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Walking tour of Rio de Janeiro

BRA_Rio_Riotur free

Take a guided wander through Rio’s historic core, with its belle époque architecture and bohemian neighbourhoods.

Think of Rio and beaches usually spring to mind, but look beyond Copacabana and you’ll find there’s a surprisingly vibrant, eclectic historic centre within Guanabara Bay. Santa Teresa - perched above the city with narrow lanes lined with the crumbling mansions of its original wealthy inhabitants is an arty, atmospheric place, with Portuguese-style botecas (bars) and walls festooned with graffiti and street art. Here you will have panoramic view over Rio before descending alongside the famous Arcos de Lapa aqueduct which now carries the city's refurbished old wooden trams.

Stroll around the centre, viewing the 215 tiled steps of the  Escadaria Selarón, constructed in the colours of the Brazilian flag using tiles from around the world and which connect Santa Teresa with Lapa's colonial-era theatres, churches and ornate, ochre-painted townhouses.

Beyond, you'll see how Rio’s downtown area is a honeycomb of evocative colonial streets, gradually being spruced up and filled with open-air literary cafes and atmospheric little bars. Cinelandia hosts the Municipal Theatre with its gilded eagle, the National Library and Fine Arts Museum as well as a host of pavement restaurants where office workers wind down after work. This is all in contrast to the busy Avenida Chile and the concrete Brutalist-style Cathedral, built in 1979 in the shape of an upturned flower-pot.

A visit away from the beaches of the modern Zona Sul hotels and beaches really helps you to gain a completely new perspective of this ever-evolving metropolis.

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    Lina Fuller - Travel Expert

    Lina's passion for the continent where she was born really took off when she moved to Córdoba (Argentina) to study, spending the holidays travelling between Argentina and her native Colombia.

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    Charlotte Daubeney - Travel Expert

    Charlotte's fascination with Latin America began with a family holiday to Belize. She went on to study Spanish in school and at university before spending a year living in Santiago, Chile.

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    Sophie lived in Chile before joining us and has travelled extensively across Latin America, from Mexico to the furthest tip of Patagonia and beyond to Antarctica.

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    A former Journey Latin America tour leader, Sally spent 7 years working, travelling and living throughout Latin America before returning to the UK to help people arrange their own adventures to this wonderful destination.

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    Heloise Buxton - Travel Expert

    Heloise started her Latin American journey as an exchange student in Santiago, Chile. With extended summer holidays this was the perfect opportunity to backpack through Bolivia, Peru, Argentina and Brazil.

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    Ben Line - Travel Expert

    Ben fell in love with Latin America on a six month backpacking trip from Colombia to Mexico in 1995. Since then he has explored most of South America, including living in Peru for a year. He is now Head of Sales.

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