Tours
Itinerary 3: Tijuca National Park
The tour begins with a drive through Rio's elegant South Zone, taking in the residential sections such as São Conrado and Itanhangá where some of the city's finest residences, clubs and beaches are located. We drive up to the Tijuca National Forest and enter it in Alto da Boa Vista, where the Taunay Waterfall can be appreciated and photographed. The extraordinary history of this park, its reforestation and origins as a coffee growing region, are recounted.
Penetrating a bit further into the woods, we will "discover" the Os Esquilos restaurant, which in past years served as the official residence of the park's administrators. We can stop for a drink before walking along a hidden trail in this sub-tropical cloud forest, where the full beauty and grandeur of nature can be appreciated.
Returning we will visit the house of Raymundo de Castro Maya, one of the administrators of the forest, who donated his collection and houses to the government to be turned into museums, allowing us to see how a well born Brazilian lived in the early part of this century.