Suggestions Please! - Post Cruise Rio de Janeiro

[allen.crawford]

Our cruise in November terminates in Rio de Janeiro. We have from about 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. in the city as our flight departs (for Sao Paulo) at 5:50 p.m..

 

We are looking for suggestions on what to do and tour ideas. We will need to either take our luggage with us, or have a SAFE place to keep it until we go to the airport.

 

We have checked out PortCompass who have two different tours of 4 hours each - one to Sugar Loaf and the other to Corcovado. If these become our only two choices, which tour would people recommend?

 

Thanks all!

[xpcdoojk]

Usually the cruiseline will offer an list of excursions for exactly this purpose. They usually will transport you to scenic sights, shopping areas, and food all the while hauling your luggage underneath the bus. This is one of the few times that I will almost always recommend a ships excursions.

 

 

jc

[Splinter]

Of the two you listed, I would opt for Corcovado. The view is more spectacular. See if this is a van or bus tour. If it is bus, you will have to ride the funecular train. Only vans are allowed to drive up to the parking area...an interesting ride. This allowed us to also leave from the other side of the mountain and drive through the Tijica rain forest, then down to the beaches and Sugarloaf. It is possible to do all of that in about 4-5 hours. We used http://www.southstartours.com instead of Port Compass. We had a little more time on our last day, so we went to Petropolis, but you don't have time for that.

[dileep]

If you have limited time, just take a taxi to Sugarloaf and ride the cable car to the top and enjoy the view. When you come down go to a Brazilian BBQ place (there is one not too far on the waterfront; I don't recall the name) and have a nice lunch before heading out to the airport.

[allen.crawford]

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

I have found a couple of tour operators who aren't associated with HAL. The problem with using the tour groups organized through the cruise lines is that the costs are significantly higher.

 

The unique requirements we have with tour is our luggage needs to accompany us and the tour ends at the airport.

 

We still have a lot of time to settle on a final tour, so all suggestions continue to be appreciated!