A Two-Day Tour of the Largest Amazon Rainforest

We booked a 2-day, 1-night tour in advance after flying to Manaus. Since our flight arrived in the early morning, we asked the travel agency to book a hotel for us. Our return flight was in the evening, but the two-day tour ended around 3:30 p.m., so we added an extra pink dolphin experience 🐬 Total Cost: For two adults, one child, plus hotel, airport pickup, and the pink dolphin experience, the total was 2000 reais. I contacted two tour agencies at the time. I chose this one because it offered a one-time price that included all activities, and we could even negotiate the price! The other agency was 200 reais cheaper, but you had to pay 20-50 reais extra for every activity you wanted to join—super annoying and totally ruins the mood 😒, so we definitely went with the first one. Later, though, we realized all their boats seemed to be arranged by the dock, both ways. On the way back, when our boat arrived at the port, no one was there to meet us, and we didn’t have permission to dock, so we weren’t allowed to land. We ended up going out when there were other boats and coming back when there weren’t, going back and forth for half an hour—it was such a hassle 😮‍💨 Now, about the itinerary—all agencies have pretty much the same itinerary, just different prices. The tour guide speaks English, Portuguese, Italian, and German, so communication was mostly fine, and they sent someone who spoke English to stay with us. Day 1: We set off from Manaus Port by boat at 8:30 a.m. for the rainforest, and on the way, we got to see the confluence of the two rivers 🌊. (First, we took a boat to the opposite bank, then a 2-hour drive to the depths of the rainforest, then another half-hour boat ride to a wooden lodge in the rainforest.) After lunch and a break at the lodge, we took a boat in the afternoon to fish for piranhas in the Amazon River 🐟. As the sun was setting, we jumped into the Amazon River for a swim 🏊‍♀️. After dark, on the way back, we tried to catch caimans 🐊. We were supposed to go to a spot to grill fish, but the boat broke down, so that got canceled, and we just headed back. On the way back, we lay on the boat, looked up at the stars over the Amazon ✨, and had dinner. At night, we could choose to sleep in the lodge or in rainforest hammocks—since the lodge had air conditioning, we chose the lodge 😌 Day 2: We woke up at 5 a.m. to watch the sunrise 🌅, then went back to bed after. We had breakfast around 9 a.m., then went for a 2-hour rainforest walk. During those two hours, we learned about lots of tree species and insects, tasted various tree saps, and tried swinging on rainforest vines 🌿—but we didn’t see a single wild animal! Later, when we got back, they took us to a nearby yard to see their captive-bred macaws 🦜. It felt like most of the trip was spent traveling, and there wasn’t much to do in the rainforest. So even a two-day tour felt a bit boring—three-day tours probably just mean staying an extra day in the rainforest, rowing boats, or swimming in the river 😶 We got back to Manaus around 3:00 p.m., then went to see the pink dolphins. There were changing rooms and restrooms there—each family got three fish to feed the dolphins, and after feeding, we got to swim with the dolphins in the Negro River. Then we headed back to Manaus. What to bring into the rainforest: Long pants, long-sleeved shirt, hat 🧢, towel, camera 📷, sunscreen 🧴, sunglasses 🕶️, mosquito repellent spray (a must!), swim trunks, sports shoes 👟 #AmazonRainforest #AmazonGuide #Manaus