The Tijuca National Forest is one of the largest urban rainforests in the world, set on mountain slopes just west of Rio de Janeiro. With this tour, discover two of the city’s nature sites, starting with a guided walk through the Rio Botanical Gardens, including the Turtle Lake and Sensory Garden. Then, hike through Tijuca, learn more about the native plants and wildlife, and admire Taunay Waterfall.

Two guided nature walks in one half-day tour
Admire views of Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf from Tijuca
Learn about Brazil’s native plants and flowers from your guide
Hassle-free pickup and drop-off at your Rio South Zone hotel

What's Included

Roundtrip transportation via air-conditioned vehicle
All taxes, fees and handling charges
Tickets to the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro (for option with all tickets included)
Professional guide with live tour commentary in English, Spanish, and Portuguese
Pickup and drop-off from the main hotels in the South Zone (Copacabana, Leme, Ipanema, and Leblon)

Food or Drinks
Gratuities

Meeting and Pickup

You can head directly to your preferred meeting point, or request pickup.

Meeting points

Select a meeting point

Type to search

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Start time

01:00 PM

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Pickup details

Hotel pickup and drop-off from the main hotels in Rio's South Zone area (Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon, Leme). Passengers not staying at one of the hotels in the pickup list will be informed of the nearest pickup point and time. Pick up from the hotel takes place before the start time of the activity. If you do not receive confirmation of your departure time, please contact us.

What To Expect

Botanical Garden

1 hour • Admission Ticket Included

Vista Chinesa

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Parque Nacional da Tijuca

1 hour • Admission Ticket Free

Cascatinha Taunay

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Capela Mayrink

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Infants must sit on laps

Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 18 travelers

Operated by C2Rio Tours & Travel

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.
This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Featured review

Ashley_B

The waterfall and botanical garden was breathtaking! The walk through the forest was worth the views. So much beauty and history!

Reviews

4.5

98 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

We perform checks on reviews

Showing 1-10 of 98 reviews

Great tour to see the natural beauty of Rio

David_N, Apr 2024

Our guide Newton was great! Very knowledgeable and friendly. He really showed us a lot and went above & beyond to make sure the tour was enjoyable. Would definitely recommend 👍🏽

Tour was NOT about the forest.

Oscar_G, Mar 2024

The few locations we were able to see were nice. Unfortunately, the tour became a tour of only the gardens and not the Tijuca forest! The narrator and guide was very nice, but I paid to go see the Tujica forest and the forest was closed. Why did the tour guide not contact the park to see if it was open? It was not raining yet it was closed. Very disappointing and would actually like a refund. I paid to get a walking tour of the forest as opposed to the other tours which required jeeps.

A day in nature

Mihai_I, Mar 2024

The gardens are magnificent, and so was the forest. The guide (Gabriela) was very nice and acomodating, answering everyone's questions. A great trip that I recomend to everyone who enjoys nature walks, and a bit of history.

The tour car arrived on n...

Halleh_A, Mar 2024

The tour car arrived on n time, the guide was knowledgeable, organized and friendly. Saw a beautiful waterfall.

No Regrets with this tour!!!

Ashley_B, Mar 2024

The waterfall and botanical garden was breathtaking! The walk through the forest was worth the views. So much beauty and history!

Amazing Views

Marquirsha_C, Mar 2024

Carlos (the driver) & Carlos (tour guide) were wonderful. The Tijuca Forest was amazing and the Botanical Garden was beautiful. It ended up being a semi private tour which in itself was great. Though we weren’t able to see the Chinese view point due to it being closed on the weekends, he gave us an alternative view of where the paragliders take off and that was cool to see and an amazing view overlooking everything.

Fantastic Half Day Tour

Hazel_W, Jan 2024

Joel was a great tour guide he spoke in English and Spanish to accommodate his audience. He was friendly and informative about the history of Brazil, its people and the area. I also liked that this tour did picked up and dropped off. Highly recommend doing this!

Fantastic and...

Ben_S, Jan 2024

Fantastic and knowledgeable guide, great locations and a very relaxing day all round. A must do when in Rio.

Waste of money

Alphan_A, Jan 2024

This is not an experience. Basically get on a cap and visit both places by yourself. This tour does not add any value, it is just a shared ride to places. I have been on to 10 tours in South America very recently, this one was the worst among all. Waste of money…

Enjoyable

Loren_P, Nov 2023

Botanical gardens we had to pay extra to get the electric car to take u around. Otherwise too large to walk. Tour guide wasted a lot of time. Drive through forest very nice. Overall an ok trip.

Green escape from the city.

Geraldine_S, Nov 2023

We enjoyed seeing the forest and gardens right here in the city. A beautiful place to have a change of pace and scenic views of Rio. When we drove back to Copacabana we saw other beaches on the western side which were also beautiful & good to get orientation to the city.

Vincent Thomas is the best guide ever!

Nina_S, Nov 2023

Thank you very much to Vincent Thomas, who was the perfect guide! Great knowledge of English, Spanish and French. Takes great pictures, very sociable and knowledgeable of the sights and history! We will always cherish and remember our adventure together.

Peaceful and informative tour

Onnaedo_N, Sep 2023

I thoroughly enjoyed this tour. The tour guide was very helpful and informative during this tour. The weather was very perfect.

Could have been better , a very rushed trip

R_F, Sep 2023

A Last minute update via text for a one hour delay to original pick up time was then followed by a further 40 minute wait on top of that , for an open top jeep to finally arrive. The Jeep was fun but we couldn’t hear a word the tour guide was saying as we sped through the streets of Rio with the wind in our hair to the destinations en route. The guide was obviously trying to fit two experiences into one day before the sun went down . Great views of Rio and a walk through the gardens were soured by constant cries of ‘ we need to get moving now everyone’ and consequently multiple photo opportunities were lost. I’m sure this could / would have been good experience if we weren’t being rushed through. The first time I haven’t left a tip to the driver/ guide at completion.

We were excited about...

Michael_H, Aug 2023

We were excited about this excursion, but it didn't turn out that great. First of all, we didn't get picked up at the hotel on the day we booked it. We waited for more than 1/2 hour and no one showed up. Contacted viator which was kind of difficult because the person who answered had a difficult time communicating in English and my Portuguese wasn't that great. After some time, we were able to reschedule the tour. They offered reimbursement, I regret not doing it. For the amount we got charged, we didn't get to see that much. Tijuca park was nice. We only got to see some coatis which are in the racoon family. They were digging in the garbage cans at the park, interesting to see. Then we went to the botanic garden. We weren't very impressed with it. A lot of different plants and the gun powder factory. For the kind of money we paid, we were expecting something more exciting that what we saw. The tour guide was very nice, we made it more interesting that actually was.

Outstanding day tour of garden and jungle

Alan_B, Jun 2023

It was truly an outstanding journey and well worth the time and money . The English speaking guide was bilingual friendly fun informative and just wonderful . The views and jungle time were great along with all the history . Highly recommend ! Great driver too !

Good day.

Irene_P, May 2023

Manuel was fantastic guide. He took time to explain the sights to us in English and Portuguese. The driver was great. Some of those roads were crazy but we made it and saw some great sights.

Do not recommend :(

Jessie_J, Apr 2023

Terrible communication from the beginning - we had to chase them down with MANY calls and emails - WITH ZERO RESPONSE!! They also did not pick us from the hotel that they repeatedly confirmed they would pick us from and ended up wasting our entire day of vacation. Travellers beware.

Great tour for the price!

Bogdan_O, Mar 2023

The time duration and price of this tour was quite good. Also, our tour guide had a good sense of humor and was very accommodating. Thank you!

Great tour

Cosmore_D, Jan 2023

This was a really good tour. It rained the entire tour, but I loved it. Felt like I was in the Amazon. Very peaceful. While I didn't get to hike Tijuca because of the rain, I believe it would have been one of the best tours to try.