FreeWalkerTours
Culture of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, known worldwide for its paradisiacal beaches and breathtaking landscapes, is much more than a tourist destination. In addition to its natural beauty,
More than 10,000 tourists have joined the Free Paraty City Tour!
Get a totally totally different perspective of the Historic Center of Paraty and enjoy your trip much more! Discover in our tour the history and curiosities of the city, the funny facts most people don’t know and find out the best tips of what to do and where to eat with our Free Walking Tour Paraty.
Every day at 10:30am and 5pm.
About 2 hours
Price: Pay as much as you think the tour was worth! No minimum, no maximum!
Quality: As there is no minimum or maximum value for the Free Walking Tour Paraty, we do everything to make you WALK around the city and have the BEST EXPERIENCE! No wonder we won the certificate of excellence from the world’s largest travel website: TripAdvisor!
99% approval: 94% of tourists consider our tour excellent and 5% consider it good!
Fun, interactive with a lot of information: We work to make the tour a relaxing experience, where tourists participate and learn interesting information about the history of Paraty and Brazil.
Tips to make the most of your stay: Besides the best information of the city, we will give you tips so you can enjoy the city even more!
Despite the small area, the historic center of Paraty has four historic churches! That’s because at the time of the construction of the city they were divided by social classes and genres! That is, rich and poor, men and women went to different churches!
Our Lady of Remedies Church: Also known as the Matriz Church, located in front of the main square of the Historical Center: Praça da Matriz, our meeting point. This is the largest and most imposing church in the city because it was made for the rich white men at the time! Because it is the main church, it has two bells and should have two towers that were never completed.
Our Lady of Sorrows Church: Located in front of the sea, with a wonderful view of the bay, the church was made for the white women of the city. As women were considered less important, the church is not so large and has only one tower. Portuguese symbols and architecture for the defense of the city can be seen on its facade.
Rosário Church: This charming little chapel was attended only by the slaves, who despite having their own religions of African origin, were forced to become Catholics when they arrived in Brazil. Because it is a small church and of little economic importance to society, it has no tower!
Santa Rita Church: Main postcard of the city, also located in front of the bay, the church was attended by freed slaves and mulattos. It is hard to imagine that mulattos, blacks and whites attended different churches in Paraty only 200 years ago.
Doors of the Passion’s Palace: It just looks like a big door, but in fact the doors belong to the church and only open once a year during Holy Week! There are 6 doors scattered around the historic center, representing 6 of the 7 steps of the passion of Christ. The seventh is inside the Matriz Church.
Houses with Masonic symbols: A lot of people believe Paraty was designed by Masons, as the symbols of that secret society are in every corner of the historic center. Let’s unravel some of them and learn a little more about this secret society and its influence on the city.
The high tide: Some call Paraty the Venice of the tropics! This is because when the tide is high the water invades the city and floods the entire Historic Center! It is certainly one of the most beautiful visuals in the historical center! Many people think the flood is accidental, but in reality it was planned for a reason! Paraty Free Walking Tour will give details of the entrance of the tide in the city.
The Prince’s House: The descendant of our former emperors, Pedro I and Pedro II, owns a summer house in Paraty! The house has several royal symbols and sometimes we meet the prince during the tour! For those who do not remember, before becoming a republic Brazil was an empire and the royal family still exists!
Culture House: The cultural center of Paraty was built in a large house, which preserves almost everything with its original style, receives temporary exhibitions and organizes social projects for the development of the city with its residents.
Pineapple House: This is, in our opinion, the most beautiful house in the historic center and we believe you won’t disagree. All decked out of pineapples and with many Mason symbols we’ll explore during the tour!
Reservation required
On the Free Walking Tour Paraty, discover the culture and history and see Paraty from a much more enchanting perspective!
You’ll enjoy the Brazilian Venice as a true local after our tour. And will be able to identify all sorts of hidden secrets on the city with a well trained eye.
Free Walker Tours’s mission on the Free Walking Tour Paraty is to show how rich Paraty is in history, culture and economy!
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