RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – There are countless ways to experience the multiplicity of a city as breathtakingly diverse as Rio de Janeiro. Some people take a boat tour of Guanabara Bay, go hiking up Dois Irmãos, or even hang-glide over São Conrado. However, for those truly wanting to immerse themselves in the buzz of Carioca life, nothing beats a walking tour.
“We went on a walking tour the day after we arrived,” comments Sally Randall, a British tourist.
“It very quickly focused us on Rio and what’s going on around the city, without having to do too much work, because the guide is helping you understand things,” she comments after participating in a walking tour of Rio’s historic downtown area and Lapa provided by Rio Free Walking Tour.
With accredited English-speaking guides giving a four-hour tour in return for a small voluntary donation, Rio Free Walking Tour offers one of the most popular and best-value packages around.
“The tour offered us a rapid pocket history of life in Brazil and Rio, as well as how Brazil started.” Randall adds: “By doing the center of the town and seeing where the royal family was based, it set up our holiday very nicely.”
“The guide knew how to make us feel comfortable and safe being out and about in Rio, and he also gave us plenty of ideas for planning the rest of our trip,” she concludes.
For the food-lovers out there, or anyone who wants to get a taste of Rio by experiencing the markets, restaurants, and bars that only the locals know, Eat Rio is another superb option for tourists and locals alike.
“The two main aims of our walking food tours are to take people away from the touristy areas and show them an authentic look at the locals’ view of this amazing city. And we do that using the food, really,” comments Tom Le Mesurier, founder of Eat Rio.
He continues: “So we taste dishes from all over Brazil, not just the obvious ones that everyone always gets told to go and see, but the ones that we’ve found and that we love after years of researching and learning how to cook them all.”
“It’s about giving visitors, and maybe expats who’ve just moved here, a local’s view of Rio and Brazilian food in a way that’s accessible to them,” Le Mesurier concludes.
For a completely different, but equally rewarding experience, there is the Favela Walking Tour company, which is currently ranked first on Trip Advisor for walking tours in Rio de Janeiro. Favela communities and tourism have something of a checkered history, with some exploitative companies offering sensationalized tours of these marginalized communities without proper contextualization and local cooperation.
However, Favela Walking Tours offer a genuine experience of daily life in one of Rio’s largest favela community of Rocinha, given by tour guides from within the community and including a contribution to the community as part of the tour fee. As the website states, “We strongly believe that the purpose of this tour is for educational reasons alone and allows for a better understanding of Brazilian life inside a favela.”
One other option for a walking tour is to take some Portuguese classes at one of Rio’s many language schools or stay at a hostel which offers walking tours as part of your package. Both Caminhos Language Center and Pura Vida Hostel offer such tours either as a free extra or for a small additional fee.