New Year in Rio de Janeiro Travel

New Year in Rio de Janeiro

28 or 29 Dec 2020 to 2 or 3 Jan 2021

Your tour of Rio de Janeiro takes you to see the iconic sights of the world's most exotic city, and to see in the New Year with millions of people on Copacabana Beach. You can marvel at the views from both the statue of Christ The Redeemer and the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain. 31st December brings the largest New Year show on earth, with the midnight fireworks taking you into 2019.

There are many ways to enjoy the Copacabana Beach fireworks show, with the most popular (and cheapest!) being to join the 2 million or so people filling the 4km stretch of sand. Many people take their own food and drink to the beach in iceboxes, and spread beach towels (cangas) on the sand from early in the evening. There are live music concerts at three stages along Copacabana, although these areas are often the busiest and most difficult to negotiate. The beach fills with people towards midnight, most of them dressed in white, the traditional colour of the Brazilian New Year. Other superstitious traditions include eating pork, lentils and grapes, although usually only after the fireworks. Once they have finished, you will find people lining the shore to cast flowers into the sea as offerings for the goddess Iemanja, while plenty will also be jumping seven waves, which is supposed to bring luck for the coming year!

Champagne is also a big factor in the evening, and bottles litter the beach as the sun rises over Copacabana. This is the signal for the largest clean-up operation on the planet! City cleaners in their famous orange outfits pass amongst the remaining revelers (and there are plenty!) to make sure that Copacabana begins the new year in pristine style.

Away from the beach, the hotels overlooking Copacabana Beach have fantastic views of the whole spectacle, and many have their own private parties for guests and non-guests alike to enjoy the scene from the rooftop terraces above. Food and drink are usually included, with the Copacabana Palace of course having one of the most famous. Parties take place in private apartments and function areas across the city too, ranging from the black-tie event on top of Sugar Loaf Mountain to the parties in the bars of the mountainside favelas behind Copacabana.

We can arrange any of these for you, and we also have a special option to enjoy New Year from a private sailing boat stationed in the ocean on the far side of the firework barges. This is a wonderful place to take in the whole of the beach, the people, the colours and your champagne all from the comfort of the deck.

This tour can be shortened if necessary, but hotels in Rio de Janeiro require a minimum of 4 nights usually, with some at 5 or even more nights. This New Year in Rio de Janeiro Tour can be combined with any of our other destinations in Brazil, either before or after New Year. Particular recommendations include a couple of days visiting one of the Natural Wonders of the World at Iguazu Falls, or spending some time on the beaches close to Rio de Janeiro such as Buzios, Paraty and Ilha Grande. Please bear in mind that the period immediately before and after New Year in Brazil is very busy. All flights and hotels will be reserved a long time in advance, so it is best to book as early as possible! Also, any coastal road journeys between Rio de Janeiro and the beaches will take a lot longer than usual, with heavy traffic as everyone heads away for their summer holidays.

from $ 875 USD

New Year in Rio de Janeiro

28
or
29 Dec 2020 t
or
2
or
3 Jan 2021


Destinations Visited

  • Rio de Janeiro

Trip Style

Events & Festivals

Activities Included

  • Beaches

Tailor Made Tours

All our Brazil and South America Tours, are completely flexible with regards to dates, duration or the tours, activities and accommodation that we can include. All the tours featured on our website are our recommendations based on our experience of how to make the very best of your time in South America. We can adjust these details in any way that you wish. We are here to organise a tour that suits you after all!

Itinerary

Day 1
Arrive in Rio de Janeiro for New Year!

Destination: Rio de Janeiro

Your Rio de Janeiro New Year Tour begins as our guide meets you at the airport and describes the Marvellous City to you during the journey to your hotel, passing the city and Guanabara Bay, with Sugar Loaf Mountain on the left and the Corcovado Mountain with the statue of Christ the Redeemer above on the right. After checking in and some time for lunch, you have the rest of the day free to take your first look at Copacabana and Ipanema Beaches. As sunset approaches, people head to the Arpoador headland between the two beaches to enjoy sunset. Crowds applaud as the sun drops into the golden sea at the side of the Two Brothers Mountains.

Day 2
Cable Cars and Sugar Loaf Views

Destination: Rio de Janeiro

The morning brings a journey around the lagoon to the Botanical Gardens in the shadow of Cristo. The gardens contain a huge array of tropical species, with palms, orchids and the pau brasil tree that gave its name to the country watched over by monkeys and toucans. You then travel to the bottom of Sugar Loaf Mountain to ride the two cable cars to the 396m summit. The marvellous city views take in the 4km of Copacabana Beach, the city mountains behind the statue of Christ The Redeemer and even to the mountains an hour or two out of Rio on a clear day. Afternoon and evening are free to enjoy the build up to New Year.

Day 3
New Year on Copacabana Beach

Destination: Rio de Janeiro

With millions of people visiting the city to celebrate the New Year, Rio gets very busy at this time of year as the beach roads close early to traffic. Leaving the day free is perhaps the best idea in order for you to prepare for the long night ahead. As 2021 approaches, you should head to Copacabana Beach with the whole 4km length filled with people wearing white clothes and watching the spectacular midnight firework display out on the waters. Afterwards, people head to the waves and jump seven of them for luck, or cast flowers to Iemanjá, the goddess of the sea. There are also parties on Ipanema Beach and in apartments and hotels across the city.

Day 4
2021 Begins in Rio de Janeiro

Destination: Rio de Janeiro

With the last night of 2020 likely to stretch a long way into the morning and possibly through to the day as well, it is wise to leave January 1st clear for some recovery time. Rio is the perfect place to party and is also a great place to recouperate. With miles of beach for relaxing and fruit juice bars on every corner selling shakes of every colour to help replenish those vitamins, and actvities galore across the city, 2021 can start in whichever manner you choose. Options around the city include trekking in the forest on the mountain-tops, tandem hang-gliding to land on the beach, surfing, boat trips, helicopter rides and much more. Please ask for more details.

Day 5
Rio from Christ the Redeemer

Destination: Rio de Janeiro

Your final tour of Rio takes you to the top of Corcovado, the steep 710m high mountain topped by the 31m statue of Christ The Redeemer. The views from the base across the city, beaches, mountains, the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, Guanabara Bay and the Atlantic Ocean are as spectacular as city views can be. You then drop through Santa Teresa and the Selaron Staircase to see the historic side of Rio, the Municipal Theatre and the grand buildings that date from the 19th Century and earlier. The modern Metropolitan Cathedral and the antique Arches of Lapa are two more Rio postcard sights. The afternoon and evening are free to relax.

Day 6
Flying Home from Rio de Janeiro

Destination: Rio de Janeiro & Away

With your flight home likely to be overnight, you have the morning to relax, spend some final time on the beaches and enjoy lunch. There is even time for some activity if you like, with a tandem hang-gliding flight one possibility for rounding off your trip in adventurous style. However you prefer to spend your final day, in the afternoon you will be transferred to the airport for your flight home from Rio de Janeiro. Your New Year Tour of Rio de Janeiro can also be extended to include Iguazu Falls, the Costa Verde, Buenos Aires or the Amazon, or any other tour of Brazil and South America during the Christmas and New Year period.

Prices

* Domestic Flights Estimated Price
N/A
** Prices Per Adult based on two people travelling and sharing accommodation
Simple B&B
from $875 USD
3 Stars
from $1,225 USD
4 Stars
from $1,875 USD
5 Stars
from $2,375USD

* Prices vary depending on travel dates and flight availability. Peak periods in Brazil including Carnaval, public holidays and Christmas/New Year usually require a minimum number of nights, so in these cases itineraries may need to be changed.

** Domestic flight prices are estimated on typical values when reserved six months before travel. Prices can never be guaranteed until reservations are made, and do usually become more expensive closer to the travel period.


* Domestic Flights Estimated Price ** Prices Per Adult based on two people travelling and sharing accommodation
N/A
Simple 3 Stars 4 Stars Luxury

from

$875 USD

from

$1,225 USD

from

$1,875 USD

from

$2,375 USD
 

* Prices vary depending on travel dates and flight availability. Peak periods in Brazil including Carnaval, public holidays and Christmas/New Year usually require a minimum number of nights, so in these cases itineraries may need to be changed.

** Domestic flight prices are estimated on typical values when reserved six months before travel. Prices can never be guaranteed until reservations are made, and do usually become more expensive closer to the travel period.