Tailor Made Tour

Bruno was our guide and was excellent. He was informative, friendly, and interesting. He suggested a variety of opportunities and interesting sites. We enjoyed our day thoroughly.

From the moment we arrived in Rio, Gus made everything seamless. He greeted us at the airport with a driver and gave us an amazing introduction to the city on the way to our hotel. After a full day exploring with another guide (including Christ the Redeemer), Gus was flexible and picked us up that evening for the spectacular Ginga Tropical show. His insight made the music and dances even more meaningful. The following day, we toured Santa Teresa with Gus, riding the historic 1800’s rail car, exploring colorful streets, and visiting unforgettable landmarks like the elegant Colombo coffee house and the fairytale-like Portuguese library. On our last night, Gus arranged everything for us to attend a Flamengo soccer game. Experiencing it from the hospitality level—with food, drinks, and even a private bathroom—was the perfect way to end our trip. Gus is knowledgeable, warm, and incredibly attentive. He not only showed us the highlights of Rio but also made us feel safe, cared for, and immersed in the culture. We couldn’t recommend him more!

We toured for two days in Rio with Gus. He was great! We gave him a list of what we wanted to see and we did all those things plus a couple of his suggestions. His English is great and he is full of knowledge about Rio. He timed our visits to Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf so the crowds were not overwhelming.

we did with augusto 3 full days of private tour. any attraction where there are line, augusto knows how to cut the line, then the tour is very efficient, without him we could visit maybe half of the popular attractions. augusto recognized our expectations and added many places we even we didn't know about. so we are very satisfied of the tour with him.

I booked Augusto many months ahead of our arrival on Seabourn cruise (Feb 25-26, 2024). Gus was super quick to respond all my emails and he was very flexible. I already knew he could drive/guide us in his vehicle so I inquired if he could handle a group of 10. He informed me it was not a problem as he could rent a 15-passenger van with a driver. On Feb 25, we were a group of 7 and we visited Petropolis. We really enjoyed it. Gus was super informative. He is a great teacher, very patient and full of passion. On Feb 26, we were a group of 9 and we visited the highlights of Rio de Janeiro. What a great time we all had. Do not hesitate to hire Gus. His English is perfect, he is patient and he will not disappoint you! It is obvious he loves his job. We all loved him. Chantal and Dennis

Fantastic guide! Gus fully tailored our itinerary according to our preferences and allowed us to explore a lot of the city within the time we had (a weekend). Impeccable English and vast knowledge of the city's and country's history and context. Highly recommended.

I was looking for a private guide to help us more safely and easily navigate Rio. I had no idea what a good decision I made in booking Gus as our guide. We have traveled a lot and have had many guides all over the world, and Gus really stands out as the best. He really understands how to do this well. We hired him for two days to show us around Rio. I had a detailed list of places I had researched that I wanted to see, including restaurants. It was a challenge, and I knew we wouldn't get to everything. But Gus was masterful in organising the time and making sure we got as much done on my list as possible, while not being rushed, and he even added a few places that he felt we would enjoy that weren't on my list. He is skilled at logistics, which meant there was just no time wasted. He is also very easy to spend time with and just an all around nice guy. I knew within 5 minutes after meeting him on our first day that we made the right choice. We had a lot of fun chatting with him along the way and he helped us see Rio in a more authentic light than if we had tried to do this on our own. He even included lunches at the restaurants on my list that made sense with the itinerary, I mean it was perfect! Gus made our time in Rio better in every possible way--we saw way more, we had more fun, we felt way safer and he removed all the logistical stress. And to go above and beyond he booked us a dinner on another night separate from our tour and booked us a ride to the airport at the end of our stay, also separate from our tour. He made our time in Rio so, so much better. This guy could teach a master class in being a private tour guide. Thank you Gus!

We were very fortunate to find and book Gus as our guide in Rio. He is an outstanding guide and a wonderful individual. We have traveled all over the world and had many great guides but Gus clearly stands out as the best. We were with him for 5 days and he showed us all the known sites as well as several off the beaten path attractions. He was punctual, super friendly and incredibly knowledgeable. He made our trip to Brazil outstanding. We sadly parted on the last day, leaving a new found friend that felt like family. If you have a chance to tour with Gus, don't hesitate. He is the best and will enhance your visit to wonderful Rio. We miss you Gus and treasure you and the memories you helped to create. Thank you for a wonderful 5 days. Pamela

On the advice of my uncle and aunt, who toured with Gus a few years ago, my husband and I booked Gus for three days earlier this month. Gus is so warm and kind. He loves Rio and knows it well. From the moment he picked us up at the airport until we said goodbye, we felt like we were with a friend. We loved our conversations with him about Brazil's history, current events, geography, and politics. One of my fondest memories is the three of us singing "At the Copa Copacabana" together on the ride from the airport to our hotel moments after we met Gus! I highly recommend booking Gus if you go to Rio. We are hopeful more of our family meet this terrific guy.

We booked Gus a few months ago for 5 days. I sent him a list of all the things we would like to do, and he got back to me quickly, with some other recommendations too. We were met at the airport, taken to our hotel, then embarked on 5 full days of brilliant tours and experiences. Gus is without doubt the best tour guide we have ever come across (and we've met a few!). He knows so much about his beautiful city, and loves to share it with everyone. We did all the main sites, plus quite a few others that were a bit off the beaten track. He seems to know just about everybody, has his own secret parking places, and can even get you into places just to use the rest room. If you have any time in Rio, be it a day or a week, you will not be disappointed with this delightful man!

This was among the very best tours we have ever had as we travel throughout the globe. Gus was a fantastic personal tour guide who was incredibly knowledgeable. We saw so much in an unhurried and thoughtful way. He kept us safe, provided practical insight to culture, and was honestly just a kind and caring soul. He represented the very best of Brazil.

Me and my dad had a short, 4 day stay in Rio and hired Gus for our airport transfers and two days of tours. We were trying to see as much as we could in the little time we had and Gus made sure that happened as efficiently as possible. First off, our flights were significantly delayed and the itinerary kept changing. Gus was quick to respond and still available to pick us up, even after our arrival time changed 3 times and we ended up at a different airport. Because of the delay, we had to change one of our tours to the only other full day we had available and thankfully Gus rearranged his schedule to accommodate us. I have traveled to 60+ countries and have had guides in most of them and I normally only leave reviews for the most exceptional one's. The first tour we went on was a trip up to Christ the Redeemer and then Sugar Loaf. He made sure we went on a clear day to ensure the best views of the city. The trip was smooth and we were able to skip the lines and the crowds of people for the best experience and great pictures. After the tour, he made a lunch reservation for us at an amazing Brazilian steakhouse and dropped us off there. The next day we went on a city tour. He showed us all the sights and we were able to cover a lot of ground in the little time that we had. He even stopped at the Maracana stadium which was on my bucket list to see and we still made it to the airport on time in rush hour Friday traffic. Gus was available via Whatsapp throughout our whole stay and was giving us great recommendations and advice on what to do during our free time there. We felt very safe and it was great to know we had a friend in Rio. I would highly recommend hiring Gus and having the peace of mind that you will have a great experience.

My partner and I took a trip to Rio for my birthday and we were SO pleased with our tour guide, Gus. In addition to picking us up from the airport and transporting us to our hotel, he gave us a customized tour to the Selerón Steps, Restaurante y bar Garota de Ipanema and a nice gift shop. He even pulled over and let me take a picture with Antonio Carlos Jobim's statue on the beach! We really appreciated Gus's availability for questions, quotes and flexibility. He is very friendly, personable, gracious and his prices are reasonable and you get a GREAT value for your money. We'd recommend him to anyone who visits Rio. We've already decided that when we visit again, we're booking Gus for our touring needs! Thank you, Gus! ~Kelly and Katrina

Gus is absolutely amazing. I had 3 21 year olds visiting from the Uk, we spent 2 full days with him. He came and collected us in his car, spoke perfect English and did everything to make their time extremely enjoyable. Gus even arranged for the boys to do hand gliding! Nothing was too much trouble. We never felt rushed and he knew what would interest the boys and where to take them. They got to see all the main sights and he knew how to get them through the crowds which allowed us even more time to see more. Gus even helped me on other days to arrange trips that we were doing. He is kind caring and efficient. I will be using him every time I have visitors as he is just fantastic. Thank you Gus for making their time spectacular.

Had family friends visiting Brazil for the first time and booking the Rio tour with Gus was a great idea! He is an excellent communicator, knowledgeable, kind, and flexibly accommodated our specific tour stop requests. The transportation he arranged was very comfortable, and the whole experience was very informative and fun! Recommended!!

Gus was very knowledgeable , knew the best restaurant, and he knew his around the the city . Gus got my group of 5 football tickets looked after us during the game and explained the custom and rules to us

Gus made our trip incredible! He was super flexible with our group of 5. Patient, funny and kind. He shared one of his favorite restaurants that we would have never found. He also took care of us while working on his birthday. I felt 100% safe and would recommend Gus a million times over.

My husband and I came to Rio for our summer vacation. Once here we decided wanted to take a tour but the typical tours didn't meet our criteria. We found the tailor made tour and took the customized tour. Gus was our guide for the day. We started with some places we wanted to see and asked Gus to help show us interesting and different sights. We started our day at Christ the Redeemer. I explained that I have a bit of a height issue. Gus was great to help me with the the apprehension I had on the way up and once at the top. After we saw the beautiful sights from the top we decided Sugarloaf would be just another view from up high. We changed our plans and Gus was great to find off the beaten path, cultural places to show us. We went to the Portuguese Library /Reading Room. What an amazing and beautiful building! We then went to the Arches of Lapa and took a tram ride through a quaint neighborhood. The tram was old fashioned with wooden seats and a wooden bar lowered and raised to allow people on and off. This team takes you to end of the line, then the seats flip and you ride back. Many locals ride this to shop for groceries. The tram crosses the aquaduct. We learned that people in the brought buckets to the aquaduct to take water back to their homes in the forest. Next, we drove through the financial district and Gus pointed out many beautiful buildings like the Opera House. As we drove around we went by the are a for Carnival and Gus explained the route for the floats, seating in the stands. Next, we went to Escadaria Selaron. Gus gave us great detail about the tiles on the steps and the ones on the sides. In past people would send tiles from their home, state, town or local area and Selaron would install them. Next, Gus took us to a good restaurant, the famous Cafeteria Columbo. We next walked to the Church of St. Anthony and St. Francis. Beautiful! Last was fevala, the shanty town. This was interesting and a must. Gus is fabulous . Book this tour and enjoy!

On our recent mission team to Rio de Janeiro, in early June 2022, we had the opportunity to enjoy two tours with Gus as our guide. Gus was prompt, friendly, and incredibly knowledgeable on both tours. On our cable car tour to Sugar Loaf Mountain, we were able to go at night. This was amazing and beautiful! Arriving on the top, Gus took us to prime photo opportunities and helped us find just the right snack before we returned down in the cable car. The following day, we went to the base of The Christ Redeemer statue and rode the new, improved train up to the statue. Again, Gus informed us of the best place to sit on the train for seeing the aerial view of stunning Rio de Janeiro, as we rode up. Gus patiently took great photos of each one of us in front of the statue. Gus also reminded us to check out the small chapel at the base, where many weddings and baptisms have occurred. While in the chapel, I was able to join in an intimate church service. During the entirety of both of our tours, Gus was energetic and personable. It was obvious to me that Gus's aim was for each one of us to have a memorable and amazing tour. Which we did. Thanks, Gus. Can't wait to tour with you again in the future.

Gus is a fantastic guide. Our trip was beautiful and stress free thanks to his direction. We learned so much about Rio that we wouldn’t have otherwise. The experience would not have been the same without him.

Gus went above and beyond for me and my friends! I had visited Rio several times before and had specific ideas about what I wanted my friends to see. He made sure the day went smoothly and we saw as much as possible. He was very flexible and helped us make the most of two rainy/cloudy days in Rio. He heard we were interested in going to a soccer game and easily secured us tickets and was even checking in after our tour ended. 10/10 recommend Gus for your next tour! He was extremely kind and knowledgeable! We loved our tour days with him!

Gus created a special day trip for us to see Ilha Grande. His English is very fluent as he studied in the US. He is attentive to details and timing to make sure everything runs smoothly. He is also very knowledgeable about many areas and can create customized outings for you. It was much more efficient for us to travel by car. We would not rent a car in Brazil especially in Rio.

Gus was a great English speaking guide. We proposed our own itinerary for the day and Gus arranged everything for us. The tailor made option was great as we could share our preferred type of visit (in the nature and away from crowds) and Gus listen to our needs to provide some great recommendations. I would recommend Gus as he is very professional and knows Rio by heart, and made us feel really safe.

My daughter toured and everything was perfect. Gus is very knowledgeable and gives alot of interesting information during the tour.

Gus is an excellent guide who understands perfectly the combination we want to have in Río: culture, historical legacy and site seeing.

Gus is amaaaazing!! What a tremendous resource for someone visiting this beautiful country. Gus’s understanding of the culture, best locations to see and the fact that he is bilingual is an absolute relief. We really enjoyed his ability to pre-plan and even advise on what to wear and the estimated times for each activity was very helpful especially due to the fact we were traveling with our 1 and 3 year old! When we needed pampers, milk, urgent snacks & food, Gus went well out of his way to accommodate. We would 100% recommend Gus to anyone looking for a personable, professional and on-time guide in Rio that you can trust. We will be back!!

Gus is an excellent tour guide. He created an itinerary specific to my needs. He is very informative and gave me many options. I was able to see everything I wanted and learned a lot of history. I’ve already recommended Gus to other travelers and I will continue to do so. When I come back to Rio, I will definitely use his services again.

Definitely recommend! Get a private tailored tour with Gus, he knows best restaurants to eat, coolest spots to visit and will help you with anything you need during your stay in Rio. Nothing better than having a private concierge while on vacation so you can relax ;)

Gus is such an excellent tour guide! We have used him many times with groups and he is always fantastic. Gus knows how to navigate any unexpected issues, which I think is essential in a guide. I love that he is so knowledgeable and shares interesting information about Rio, Brazil's history and the places we visit. I literally learn something every single time (And he has been my tour guide numerous times!). You will be more than pleased in choosing him!

Gus was kind, helpful, and informative! He led us through a tour of the Christ Statue and provided an overview of the different areas of Rio as we drove around the town. I highly recommend Gus!

Gus is excellent tour guide. Easy to work with and very knowledgeable. Would highly recommend. Gus goes out of his way to help and keep to timely schedule

Gus has been our groups' tour guide many times. He is so personable, knowledgeable, and makes the time with him interesting. Gus is respectful of our time, keeps us on schedule.

Gus is the man! He is well spoken and extremely knowledgeable on all tourist destinations in Rio. He is a fun and easy going and always willing to go the extra mile! I wish we could of taken him to every city in Brazil! Proper value for money, don't waste time.. Book now! 😁

We got in touch with Gus through friends in Rio, and asked him to drive our family of four around on a tailor-made tour of things that we had not yet gotten around to doing in Rio. Gus is highly dependable and speaks excellent English. He is friendly, knows the city very well and I highly recommend him. We also booked Gus for a couple airport transfers which were perfectly executed :-)

My wife and I visited Rio in early 2020 at the same time as Rio carnival. Tickets to the famous Sambadrone event were sold out, but we got in touch with Gus a week before and he worked tirelessly to get us tickets. He gave us multiple options over the days, and we eventually managed to secure great tickets at a good price, all thanks to Gus. He also booked restaurants for us, arranged our taxi transfers and took us on a guided tour. So he was instrumental in ensuring that we had a fantastic trip!!

Gus was a very friendly guide. He was knowledgeable and gave us more information than we expected. Gu knew about all the good places to eat and was available on the phone out of hours to help us find these restaurants i

Gus was an extremely professional guide who went above our expectations. Among many options of Guides , I have no doubt he was the best option ,by far. Excellent price and benefit."

my friend and i spent a lovely 5 days in rio with gus - fully customized tour designed exactly as we wanted. gus met us for dinner for a planning session, since my friend and i wanted to do some similar activities but some different. gus was flexible, helpful with suggestions, and truly showed us the best that rio has to offer. including both the famous sites, but also the local life. highly recommend.

Thank you for taking care of us. We enjoyed having you as our tour guide. Your knowledge and love of the city were very notable and contributed to the success of our journey.

We visited Rio for three days in December and had Gus build three very interesting itineraries for the time we had in the city. Gus was great, not just in terms of knowledge but also and perhaps more importantly, in terms of personality! Gus is very organised and knowledgeable but above all, warm friendly and funny. We loved our time in Rio and Gus made our visit even more special!

I highly recommend Gus as a tour guide. He speaks fluent English and went above and beyond the call of duty to make our vacation an extraordinary wonderful experience. Gus is friendly, funny, knowledgeable and reliable. He took us on a suburb private tour of Rio, hitting all of the sites such as The Christ, Sugarloaf, Escadaria Selaron's tile steps, tour of downtown Rio and many other attractions. Gus also introduced us to a delicious Brazilian lunch at Fogo De Chao. His vehicle was clean and had A/C. The most extraordinary task he performed was our wedding. We told him we wanted to get married on a beach and he took care of every detail with much precision. He arranged the wedding on the breathtakingly beautiful, secluded Jacone Beach. We didn't have to worry or take care of anything. Gus completely took over and took care of every detail including the wedding cake, music, champagne, photographer, videographer, drone, flowers, and much, much more!! Our wedding day was a beautiful, memorable day that we will always cherish thanks to Gus's incredible creativity! You can't go wrong with Gus. We have traveled all over the world and have never had such a remarkable and amazing tour guide!!

We had a great virtual tour with Gus yesterday for over 90 minutes. We didn't want it to end. It was fun and enlightening. We had a tour a year ago in person and even after a full day, there was so much more to see. By taking the virtual tour, we were able to be safe, entertained, and educated. We loved learning more about favelas. And we didn't have to walk up and down stairs. Gus photos and videos were fantastic. Looking forward to doing more tours. Gus is a friend--not just a tour guide.

We were the first tourist Gus had since the borders closed and he was absolutely amazing! Gus was attentive, accommodating, spoke perfect English, even as he interacted with other Employees at the different attractions he just lit up the room. Looking forward to my next visit and will definitely use Gus again!!

Gus is a friendly, knowledgeable and reliable guide. Gus did our airport transfers and arranged a two day private tour for us. Given the brevity of our time in Rio he organised things so that we really made the most of our stay. We saw the highlights without having to queue for tickets as Gus arranged all , but also some nice more unusual sights. I particularly enjoyed the beautiful cafe Gus took us to for their famous coffee and pastry. Very importantly for me we felt very safe while still feeling we were engaging at some level with the City. Rio is also very beautiful, much more so than I had anticipated.

I cannot recommend Augusto highly enough. We contacted him one week before carnival to see if he could arrange Sambadrome tickets for us. We contacted other tour guides as well but Augusto was the only one that was able to find tickets for us within our price range (whereas others told us it was not possible). He also arranged transfers and restaurants for us, and we felt that he was the perfect “fixer” who could arrange whatever we needed, however difficult! He also does private tours of all the best activities. If you’re planning a trip to Rio, definitely reach out to Augusto!

Gus is a very wonderful guy. Always happy smiling and very exciting. We had very wonderful time during our stay in Brazil all because of him. He was Very entertaining right from the time he picked us from the airport. He was very helpful and always willing to go out of his way to ensure we have a memorable stay. Very knowledgeable, was able to communicate to us in very good English and was helpful even when it came to communicating to the locals while carrying out personal purchases Very flexible and friendly Very excellent service. Bravo