Amazon Tours from Manaus, Privately Guided

There are two very different seasons, and both are wonderful, so there is no single best time to visit the Amazon rainforest, only the season that matches what you want. In the high-water months (roughly January to June) the flooded forest lets you canoe among the treetops. In the low-water months (July to December) beaches and forest trails open up and wildlife gathers around the shrinking channels. We match the season to the experience you are after.

Manaus has its own international airport. Most travelers connect through São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro on a short internal flight, and there are seasonal direct routes from Miami. We arrange every flight and transfer so your arrival lines up with the start of your trip.

Light, quick-drying long sleeves and trousers, closed shoes for walks, sandals for the boat, a rain layer, a hat, insect repellent, sunscreen, and a swimsuit. We send a full tailored packing list once your style and season are set.

A yellow fever vaccination is recommended for the Amazon region, and it is worth arranging a few weeks before you travel. For your exact situation, please check with your doctor or a travel clinic. We are happy to share what most of our travelers do.

It depends on the style. The Jungle Lodge suits most ages and fitness levels, including families with children. The River Expedition is gentle but involves more time on the move. Trekking and Survival asks for real fitness and a taste for roughing it. Tell us who is traveling and we point you to the right fit.

It is one of our favorite pairings. The Amazon for dense rainforest and river life, the Pantanal for open-wetland wildlife and the best chance of wild jaguars. We handle the internal flights and transfers so it flows as one seamless private journey.

Yes. If you arrive a day early we arrange your Manaus hotel and a Meeting of the Waters day tour, so no time is wasted before your journey begins.

Yes, with the right lodge and pace. The Jungle Lodge suits families best: family rooms, short canoe outings, easy wildlife spotting and creature-filled walks that children love, all with a guide who adapts to their attention span. We keep the days gentle, build in rest, and arrange the flights and transfers so the whole family arrives together and relaxed. It slots neatly into our Family and Multi-Generational journey.

Manaus is the starting gate, not the destination. From the airport you transfer by road and boat, usually two to four hours, to a lodge or a riverboat on the Rio Negro, away from the city and its noise. From there the days run on the river rhythm: canoe outings at dawn and dusk when the wildlife moves, forest walks with a local guide, a village visit, a night on the water listening for caimans. Three days is the shortest that feels worth the journey, four or five is better.

A lodge gives you a base: a proper room, a hammock deck, the same stretch of forest explored in depth, and it is the easier choice with children or on a first visit. A riverboat moves you every day, deeper upriver and away from anything else, with the cabin travelling with you. Same rainforest, different relationship to it. Tell us which of those sounds like your kind of week and we will say honestly which one fits.

Privately guided Amazon trips start from US$950 per person for four days on the ground, with accommodation, transfers and guiding included. Flights, international and domestic, are not part of that. Whether you stay in a lodge or aboard a riverboat, the season and the size of your party move the figure most. The written proposal states the exact total before anything is confirmed.