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Historic Rio Tour: Explore Architecture & Culture
4.6
309 Ratings
Centro
Discover the rich history and vibrant multicultural traditions of Rio de Janeiro on a guided walking tour of its historic center. Explore iconic architecture, visit historic sites, and immerse yourself in the unique carioca way of life.
Discover the rich history and vibrant multicultural traditions of Rio de Janeiro on a guided walking tour of its historic center. Explore iconic architecture, visit historic sites, and immerse yourself in the unique carioca way of life.
Duration:
4 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro - We will make a historical introduction to the square where the theater is located.
- National Library (Biblioteca Nacional) - Located next to the world theater.
- Escadaria Selaron - Staircase selaron great point for shooting.
- Carioca Aqueduct - Located next to the selaron staircase. Introducing…
- Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro - We will make a historical introduction to the square where the theater is located.
- National Library (Biblioteca Nacional) - Located next to the world theater.
- Escadaria Selaron - Staircase selaron great point for shooting.
- Carioca Aqueduct - Located next to the selaron staircase. Introducing the historical context of the region.
- The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian - Headquarters of the Catholic Church in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro.
- Largo da Carioca - Place with important historical content for the city.
- Praca Quinze de Novembro - Important place. Where the Real de Portugal family resided.
What's Included
- Licensed tour guide
- Optional entrance to Sacred Museum of San Francisco Penitencia (R$ 20,00)
- Licensed tour guide
- Optional entrance to Sacred Museum of San Francisco Penitencia (R$ 20,00)
What's Not Included
- Private transportation
- Lunch: 10 USD per person maximum
- Private transportation
- Lunch: 10 USD per person maximum
Additional Information
Guided tour of the historic city center.
On this tour you will be introduced to Rio de Janeiro within its historical context. Focusing on architecture and multicultural traditions, which define a unique way of being and living the ‘carioca’.
We will walk towards the knowledge and traditions of the City. We will visit squares, churches, and historic…
Guided tour of the historic city center.
On this tour you will be introduced to Rio de Janeiro within its historical context. Focusing on architecture and multicultural traditions, which define a unique way of being and living the ‘carioca’.
We will walk towards the knowledge and traditions of the City. We will visit squares, churches, and historic sites. There will be the possibility of stopping for lunch, which is not included in the price of the tour. You will spend a maximum of 10 USD per person. We will pass by souvenir shops where the purchase will be optional.
We will wait for you for this adventure through the streets of Rio de Janeiro.
Location
Av. Treze de Maio, 155
Avenida Treze de Maio
In front of the Municipal Theatre, next to the police trailer.
9:00 a.m.
2:30 p.m.
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.6
(309 Ratings)
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Marina_g
May 9, 2025
Lots of Info and lots of STEPS :) - Be prepared to walk ALOT and quite quickly. Wear good shoes. This 70yr old is FIT. He brought me around to a lot of spots in the Centro, because I pushed to keep up with him. I didn't mind since he had a lot of historical information to share about everywhere we went.
Review provided by Viator
Cj
May 9, 2025
Good tour - Had a good tour with Lucemir who is very experienced and knowledgeable about the area, and takes great photos. Definitely recommend this tour to get to know the history of the city a little better (good tip is to avoid booking on a Sunday if possible, there's still lots to see but some of the places may be closed so you can't enter)
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Michaeldwbyun
May 6, 2025
Best Experience Ever! - I booked this tour with Lucemir because I was pretty short on time and the itinerary seemed to include a lot of different places in Centro in Rio within 3 hours. I ended up being the only one in the tour group. Lucemir had a lot of knowledge in the history and the background behind each iconic places in Centro. Thankfully I had some knowledge in the history of Brazil before heading into this tour, and I was able to connect a lot more dots during the tour for enhancing my knowledge. Lucemir has so much passion for not only taking the tourists around Centro but also for their understanding of this beautiful city. He is capable of speaking four different languages (English, Portuguese, Spanish, French)!! As someone who travels a lot, Lucemir is not just a tour guide, he is the best of the best I've ever had!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Companion48076165119
Apr 25, 2025
Flexible tourguide covering a vast variety of locations on the tour - Our tour was supposed to be on a Monday at 9am which was a public holiday and it was raining. I texted Lucemir through the website and he quickly responded and even went to the city to see if everything was open. We then aligned to move the tour to the next day which was great.
We saw everything we had wanted to see and covered even more locations than we had expected.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Anitaj166
Apr 4, 2025
Super fun walking tour to learn Brazilian culture and history from local perspective - My husband and I signed up for a last-minute walking tour, and we had the privilege of being guided by Lucemir and his trainee Lucas. Our tour was fun and very fulfilling. For three hours, Lucemir and Lucas guided us around the city, showing us all the hot spots with lots of entertaining storytelling and unfiltered historical facts. We found Lucemir to be very friendly and very well-versed in Brazilian history. He went out of his way to make our walking tour as comfortable as possible. Highly recommend this tour!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Ign0tasp
Apr 4, 2025
Pretty good - Pretty good, I was by myself and it was a slow start initially but it got better and we had nice tapiocas at the end, Lucemir knows a lot about history of Rio and Brasil but you need to make sure to ask him yourself and keep him on track :D but as long as you engage with him you’ll hear some interesting things, also man’s a character and not you’re typical tour guide I think that also adds unique colour to the experience :D
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Coastal65501066664
Mar 31, 2025
Rio 2025 experience - I liked everything. The weather, the people... the food, the shopping, the sea... but at night we had a little fear. In broad light a subject with an iron in his hand followed us and we had to shelter. Luckily we were able to... Safety is a whole issue
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Robin_r
Mar 31, 2025
Amazing walking tour for folks interested in Brazilian local culture and history - We enjoyed the walking tour with Lucemere and Lucas. The highlight was hanging out with these wonderful gents and exploring Brazilian history, culture, and landmarks from the local perspective.
Review provided by Viator
Yara_y
Apr 28, 2025
We were a large group of... - We were a large group of family and friends — 17 people in total. Two guides accompanied us: Lucemir, the lead guide (fluent in English and French), and Lucas, the assistant guide (English-speaking). We had specifically requested a guide who could speak both French and English to accommodate everyone in our group.
Unfortunately, the tour guides did not bring any audio devices to help us hear clearly. As a result, only those at the front could hear the explanations, while those at the back — including my parents, who walk at a slower pace — missed out on most of the commentary.
The guides were clearly passionate about their work, which we appreciated. However, Lucemir spoke very slowly in French, so we eventually asked him to continue in English, and we translated for the French speakers among us.
Overall, despite the guides’ passion, I would not recommend this tour. The experience felt disorganized and the guidance underwhelming. Additionally, it was stated that the tour included entrance to the Teatro Municipal, but we never visited it. When we brought this up with Lucemir, he told us there wasn’t enough time, which was disappointing.
Review provided by Viator
Giusy
Mar 28, 2025
Not worth your time or money. - We were looking forward to this tour as it's so highly rated on TripAdvisor. But unfortunately, no one showed up which was highly unprofessional.
We arrived at the meeting point and waited half an hour (with other people waiting to do the same tour). We tried contacting the tour organiser on the day and reveiced no responses. To this day, almost a week later, we've still not heard back, nor reveiced any explanation of what happened.
Review provided by Tripadvisor