Rio de Janeiro Jeep Tour: Botanical Garden & Tijuca Rainforest

We were picked up at a meeting point, as where I was staying was difficult to get to. The tour was beautiful as I took the best pictures in the rainforest. This was a quick and beautiful tour. Our tour guide was very nice and was trilingual. I forgot his name unfortanutely but he made sure we were all on time. One suggestion to the tour guide is to make it 2hrs longer so people can enjoy things on their own without having to follow through a tight schedule. We would of loved to freely explore the garden as there was plenty of things to observe and there were monkeys that other tourist had the opportunity to take pictures and videos of. Would do this tour again, just wished there was a bit more time to explore.

If I could give this zero stars, I absolutely would. Avoid this company at all costs. They are disorganized, dishonest, and completely unprofessional. The booking clearly stated that the botanical garden ticket was included. It is NOT. Only after I paid did they message me to say I would need to purchase the ticket separately and I couldn’t even do online because it requires a Brazilian CPF. That is blatant misinformation. They then changed the date of my tour twice. After all of that chaos, I was finally given a confirmed meeting time of 8:20 AM. On the day of the tour, at 8:15 AM, the guide messaged me saying they were leaving because I was “late” and that the meeting time was actually 8:00 AM. Completely false. I have proof of the 8:20 AM time they themselves provided. Instead of acknowledging their mistake, they refused a refund and shifted the blame onto me. At every stage they were disorganized, dismissive, and incapable of taking responsibility for their own errors. Not once did they admit even the smallest fault. Save yourself the frustration and stress. Do not book with them. You will regret it.

We loved seeing the Tucson feeding and a sloth! The waterfall was beautiful and our guides were energetic and full of information!

Our guide was extremely knowledgeable about the various plants and trees. His passion for the the plants came through while speaking. I was very interesting and he was able to answer our questions throughly. The waterfall was inspiring and the short walk through the forest was great. The Chinese view was great with a view of Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf. The botanical gardens was one of the best I’ve ever been in. A reason to come back.

Let me start off by saying that I rarely leave bad reviews. This bad review is much warranted to warn people to stay away from this tour company. Not only did they cheat me out of my time, but my money as well. This company is dishonest and a bunch of petty thieves!! I have no idea why they have 5 star reviews, but that's about to change today. My friend and I booked this tour for March 30th, 2024. The driver and tour guide showed up almost 30 minutes after the time they promised to pick us up. We received confirmation over Whatsapp that we would be picked up at 1:50 pm. No one sent a message or anything to let us know that they were running late. We almost left the pickup point. When they did show up, the Jeep was packed to capacity with another group. We weren't sure if we would fit, but they somehow made it work. Because of the late arrival, we rushed through every attraction listed in the description of this tour. Instead of spending 1 hour at the Botanical Garden and Tijuca Rainforest, we spent like 30 minutes each. We barely spent 10 minutes at the Vista Chinesa and Pepino Beach because the tour guide and driver were rushing us. We felt cheated out of an experience and the 68 dollars that we each paid for the tour. This isn't the only thing that made me upset and which prompted me to leave a bad review. The tour's description mentions that the Botanical Garden attraction is not free and so a ticket must be bought. What the tour guide and this company failed to communicate is that you must buy the ticket at the Botanical Garden with Brazilian cash and cannot use a credit card. You also cannot purchase the ticket online with credit card unless you have a Brazilian identification number known as a CPF. Well, I wish I would've known that ahead of time because neither my friend or I were carrying cash that day, only our credit cards. The tour guide paid for both our tickets and asked to be reimbursed before they dropped us off. We specifically told the guide that she didn't have to do that and the group can continue the tour without us. But she was persistent in paying for the tickets. I used my PayPal to reimburse the guide for both tickets. The tour guide charged me 207 Brazilian reals for 2 tickets. I didn't think much about the amount I paid until after the trip, when my friend pointed out that I was ripped off and overpaid them. One ticket costs 73 Brazilian reals and two tickets 146. They STOLE 61 additional reals from me. I cannot believe this tour guide was this dishonest with me. There's so much more I could write about the erratic and frantic behavior of the tour guide and this unpleasant experience, but I will save my words and let the next person express their dissatisfaction. Shame on you!!!