday and Sunday. I paid to visit these buildings and paid some entrance fees. The tour should not be conducted on weekends. No prior information about the closures was advised until the guide turned up and explained the situation, as we waited for the driver who was late. He had no knowledge of the city and the your guide had to direct his every move. More than half the tour was taken up with looking in shops at Santa Theresa, which wasn’t on the tour programme.
Review provided by Viator
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up to 15 guests
1 Adult
February 2025
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