Rio de Janeiro: Cristo Redentor & Sugarloaf Full Day Tour

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.55 (481 reviews) 83% rated it 5 stars

Free cancellation

1/20

Duration9h

GroupUp to 100

LanguagesEN · PT +1

PickupAt your hotel

Six Rio landmarks in one day, starting at the top of Corcovado

You visit seven major Rio landmarks—Cristo Redentor, Sugarloaf, Selarón Steps, Maracanã, Sambadrome, Lapa's colonial arches, and the Metropolitan Cathedral—in a single day with a bilingual guide. Lunch buffet and all entry fees are included, and you travel by air-conditioned vehicle between stops. The pace is steady and the schedule is fixed, so you know when you'll be done.

Step-by-step itinerary

Full day Rio de Janeiro city tour

Visit Cristo Redentor statue
Explore Selarón Staircase
See Maracanã Stadium
Walk through Sambadrome
Visit Lapa Arches
Tour Rio de Janeiro Cathedral
Ascend Sugarloaf Mountain

The Experience

The cable car up Sugarloaf Mountain leaves the station at Praia Vermelha, and you're in the cabin before the city spreads below you—Guanabara Bay opening out, the beaches running south, the mountains rising behind. It's the kind of view that makes the climb feel unnecessary, except you haven't climbed anything yet. From there the day moves fast: Cristo Redentor on Corcovado comes next, the statue itself smaller than photographs suggest but the panorama from up there is the one everyone comes for. Your bilingual guide handles the logistics—entry, timing, the small crowds that form—so you're free to just stand there and take it in.

After Corcovado you drop down into the neighborhoods. The Selarón Staircase sits between Santa Teresa and Lapa, 215 steps covered in hand-painted tiles by a Brazilian artist named Jorge Selarón who spent decades on it as a tribute to the city. It's the kind of place that photographs don't quite capture—the colors shift depending on the light, and people are always stopping to take pictures, so you move through it slowly. Then comes Lapa itself, the old colonial arches (Arcos da Lapa) that frame the district, and the Metropolitan Cathedral downtown, a modernist cone of a building that looks nothing like a cathedral should but somehow works. The Maracanã Stadium and Sambadrome round out the afternoon—you see them from the outside, get the history, understand why they matter to the city.

Lunch is a buffet included in the tour, so you're not hunting for a restaurant or negotiating prices. The full day runs 8 hours or so, and you're in an air-conditioned vehicle between stops, which matters in Rio's heat. The guide is bilingual, so if your Portuguese isn't there yet, you're covered. All entry fees are included upfront—no surprises at the gates, no separate payments for each attraction. It's the kind of tour that works because it doesn't pretend to be intimate; it's built to move, to hit the main points, and to get you back without leaving anything obvious out.

What’s included

Your day includes a bilingual tour guide, lunch with free buffet, all entry fees and taxes to each attraction, and air-conditioned transportation between Cristo Redentor, Sugarloaf Mountain, Selarón Staircase, Maracanã Stadium, Sambadrome, Lapa's colonial arches, and the Metropolitan Cathedral.

Good to know

Moderate physical levelPublic transport nearbyInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Pepe Rio Tours

Is this one for you?Best for travelers visiting Rio for the first time or with limited days who want to see all the main landmarks without arranging transport and tickets separately—the fixed itinerary and included guide handle the logistics so you can focus on the sights.