Buenos Aires to Rio

This was an excellent tour. We a nice sampling of Argentina and Brazil in just two weeks. The countries are huge, so many weeks could be spent traveling to much of their sites and cities. Diego, our tour guide, was terrific!! Hats off to Diego!!

Our tour leader Blanca was just amazing, her professionalism, knowledge and passion for her country was infectious and be the end of the tour left us wanting to see more of both Argentina, Brasil and South America as a whole. Local guides were knowledgeable too. This trip has a bit of everything - Cities, jungle, beach and wonderful nature - the Iguazu falls are just breathtaking and a must. The itinerary was as described, moderate and allowed for free time and flexibility which is much appreciated. This was my first time with Explore but will definitely go again.

This was a very interesting tour led by an excellent, experienced guide Blanca. There were a lot of free days and some of the optional tours were not available/recommended which was disappointing, especially the Gold trail in Paraty and the walking tours in Ilha Grande. On the beach where the boat arrives on Ilha Grande there was a lot of plastic so it would be a good idea to get volunteers to do a beach clean. Paraty was a lovely old colonial town and I would recommend the “Free walking tours” company. The hotels were all very good or excellent apart from the Taroba Express in Foz do Iguacu. It would have been better to stay in a hotel nearer the Falls & Bird Park as the bus from the hotel was very slow (1 hour each way). It was definitely worth visiting the Brazilian side of the falls and the Bird Park. Unfortunately in Rio when we visited the Santa Teresa area our local guide did not give us a walking tour and we did not see Parque das Ruinas. The view from Sugar Loaf mountain was magnificent! Despite the couple of days with lengthy flights/drive the trip was great.

Thank you Explore for a truly wonderful holiday and adventure…my first of many more I hope. Our excellent tour leader, Blanca who managed the group and itinerary in a friendly and expert manner- thank you. I couldn’t help falling in love a little with William who guided us through Iguazu. ❤️ So the highlights were many and apart from the two expected ones, Iguazu and Rio (which were brilliant of course) I was enchanted by Paraty and Ile Grande which I’d heard very little about before the trip. Buenos Aires is fabulous… bright, colourful, alive with vibrant life and culture- loved it. The pace of the trip is just right, lots to do and many options as well as time to do your own thing at leisure. Check out the electric adapters that are required. I was missing one in Rio but thankfully the hotel had some spares. Book this trip it’s super!!

The Iguazu Falls were the main reason for me choosing this trip and they exceeded expectations! Good balanced trip with a very experienced Tour Leader (Blanca) who was 'right on it'. Local Guides were also excellent, bar the one in Rio who disappointed and also resulted in us missing out on some aspects of our city tour. The tour's Optional Extras need to be updated on the Tour notes, as they are not all available/ not as outlined. Also credit card use was not as problematic as the Notes indicate. Nice to see the differences between Rio & Buenos Aires plus some beach relaxation. Several days were spent travelling as a lot of miles were covered.