Half-day Private Tour:rio De Janeiro Highlights By Bernard Moraes

My husband I traveled to Rio in October 2026 and had a wonderful visit from start to finish highlighted by a half-day private tour with Bernard. Everything about the experience was superb and enjoyable. Communications, planning, and payment were easy, and the tour itself was simply delightful. Bernard was on time, knowledgeable, and personable. We were especially grateful for his flexibility in altering our program given the weather conditions. I will be recommending Bernard to all our family, friends, and anyone traveling to Rio.

Bernard was an outstanding guide. Extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and generous with his time, he shared great insights about Rio and tailored suggestions to our interests. He also provided fantastic recommendations for places to visit, eat, and explore during the rest of our stay. We couldn't have asked for a better introduction to the city. Highly recommended!

Incredible guide! Flexible, capable, and friendly! Highly recommended!

He is lovely! I loved how sweet and calm and knowledgeable he is. We were kind of aimless and did not have any clear plans for Rio, Bernard was able to show us a lot at a very relaxed pace in out half day together, definitely experienced things we wouldn’t be able to find ourselves. Super kind and flexible, we would come back and hang out with him again for sure:)

I did two half day tours with Bernard- booked via e-mail found on his website and later communicated via WhatsApp. Bernard’s experience as a tour guide (as well as being a native to Rio) helped make for a great two days full of interesting information I would not have otherwise known. We appreciated that we were able to tell Bernard what exactly we wanted to see and he helped us form an itinerary that ordered our visits to the sights in a logistical and comfortable way that had us avoid too much crowds. He even gave us recommendations and tips for other attractions we intended on seeing without him. Thank you again Bernard!

We do have a lot of experience with tour guides. However, Bernard was one of the best experiences we ever made! Bernard not only has a great knowledge of Rio de Janeiro, he also knows pretty fast what kind of intrest his customer has. He build the tour around that. On top of that, he is a very nice person to deal with . In short; Bernard is very recommended!. Hans and Ineke Wolfs

Bernard took my wife and I on two half day tours. We saw the usual sights (Christ the Redeemer etc.) but we also gained a real insight into Rio, its history, its culture and its people. Bernard is a true Rio local and his knowledge, enthusiasm, flexibility and relaxed style made the tours very enjoyable. It felt like we were being shown Rio by a friend or relative rather than a guide. If you want to get a true feel for Rio rather than just ticking off the sites, Bernard’s tours are for you.

If you are looking for a city tour of Rio then look no further than booking the tour with Bernard. With five friends we toured Rio. Bernard was great. He had a lovely manner about him. Was very knowledgeable and was very happy for us to spend time looking at the sites atour pace. For lunch Bernard took us to a very authentic restaurant where we enjoyed typical Brazilian food. It was a great tour and a memorable day. Thank you Bernard for showing us around your lovely and fascinating city.

Bernard was a fantastic guide - thanks a lot for showing us around Rio, and letting us experience the city like a local. We had a great time!

Bernard is an excellent guide for a privat tour of RIO and area. He suggested in advance that we start 45 minutes earlier than scheduled in order to avoid the crowds at SugarLoaf due to 2 cruise ships being in port. This certainly paid off; however, by the time we got to the Selaron Steps, the crowds had already arrived. Viewing the Santa Teresa district was also worthwhile - good viewpoints. I would highly recommend this tour.

Bernard was amazing, he made sure we had a good time and we got more then what we paid for highly recommend this tour guide as he goes above and beyond!

Bernard was a great guide! He was very flexible and was able to make changes to our itinerary easily. He was knowledgeable and was well versed in the history of Brazil and the places we visited. If you are coming to Rio, book him!

We spent a fantastic day in Rio with Bernard. We ordered a private tour around Rio. Bernard is so much in love with his city that within the first hour of walk he could make us feel really as local cariocas. He was very attentive to our wishes and could easily customized the tour. It was 6 hours of real fun, professionalism, interesting information about the country and wonderful company with Bernard. Highly recommend..

We didn’t want a large group so a private tour was a nice way to see the highlights of Rio. I was able to customize the itinerary so as to include the urban jungle, but that made visiting Christ the Redeemer a little more difficult (peak time). Bernard was nice and helped us take photos (make sure to check them afterwards for focus and framing!) and gave good advice. We did have to walk a bit once to get back to the car after visiting Corcovado which left us sore for several days, so always ask to be picked up. Lunch is not built into this tour so ask for that if you like, although it would cut into time. All in all, if you have time do your research into Rio beforehand so you know what you want to see and when, in order to map out your itinerary better. The big attractions such as Sugarloaf and Corcovado can be done on your own so that this tour can focus on the more out of the way spots.

Bernard was an excellent tour guide and very easy going. We had our own personalised tour, which were the Selaron steps, the metropolitan cathedral, the beautiful Portuguese library, Confeitaria Colombo which is the oldest cafe in Rio opened in 1894. Gorgeous coffee and cakes. We then went on the old yellow tram to Santa Teresa and finally headed for several view points to see the famous sights. We wouldn’t have been able to see half the things without Bernard. He took us in his car everywhere and we felt completely safe…Highly recommend him…!!

All I can say is if you want the BEST EXPERIENCE POSSIBLE in Rio get Bernardo!!! He has a perfect personality to be a guide because he is funny and very in tune with your interests. He is very experienced with a wealth of tips and recommendations. He has a warm and friendly personality you cant help but feel like you go away with another friend. He has short cuts to lines that's is very helpful when your going to Sugarloaf or Christ R. He also knows off the beaten pass places too and every where you go the locals know him. He listened to everything we wanted to do and made it happen. He is very knowledgeable about the area as he has lived there for a long time. So he can give you a history lesson on every important thing along your visit. He goes out of his way to make sure you get to see and do the things you want. There are many guides but if you are picky and want the VERY BEST than Bernardo is your guy!

I really enjoyed my first day in Rio with Bernard. We've done a half-day tour trough Santa Teresa & Downtown. Bernanrd's knowledge about the city & culture is remarkable. He showed me the most beauty places in the mentioned areas. Would do it again and highly recommend his tours.

We had 2 wonderful days with Bernard. We laughed a lot, we were told a lot about Brazil and also experienced a lot. Bernard was on time every time, gave us super tips and was always friendly. We have met a warm person and want to thank him for that!

We asked Bernard to customize a tour that included Christ the Redeemer, Sugar Loaf, Santa Teresa, Copacabana, and a local churrasco restaurant, and his scheduling and sequencing were perfect for our schedule and we were able to skip the peak tourist crowd times for optimal viewing and picture-taking. Although we booked with him several weeks before, due to airline flight cancellations and changes Bernard worked with us to fix a new schedule which was very sincere and we appreciated him making it easy for us after we finally arrived. He was very knowledgeable and gave interesting explanations, and drove us safely around without us having to be concerned about parking or timing. His local restaurant recommendation was spot on and we enjoyed every aspect of his planning and tour. Thank you very much!