Silver Nova - Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Aires

Where this cruise calls, day by day

8 ports and 2 sea days over 9 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Rio de Janeiro

   BrazilDepart

   Rio is one of the few cities where the approach from sea is the main event — Sugarloaf, the Corcovado ridge and the bay entrance all line up as you come in. Ships dock at Pier Maua in the redeveloped port district, walking distance from the Museum of Tomorrow and the Olympic Boulevard murals. Everything else, from Christ the Redeemer to Ipanema, is a taxi or metro ride and worth planning around traffic.

   • Christ the Redeemer on Corcovado, reached by cog railway or van
   • Sugarloaf cable car from Urca
   • Copacabana and Ipanema beaches
   • Escadaria Selaron and the Santa Teresa hill tram

   Getting ashore

   Ships berth at Pier Maua in the central port area.

   Best months

   Nov-Mar (hot and humid; Dec-Feb is peak)

2. Day 2

   Rio de Janeiro

   BrazilPort

   Rio is one of the few cities where the approach from sea is the main event — Sugarloaf, the Corcovado ridge and the bay entrance all line up as you come in. Ships dock at Pier Maua in the redeveloped port district, walking distance from the Museum of Tomorrow and the Olympic Boulevard murals. Everything else, from Christ the Redeemer to Ipanema, is a taxi or metro ride and worth planning around traffic.

   • Christ the Redeemer on Corcovado, reached by cog railway or van
   • Sugarloaf cable car from Urca
   • Copacabana and Ipanema beaches
   • Escadaria Selaron and the Santa Teresa hill tram

   Getting ashore

   Ships berth at Pier Maua in the central port area.

   Best months

   Nov-Mar (hot and humid; Dec-Feb is peak)

3. Day 3

   Ilhabela

   BrazilPort

   Ilhabela sits across a narrow channel from Sao Sebastiao on the Sao Paulo coast and is mostly state park: steep Atlantic forest, hundreds of waterfalls, and a sailing scene on the sheltered west side. The calm-water beaches face the mainland; the wild ones on the ocean side need a 4x4 or a boat. Locals will warn you about the borrachudos — small biting flies that are a genuine nuisance in summer.

   • Cachoeira da Toca waterfall and natural slides
   • Vila (Sao Sebastiao village) with its colonial church and waterfront
   • Praia do Bonete, reachable by boat or a long coastal trail
   • The channel yacht anchorage and diving on nearby wrecks

   Getting ashore

   Tender to the town pier; ships anchor in the Sao Sebastiao channel.

   Best months

   Nov-Mar (hot and wet; bring repellent)

4. Day 4 · At sea

5. Day 5

   Porto Belo

   BrazilPort

   Porto Belo is a small resort town on a peninsula in Santa Catarina, and the call is essentially a beach day. The town beach is calm and shallow; the better swimming and snorkelling is at Bombinhas and Praia de Quatro Ilhas a few kilometres round the headland. Ilha de Porto Belo, just offshore, has trails, a small archaeological display and clear water.

   • Ilha de Porto Belo, a short boat hop with trails and swimming
   • Bombinhas and Praia de Quatro Ilhas
   • Praia de Bombas for calm shallow water
   • Boat trips to Arvoredo Marine Reserve

   Getting ashore

   Tender only — ships anchor in the bay off the town beach.

   Best months

   Dec-Mar

6. Day 6 · At sea

7. Day 7

   Punta del Este

   UruguayPort

   Punta del Este is South America's Riviera stand-in — a peninsula of high-rise apartments between a calm bay side and a rough ocean side, packed in January and quiet the rest of the year. The best-known sight is La Mano, a giant concrete hand clawing out of Brava beach. Beyond the towers, Casapueblo at Punta Ballena and the artists' town of Jose Ignacio are the usual excursions.

   • La Mano (Los Dedos) sculpture on Playa Brava
   • Casapueblo, Carlos Paez Vilaro's whitewashed cliff house at Punta Ballena
   • The yacht harbour and its resident sea lions
   • Isla de Lobos and Isla Gorriti boat trips

   Getting ashore

   Ships anchor offshore and tender to the yacht harbour; there is no cruise berth.

   Best months

   Dec-Mar

8. Day 8

   Montevideo

   UruguayPort

   Uruguay's capital is a low-key, walkable city where the cruise berth is genuinely close to the old town for once. Ciudad Vieja gives you Art Deco and crumbling neoclassical in the same block, and the Mercado del Puerto is a shed full of wood-fired grills that most passengers end up in by noon. The Rambla runs for miles along the river-sea, and the beaches at Pocitos are a short taxi away.

   • Mercado del Puerto and its parrilla grills
   • Plaza Independencia, the Palacio Salvo and Artigas mausoleum
   • Teatro Solis
   • The Rambla and Pocitos beach

   Getting ashore

   Ships berth in the working port a few minutes' walk from Ciudad Vieja.

   Best months

   Nov-Mar

9. Day 9

   Buenos Aires

   ArgentinaPort

   Buenos Aires is a turnaround port as often as a port of call, and either way you need more than a day. The terminal sits in Puerto Nuevo, close enough to walk into the Retiro area but far enough that most people take a taxi. The city rewards wandering: Beaux-Arts blocks, enormous cafes, bookshops in old theatres, and a tango scene that ranges from genuine milongas to dinner shows built for tour buses.

   • Recoleta Cemetery and Evita Peron's grave
   • Caminito and the painted houses of La Boca
   • San Telmo's Sunday antiques market on Plaza Dorrego
   • Teatro Colon backstage tour

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock at the Benito Quinquela Martin terminal in Puerto Nuevo, roughly 15 minutes by taxi from the centre.

   Best months

   Oct-Apr

10. Day 10

    Buenos Aires

    ArgentinaArrive

    Buenos Aires is a turnaround port as often as a port of call, and either way you need more than a day. The terminal sits in Puerto Nuevo, close enough to walk into the Retiro area but far enough that most people take a taxi. The city rewards wandering: Beaux-Arts blocks, enormous cafes, bookshops in old theatres, and a tango scene that ranges from genuine milongas to dinner shows built for tour buses.

    • Recoleta Cemetery and Evita Peron's grave
    • Caminito and the painted houses of La Boca
    • San Telmo's Sunday antiques market on Plaza Dorrego
    • Teatro Colon backstage tour

    Getting ashore

    Ships dock at the Benito Quinquela Martin terminal in Puerto Nuevo, roughly 15 minutes by taxi from the centre.

    Best months

    Oct-Apr