The 15 Best 1-Day Tours in Rio de Janeiro

1.Arraial do Cabo Day Trip with Boat Tour

★★★★★★★★★★3.8 · 400 reviews · 14 hours · from $65Our pick

Sail from Rio to Arraial do Cabo for clear-water swims, famous beaches, cliff views, and a full-day schooner trip on Brazil’s Sun Coast.

“Great tour, guide pedro was superb! I had him for another tour with c2rio he was very helpful, and engaged well with the tour group Bus ride was a couple of hours but we stopped off at a grocery service stop which was good Lunch was decent Boat ride was fun, several oportuniotes to swim in the sea!”

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2.Arraial do Cabo Day Trip from Rio de Janeiro: Boat Tour & Beach

★★★★★★★★★★4.5 · 390 reviews · 14 hours (approx.) · from $70

Review of the Arraial do Cabo day trip from Rio, with boat stops, clear water, beaches, lunch, transport, costs, and practical advice.

“The cruise was beautiful. Andrea was very friendly. She gave lengthy descriptions in Spanish, but her descriptions in English were much shorter.”

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3.Petrópolis Day Trip with Optional Lunch

★★★★★★★★★★4.3 · 203 reviews · 12 hours · from $48Best value

Escape Rio for a full day in imperial Petrópolis, with the Imperial Museum, Cathedral, palace gardens, lunch, and optional brewery visit.

“The trip and the guide was good with a visit to the brewery as well. The only downside to the trip was the vehicle used was not braziling. Every time we stopped all the quests had to enter from the offside which is dangerous. The guide went the extra mile to answer all questions.”

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4.Arraial do Cabo Island Day Trip

★★★★★★★★★★4.5 · 192 reviews · 14 hours · from $67

Spend 14 hours from Rio exploring Arraial do Cabo by boat, with clear-water beaches, island stops, lunch, and guide-led sightseeing.

“Our entire tour with Talia was outstanding, from pick-up to drop-off!”

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5.Tijuca Forest Challenge Hike Full-Day Trip

★★★★★★★★★★4.9 · 163 reviews · 9 hours · from $86

Tackle Rio’s 10.4-km Tijuca Forest hike for rare jungle trails, caves, waterfalls, peaks, and sweeping city views in a small group.

“Tijuca day with Riccardo was fantastic. Except for Tijuca forest exploration, Riccardo gave us a very nice background about Brazil, the former and recent times. It was a very nice experience and is worth to recommend.”

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6.Exploring Angra Dos Reis and Ilha Grande in One Day

★★★★★★★★★★4.5 · 107 reviews · 12 hours (approx.) · from $85

Escape Rio for Angra dos Reis and Ilha Grande, with beaches, snorkeling, a schooner ride, Brazilian lunch, and a long but rewarding day.

“Super fun experience, gorgeous coral reefs, well organized (especially given the size of the group). food was good and the islands were great! Highly recommend”

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7.Petrópolis Day Trip from Rio de Janeiro including Imperial Museum and Crystal Palace

★★★★★★★★★★4.0 · 101 reviews · 9 hours (approx.) · from $93

Explore Petrópolis from Rio with the Imperial Museum, royal tombs, Crystal Palace, mountain scenery, and optional Bohemia brewery visit.

“We were not doing it, car come late had to cancel, never been refundedbad, bad, horrible experience g”

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8.Private tour – The best of Rio in 1 day

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 93 reviews · 6 to 7 hours (approx.) Top rated

See Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf, Selarón Steps, and Rio Cathedral with a private guide in one flexible day.

“Pat was amazing. Knew all the places to visit and tailored made the tour for our needs. Truly a wonderful day with her. Highly recommend.”

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9.1 day tour Rio de Janeiro to Christ and Cable car and much more

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 58 reviews · 8 hours (approx.) · from $117

See Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf, Selarón Steps, Maracanã, Lapa and more on an 8-hour Rio tour with lunch included.

“I booked this activity about 2 months in advanced. Received a confirmation from Viator, tour operator never showed up for pick-up nor contacted me. Viator attempted to contact operator but they never responded. I lost the whole day because it was too late to reserve a tour for that day; no tours were available. I do not recommend this tour operator.”

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10.Búzios Day Trip from Rio de Janeiro

★★★★★★★★★★3.0 · 43 reviews · 12 hours · from $94

Review of the Búzios day trip from Rio, with beach stops, schooner cruise, buffet lunch, transport advice, costs, and drawbacks.

“Trasferimento in pullman lunghissimo….andata 5 ore, ritorno 4,5 con la sensazione di essere all’interno di una cella frigorifera (nonostante avessimo fatto richiesta la temperatura e rimasta intollerabile) Il giro in barca-barcone …sembrava di essere allo stadio, non c’era posto x sedersi Buzios viene presentato come un paesino con acqua cristallina e paesaggi da paradiso….indescrivibile!!! Il centro di Buzios è in realtà una località pulita e ben organizzata a livello turistico il top?…il cibo!!!!…nella presentazione c’è scritto “in uno dei migliori ristoranti di Buzios”…dove siamo stati noi potrebbe ambire al peggiore nel quale ho mangiato Le aspettative erano alte …forse….a chi organizza ...”

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11.Rio de Janeiro City Tour for One Day

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 34 reviews · 8 hours (approx.) · from $176

Review of Rio’s one-day city tour, covering Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf, Maracanã, Lapa, lunch, transport, tickets, and practical limits.

“AGENCY TRAVEL RBP is the one who organize my tour. They are scammer. We bought 8 hours tour with lunch, included pick up at our hotel. They email less than 24 hrs before tour start (so I can not cancel and get full refund) to tell me they want to meet at another hotel, about 30 minutes away, and I have to show up 45 minutes early. I try to get there on time at 7:15am, the tour guide from another company show up at 7:45am. We do the tour, but it's for 4 hours tour without lunch. My complaint was ignore from both companies and Viator as well”

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12.One Day in Rio: Full-Day Rio de Janeiro City Tour

★★★★★★★★★★4.4 · 28 reviews · 7h 30m · from $146

See Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf, Carnival sites, famous beaches, and a Brazilian barbecue on this full-day Rio tour.

“Lamentablemente, mi experiencia en este tour por Río de Janeiro fue muy decepcionante. En lugar de una guía turística informativa, fue solo un servicio de transporte sin contexto ni datos interesantes sobre la ciudad. Fue el tour más aburrido que he tomado, y la falta de información hizo que todos perdiéramos el interés rápidamente. La visita al sambódromo fue solo de pasada, sin parada ni explicación, porque “es una zona peligrosa”. Además, el restaurante “de lujo” donde almorzamos tenía un olor desagradable. Honestamente, no lo recomiendo; contratar un transporte y explorar por cuenta propia daría el mismo resultado, o hasta mejor.”

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13.Niterói Day Trip

★★★★★★★★★★4.5 · 21 reviews · 4 hours · from $94

Cross Guanabara Bay from Rio to Niterói for Niemeyer architecture, the MAC museum, coastal views, and a quick fish-market stop.

“The tour was well organized and very interesting for us. The tour guide was very nice and spoke excellent English. We felt like VIPs. Highly recommended.”

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14.Buzios Beaches Day Trip with Boat Ride and Lunch

★★★★★★★★★★3.3 · 11 reviews · 12 hours · from $68

Review of the Rio to Buzios day trip, with beach stops, a schooner ride, buffet lunch, Rua das Pedras, costs, and practical advice.

“Devido ao tempo não foi possível fazer o passeio de barco, como alternativa fizemos o troley.”

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15.One Day in Rio with a Photographer

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 10 reviews · 8 hours · from $250

See Christ the Redeemer, Dona Marta, Selarón Steps, and Sugarloaf with a private guide-photographer in one full Rio day.

“Renata did a very good job. She used every possible photo opportunity. She was a very good photographer. The result are exceptional photos. Beside this she was friendly and had a lot of humor. The photo tour was a lot of fun. I can highly recommend this photo tour. Patrick from Germany.”

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