Top Recife Art & Culture

We will start with the Historic Colonial Center of Olinda where we’ll see a lovely city built with colonial houses surrounded by beautiful palm trees, the Atlantic jungle while we have the sea as a perfect background. We’ll find out and see that streets are made out of stone throughout the Historical Center of Olinda. It has colorful houses, very captivating for its bright and happy colors. We’ll have stops at the Monastery and Basilica of São Bento which depicts its Brazilian Baroque Art. We’ll continue by visiting la Rúa do Amparo, craftsman workshops, artists along the Largo da Misericórdia and Alto da Sé. During our next stop, we’ll get to know the famous giant dolls of Olinda, created by the renowned giant doll maker Silvio Botelho, who brings joy during the Carnival period. We will visit the neighborhood called Recife Antigo, until we reach Arsenal, the second most important square in the neighborhood, a center for crafts and old buildings.

Explore the Ricardo Brennand Institute during this 5-hour tour in Recife. Follow an audio guide through the world-class art collection, including one of the world's largest weapons collections and a significant number of Frans Prost paintings. Continue to the Oficina Francisco Brennand to see a collection of a native Brazilian contemporary sculptor, with an additional visit to the Park of Sculptures to see more of the artist's work. Entrance fees and round-trip transportation from select Recife hotels are included.

Compare past and present with a tour of modern Recife and colonial-era Olinda. Take a panoramic ride through Recife, crossing graceful bridges in the old town areas and on the way, you will drive along the scenic shoreline through Boa Viagem, passing the imposing colonial-era Governor’s Mansion and Santa Isabel Theater. Arrive in charming Olinda and begin exploring. Founded in 1534 and named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982, historic Olinda retains many fine examples of colonial-era architecture, despite the Dutch burning down much of the city in the early 17th century. Visit Sé Cathedral and admire its Portuguese tiles and gilded carvings. Stop for a photo of the picturesque views of Recife and Boa Viagem, and enjoy a refreshing beverage before returning to your Hotel.

Explore Olinda, a UNESCO World Heritage-listed city known as the 'Venice of Brazil', on a 5-hour guided tour from Recife. With your knowledgeable local guide, see the highlights and landmarks of the city, including the Igreja do Camo, the Embaixada dos Bonecos Gigantes, the Rua do Amparo, Alto da Sé Square and the Francisco Brennard Museum. Listen to engaging commentary from your guide during your journey in a comfortable van equipped with WiFi, TV and a DVD player. All entrance fees and round-trip transportation from Recife are included.

We’ll begin by touring along Boa Viagem Beach that has an approximate extension of 7 km, bordering and embellishing the City, we’ll continue passing by the José Estelita’s Pier, formed by Bahía de Pina and the ancient Fuerte das Cinco Pontas. We’ll also pass through the Santo Antônio Island, and then, Praça da República, and thus admire the Campos das Princesas Palace, the government's administrative center. We’ll go on with Santa Isabel Theater from 19th century and then, we’ll walk along the Justice Palace to see the amazing Igreja de Santo Antônio Chapel, a monument of Baroque expression from 17th century, with beautiful paintings on its ceiling. We’ll also pass by the Culture House where you can appreciate the Northeast crafts and homes that are located by the Capibaribe River. Finally, we’ll visit the extraordinary Ricardo Brennand Institute, Museum and Castle which has a vast art exhibition of white weapons, combat armor, and sculptures from the 16th to 19th centuries.

Calhetas a small beach located on the south coast of Pernambuco, just 35 km from Recife, you will be surprised by this remarkable little, its primitive vegetation, rocks offering viewpoints, crystal clear, warm and deep waters, special for diving or just relaxing at sea shore. Calhetas reserve delicious encounter with the taste of sea delicacies, you can leave a little time reserved for adventure, that such a thrill of zipline ending in the sea pure adrenaline (optional), you will also be able to discover the beauties of other beaches, in an incredible walk buggy (optional) visiting old ruins, rustic beaches, ending with a mud bath, that is, passing clay with therapeutic and energizing properties throughout the body, will undoubtedly make this tour much more fun.

The Institute has a permanent collection of historical and artistic objects of various origins with a strong emphasis on historical and iconographic documentation related to the colonial period and Dutch Brazil, including the world's largest collection of paintings by Frans Post, who was the first landscape painter. Brazil and the first landscape architect of the Americas. The Institute also houses one of the largest collections of white weapons in the world, with over 3,000 pieces, mostly from Europe and Asia, produced between the 14th and 21st centuries. The Institute's library has more than 60,000 volumes from the 16th century onwards, highlighting the collections of brasiliana and rare works.