São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro over New Year. Christ the Redeemer, Copacabana, the Selarón Steps, and one of the largest New Year celebrations on earth. It is the furthest we travel and one of the most extraordinary places we go.

This is our first Brazil departure, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise. This guide is built from research and from the itinerary we have planned — not from seven years of running it, the way our Victoria Falls or Dubai guides are. We will update it properly once the first group returns.

What that means for you

Everything practical is confirmed: flights, domestic connections, hotels, transfers, the guided experiences, and a Thrifty Adventures tour leader with the group throughout. That part works exactly as it does on every tour we run.

What we cannot yet give you is the accumulated detail — which restaurant is worth the walk, which viewpoint is best at which hour, which optional experience our travellers rate highest. That comes with having been.

If you would rather travel somewhere we know inside out, we will happily point you at one of our established tours. If being on the first group appeals, this is that.

Two cities, deliberately different

São Paulo bookends the trip — a night at each end. It is South America's largest city: dense, working, and known for food and culture rather than beaches. Our city orientation experience gives you a feel for it without pretending a night is enough to know it.

Rio de Janeiro is the heart of the tour, and where you spend five nights. Mountains dropping into the Atlantic, beaches that are genuinely part of daily life rather than a tourist strip, and a city built into extraordinary terrain.

The domestic flight between them is included.

What is included

The guided experiences on this tour are:

• The Corcovado Train up through Tijuca National Park to Christ the Redeemer. The train journey itself is part of the experience — you climb through rainforest to reach the statue
• A historic favela cultural experience, guided, with an established operator
• Rio sightseeing — Santa Teresa, the Selarón Steps and Lapa
• São Paulo city orientation
• The coastline — Ipanema, Leblon and Arpoador

Plus return flights, domestic flights, accommodation, daily breakfast, airport transfers and scheduled transport for everything on the itinerary.

The optional experiences — all at your own cost

To be completely clear: every optional experience below is booked and paid for separately. None is included in the tour price.

Sightseeing

• Sugarloaf Mountain cable car
• Guanabara Bay yacht experience
• Helicopter sightseeing flight
• Maracanã Stadium tour
• Museums and cultural attractions

Culture

• Samba class
• Brazilian cooking class
• Live Brazilian music
• Professional beach photoshoot

Free, or nearly free

Worth saying plainly: a great deal of what makes Rio worth visiting costs nothing.

• Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon beaches
• The Arpoador sunset viewpoint — locals applaud the sunset, and you will understand why
• Parque Lage
• Local markets and neighbourhood walks

You can have an excellent week in Rio without booking a single paid activity.

New Year's Eve in Rio

Réveillon is one of the largest New Year celebrations in the world, centred on Copacabana beach with fireworks fired from barges out on the water.

Your evening is free, so you experience it however you want. Many people simply go down to the beach, which costs nothing and is the traditional way to do it. Organised events, parties and hotel functions require tickets bought separately — these are not included in the tour.

Wear white. It is the local tradition and close to universal on the night. Pack something.

Entry requirements — confirm these early

South African passport holders have historically entered Brazil visa-free for short tourist stays. Brazil has been reintroducing visa requirements for several nationalities, so this must be confirmed before you book flights.

Where an e-visa or travel authorisation is required, you apply independently and the cost is not included in the tour price. We confirm the current position with every traveller ahead of departure.

Yellow fever may be required depending on your routing — particularly if you transit certain countries. The vaccination must be at least 10 days before travel to count, so speak to a travel clinic early.

Your passport needs at least six months' validity beyond your return date. Travellers under 18 need a valid passport, birth certificate and consent documentation from any non-travelling parent.

What to budget

From R5,000 in spending money, depending on how you travel. That covers meals not included and daily costs.

Budget considerably more if you plan several optional experiences — helicopter sightseeing and a yacht day are not small amounts.

A correction worth noting: this figure is R5,000, not US$5,000. If you see the higher number in any older printed material of ours, that is an error and we are fixing it.

Safety in Rio

We would rather be straight with you than reassuring.

Rio requires more situational awareness than most destinations we visit. That is not a reason to avoid it — millions of people visit every year without incident — but it is a reason to travel sensibly.

The approach is the same one locals take:

• Do not display phones, jewellery, watches or cameras openly in the street
• Carry only what you need for the day, and use a bag that closes
• Use registered transport rather than walking unfamiliar areas at night
• Stay in busier, well-lit areas after dark
• Take a little cash to the beach rather than everything you own

Moving as a group with a tour leader removes most of the risk. The favela experience is a guided cultural visit with an established operator — not an unaccompanied wander — and these visits are a normal, well-run part of Rio tourism.

Practical things

• Portuguese, not Spanish. English is less widely spoken here than in most places we go. A translation app is genuinely useful — see our eSIM guide for staying connected
• Plugs are Type N, which is specific to Brazil and not something your usual adapter is likely to cover. Check before you buy
• Five hours behind South Africa — the rare trip where you travel west
• Brazilian Real. Cards are widely accepted in the cities; carry some cash for markets and small vendors
• Bottled water
• December is hot and humid, with short heavy afternoon showers. Pack light clothing and a rain jacket

Who this trip suits

Travellers who want somewhere genuinely far and genuinely different, and who are comfortable with a destination that asks a bit more of them than Mauritius does.

It suits people who like cities, beaches and music in roughly equal measure — and anyone who has always wanted to see in the New Year somewhere unforgettable.

It suits people who are relaxed about being on a first departure. If that would worry you, we have twenty-nine other tours that would not.

Booking and paying

Pay a R3,000 deposit online to secure your spot. We invoice the balance with a card payment link, or you settle by EFT in instalments before departure. No interest, no credit check.

This is a New Year departure to a long-haul destination, so it fills earlier than most — and flights over that period only get more expensive.