Rio FAQ fruit market

We’re always happy to answer questions and concerns via email and no request is too strange (we were once asked to find a location where a guest could see capybaras in the wild!). But before you write, why not take a look over the Frequently Asked Questions list below to see if we’ve already answered your question.

Our group tours generally cost R$425 (Brazilian Reais) per person. Any price we quote always cover everything on the tour – all food and drinks (water, juices, beers and caipirinhas), the guide, and any transportation during the tour (the costs of getting to the starting point of the tour, and getting back to your hotel after the end of the tour, are not included). If you want a custom/private tour, this will affect the price.

The tour price includes all food, all drinks (water, juices, beers, caipirinhas), transportation during the tour and the guide. There are no hidden charges, tricks or nasty surprises – we want you to relax and enjoy the tour without having to worry about your budget. We also include lots of extra information and recommendations such as where to stay, activities, restaurants and night-life. Just let us know what you’re looking for and we’ll send you a range of personalised recommendations with descriptions, maps, prices and other useful information.

Come with an appetite! There will be plenty to eat and drink so unless you’re a BIG eater, stick to a light breakfast

Wear something comfortable. These are walking tours and although we take plenty of breaks, it makes sense to wear comfortable clothes and footwear. Rio is really informal, so no need for anything fancy (unless you want to glam it up – in which case that will be fine too!).

Bring your camera. Rio is an incredibly photogenic city that you’ll want to capture for posterity. If you have a large camera that won’t fit in your pocket, bring a bag so you can keep it out of sight while you’re not using it.

Watch the weather. The rain doesn’t stop our tours. However, you might want to check the forecast and bring an umbrella if it looks like rain. On sunny days, consider bringing sunscreen and a hat.

Our standard tours take in Lapa, Glória, Flamengo and Laranjeiras. If you are interested in visiting other areas of Rio then let us know – we may be able to put together a customised tour which covers it.

For our mixed group tours, we don’t do hotel pickups and here’s why: we want to avoid the situation where the first hour or two of the tour is spent driving between hotels. Instead we’ll send you easy-to-follow instructions explaining how to get from your accommodation to the starting point of the tour. Most of our guests use Uber for transport nowadays – it’s safe, cheap and easy to use. However, we can also advise on public transport options, as well as journey times and costs. And at the end of the tour we’ll help you with your onward journey.

For private tours, we offer the option of a private vehicle and driver – this can be for groups of any size, from couples all the way up to groups of 15 or even 20+.

Our tour groups usually range in size between 4-8 guests (we set maximum group size at 10). We don’t do forced frivolity, but over the years we’ve noticed that like-minded people come on our tours and usually end up firm friends by the end of the tour. The social aspect ends up being a really big part of what makes the experience so special.

For private tours we are able to handle much larger groups – our biggest ever group was 60 guests, though that was an outlier! For large groups we generally assign more guides and may discuss the possibilities of breaking up the group into sub-groups for certain venues. Contact us for more details – we can put together a custom itinerary that works for you.

  • CASH: This is our preferred payment method and also the cheapest. Unless otherwise stated, please bring the stated amount in Brazilian Reais (generally we do NOT accept foreign currencies as this comes with some difficult bureaucratic problems which we prefer to avoid). During busy periods, or if you are booking a large group, we may need you to pay a holding deposit in order to guarantee your reservation.
  • PAYPAL: We can accept payment via PayPal, but due to PayPal’s substantial ‘transaction fees’ and our very narrow profit margins, we need to include this in the price (currently standing at 6.6%).
  • WISE: In early 2024, we started working with Wise transfers. If you have a Wise account and would like to pay this way, we may be able to offer a transaction charge considerably lower than PayPal’s 6.6%!

If you have any questions about payment please feel free to send them to us – we always do our best to be flexible and find a solution that works for you.

Rain is not a problem for our food tours – as I always say, the food still tastes delicious, and the drinks will cheer everyone up!

In fact so many other activities in Rio are cancelled when it rains that we often get a rush of bookings (so get in touch quick because we do sometimes get booked up during rainy spells).

Since we started these tours in September 2013, we’ve never had to cancel a tour due to rain. Just keep an eye on the weather forecast and if it looks like rain then bring an umbrella with you. And of course, if it’s really raining hard, we’ll keep the outdoors sections of the tour to a minimum – you’re not going to be trudging for miles in the rain!

This will almost certainly NOT be a problem, but PLEASE remember to mention it at the time of booking so we have time to make the necessary arrangements. We regularly have pescatarians, vegetarians, guests who are lactose or gluten intolerant, and those who have allergies.

For people with serious allergies we ask that they bring their emergency medicine just in case (for the record we’ve never had any mishaps but we take these things seriously).

It’s a very flexible tour, so we can easily put together a tour for guests who don’t eat pork, seafood, beef, alcohol, lactose, gluten (including full celiacs), and/or specific allergies or dislikes. Catering to people on a full vegan diet is more tricky as some of the more traditional venues we visit do not offer such great options, but vegans please send us a message and we can discuss options :)

Absolutely not! We do offer alcoholic drinks for guests who want them, but there are always non-alcoholic alternatives available. Our tours are about getting to know Rio, getting to know Brazilian food and having a nice time – alcohol is 100% optional!

We think walking tours are the best way to get to know the city, but we don’t want things to be overly strenuous. We stroll at an easy pace and never for more than 15 minutes without making a stop. We’ve had happy customers as young as 5 and as old as 86, but if you have mobility issues please email us so we can discuss the options.

Yes! We are always happy to have kids along on our tours. We offer discounts for certain age ranges (very young children go free). Contact us for more details.

Since 2013, we have taken over 10,000 guests on walking food tours on the streets of Rio and we have never suffered a robbery.

A lot of people come to Rio with safety concerns and we always do our best to be clear, open and honest about the situation. But first off let’s get one thing straight: Rio is not the war zone that some people would have you believe.

Almost 3 million international travellers visit Rio each year and the vast majority have a wonderful time without any problems. However, no city is crime-free and it is definitely smart to take common sense precautions. If you’ve already done a bit of international travel then you probably already know kind of thing (e.g. don’t wear conspicuous jewellery, don’t go walking about on deserted streets after dark, keep your cell phone zipped away somewhere safe when you’re in crowds).

See our page on Safety for more details and feel free to contact us directly if you have concerns – we’ll give you honest, sensible advice and we aren’t going to sugar-coat anything.

Our standard food tours focus primarily on food and drink venues in the older, less-visited, less touristy parts of town. Because of that, we don’t include the big tourist venues in our standard itineraries. However, if we can create custom food tour itineraries for you which include visits to Sugarloaf, Christ the Redeemer, Selarón Steps (and more).

We do not run favela tours. However, get in touch if you’re interested as we can put you in touch with an incredible local company.

Unless otherwise stated our tours will be conducted in English. All our tour guides speak excellent English speakers and Portuguese. Some of our guides also speak Spanish, German and French. If you are looking for a tour in Spanish, Portuguese, German, French or any other language please get in touch as we can usually make it happen.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us.