Pedra Grande means Big Stone and is a huge mountain top above the city of Atibaia. Only 45 miles (70 km) from the center of São Paulo, you have to drive from the highway Dom Pedro I about 6 miles (10 km) on an unpaved road to the top of the plateau. During or shortly after a rain you can manage arriving at the top only by motor bike or jeep and you need to walk the last part. Up there you have a marvellous view you fain endemic plants, can climb (an equipment is not necessary) and can watch paragliders jumping from there. If you book in advance, you may make a flight too, alone or with a teacher.

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On half of the way to the top, until where you can always drive by car, there is a wonderful pousada (guest house) with swimming pool, sauna, a lake and a very good kitchen. It is a great place to recvoer, for walks or hikes, to be lazy as also without conenction to you celular.
But if you wish you can also aty in one of the hotels of all classes in Atibaia or just make a day trip from São Paulo.

Photos of the pousada on the way to the top of Pedra Grande:

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Paragliding (Portuguese /English)

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Águas de São Pedro ist the second smallest city of Brazil, with an area of only 1.4 square miles (3.64 km²) and less than 3000 inhabitants. It is about 110 miles (170km) from the capital in the inner of the state of São Paulo. When people drilled here to find oil in the 1920s, instead of oil appeared sulphurous medicinal water instead of oil. Since 1940 the city is a bath.

São Pedro is very close. Shortly behind this small town there is a steep road leading up to the Serra de São Pedro, from where you have a terrific sight to the highlands below. Arriving on the top there is a crossing, one road leading to Brotas, a city well known for adventure sport, and rather crowded. At this crossing you turn to the right  and after e few miles there is a nice place to have a juice or lunch. It is located directly at the slope. You can rest and enjoy the view. Following the road further, there are several diversions to waterfalls. These roads are sandy, passing fields and forests.

From the parking lot are trails leading to the falls, in some places you can do some hiking to visit up to three beautiful waterfalls. The highest one of the state of SãoPaulo with a height of 314 ft (96 m), the Cachoeira Saltão,  you can enjoy from a canyon. Also possible is rapelling  and down at the bottom you can swim.

You can spend a day to get a fast impression, but we recommend to stay at least two days, spending the nights in one of the pousadas, directly in the wonderful nature.

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We can arrange everything, the search and booking for a hotel as well as the transfer to and from the region or to other places in Brazil.

Links

Paragliding (Portuguese/English)

Adventure sports in Brotas

Brotas on the site of the ministery of tourism

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Paraty

Paraty is a historic city at the southern coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro. The date of the first settlements is not known, but it must have been around 1550, it was the end point of a trail from São Paulo following the Paraíba Valley in the highland. From here the journey to Rio de Janeiro was continued by ship.

The complete historic center exists, small white houses of the 17th century with painted door and window frames with streets made by slaves. It is UNESCO world heritage. In Paraty also every year an internacional festival of literature takes place.

When gold and diamonds were found in the inner of Brazil (state of Minas Gerais) in the 17th century a trail of stones was built, the caminho de ouro. It was necessary for the transport of gold and diamonds to the coast, but also to get slaves and food into the inner of Brazil. Length: more than 1400 kms. It also is world heritage and close to Paraty a part is freed of the jungle, so you can make a walk on the caminho do ouro.

1728 the direct trail from Minas Gerais to Rio de Janeiro was completed and Paraty lost its importance. Only a few small periods Paraty became important again, when Rio grew fast and needed food from outside. The region is well known for its suger cane and of course for a product made of the cane, the alcoholic drink cachaça, which is used for the famous caipirinha. Finally, the farmers from the Paraíba Valley used Paraty to export the coffee via Paraty and buy slaves for the farms. When the railway Rio – São Paulo was finished in the mid of the 19th century, Paraty finally was forgotten, until the 50s of the 20th century.

When you visit the center today, you feel back in the 18th century, and although you meet many tourists, you notice this special athmosphere. Small shops, restaurants and bars as well as many artists make this place special. Sit inside a backyard of a restaurant, listening to brazilian music, or in front on the street, watching the people pass, talking, having fun. You will never forget.

You can make lovely tours by schooners during the day, visiting nice beaches along the coast or on an island … green water is waiting for you to swim between fish, get sun tanned. Meals and drinks are served on the schooners. To get to the place where the schooners leave in the late morning, you pass the historic center.

There is also a beach close to the city, but the better ones you find a few kms outside, the most beautiful is Trindade. Once discovered by hippies it is a pleasant place to spend with its small pousadas (guest houses) and restaruants.

Also near Paraty there is the possibility to visit quilombos, villages founded by slaves that flew.

Finally, beside the trail, tours by schooner, visiting beaches and quilombos, you can make tours by bicycle (for rent) or make a trilha to waterfalls. The Cachoeira Tobogã is very close to the caminho de ouro, where there is a natural slide. And if you wish, you can make a tour by canoe and foot, sleeping one night in a hut in the rain forest.

Paraty, feel centuries back!

Parati in Google Maps

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We can arrange everything, the search and booking for a hotel as well as the transfer to and from the region or to other places in Brazil.

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Barra do Una

at km 185 of the road Rio – Santos

135 km from São Paulo
19 km from Bertioga, 57 km from São Sebastião

The village is close to the Rio Uno and has an authentic atmosphere with fishermen, artisans and nice restaurants. The beach offers good conditions for surfers and swimmers.

You have many possibilities to make trips to sea by boat, but also by canoe on the Rio Uno.

The most beautiful hikes of the litoral norte of São Paulo to the Mata Atlântica are possible with many waterfalls, animals and plants. Kajaking is also a possibilty to see the beauty of the rain forest from another angle.

From the high hill that is between Barra do Una and Juquehy, you will have a wonderful view

Don´t miss Barra do Una!

Barra do Una in Google Maps

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We can arrange everything, the search and booking for a hotel as well as the transfer to and from the region or to other places in Brazil.

Activities

wanna-surf

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Foz do Iguaçu

Foz do Iguaçu is the Brazilian city at the famous waterfalls of Iguaçu and at the borders to Paraguay and Argentina. The waterfalls are higher than the Victoria Falls, wider than the Niagara Falls, they are the most exciting. They are in the list of UNESCO World Heritage (the small national park in Argentina since 1984. the Brazilian national park since 1986). The water falls about 80 meters deep on a range of about 2700 meters, in more than 270 cascades. The name of the river comes fron the native tribe of the Guarani, in their language the word Yguazu means “big water”.

At the falls you will see millions of butterflies, many birds, if you are lucky sometimes monkees and caimans (but no reason to have fear, you are safe). It is home to many rare and endangered species of flora and fauna, among them the giant otter and the giant anteater. The clouds of spray produced by the waterfall are conducive to the growth of lush vegetation.

A part of the falls is on the Argentinian side, the other part on the Brazilian. For the Argentinian side you should plan a complete day in the national park there, on the Brazilian half a day. There, close to the entrance of the national park is a marvellous small zoo mainly with birds and plants of the region.

Another interesting place is Itaipu, the still largest hydroelectric plant in the world, producing 90% of the needed electricity of Paraguay and 20% of the need of Brazil. The dam has a lenght of 7235 m,and a height of 195 m. The water passing is 40 times as much as the average flow at the waterfalls of Iguaçu . It can be visited by day, but in the evening it will be illuminated. More information: see links below

Iguaçu in Google Maps

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We can arrange everything, the search and booking for a hotel as well as the transfer to and from the region or to other places in Brazil.

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PETAR, Ilha Comprida and Iguape

PETAR (Parque Estadual Turístico Alta Ribeira)

In the south of the state São Paulo was founded a national park in the year 1958, which is nowadays part of UNESCO – world heritage. It is the largest area of Atlantic Rainforest (Mata Atlântica), with many waterfalls, also Quilombos (settlements of slaves that flew) and about 300 caves, of which twelve can be visited. Some of them have rivers, and the cave Casa de Pedra has the largest entry with a height of 215m. It can be visted, but not entered.

An unique flora and fauna expects the visitor in this region: bromelias, orchidees, fruits, monkees, many other animals and birds. You have the possibility to see everything by foot (as the caves and waterfalls), but also sportive activities await you: swimming in the natural swimming pools under waterfalls, boia-cross (on a river on floating tires), descending waterfalls and tours by bike.

You may not enter the park alone, you do need a guide (called monitor) that accompanies up to eight persons. A booking in time is better as also the daily number of visitors in the caves is limited

The region has cheap and rather simple guest houses, being ni the nature. As not highly developed for tourism yet it is better to make a reservation in advance, especially at long weekends or during vacations.

Optimal is a stay of three to four days. You need shoes for walking (tennis shoes for example), trousers and tourches would be good, too. ein Aufenthalt von drei bis vier Tagen.

The main attractions are at the road Iporanga – Apiai. close to PETAR, in the city Apiai are the rests of an old gold mill, which is museum nowadays.

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Ilha Compida, Iguape and Cananeia

Also interesting is a tour to Ilha Comprida (Long Islandl) at the south coast of the state of São Paulo, which is about three hours of driving away from PETAR and also Sao Paulo. And, different as at the north coast of São Paulo there are only simple but comfortable guest houses available.

There you have the possibility to watch tucuxi (dolphins), which live in the ocean as well as in rivers.

Iguape is one of the oldest cities of Brazil, it was in the beginning because of the contract of Tordesilhas spanish. Finding gold in the region the city grew very fast, in the 17th century here was produced the first Brazilian money. After the gold rush the city survived by planting a very good rice, which was exported to Europe. It is said that each week ten ships with rice left for Europe. When shortening the way to the sea port by a channel, the river Ribeira left a lot of sand in the harbor, which meant the end of the importance of Iguape. Today, Iguape with its basilica and historic center is a place to relax, life is passing slow there.

Cananeia is the city most South in the State of SãoPaulo and only has 13 thousand inhabitants. Cananeia is the oldest portuguese settlement of Brazil, the first settlers arrived in 1502 – before the foundation of the officially oldest city in Brazil, São Vicente. There are not many tourists here, in summer 2010 only 30 thousand visitors came tovisit the UN nature heritage. From Cananeia you can make tours by boat to the  Ilha Cardoso and make tours in the rain forest. In the area there are many  tucuxi-dolfins, the only ones that live in rivers as well as in the ocean.

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Especially in this region we offer a package with an English speaking guide and a car as it is not very easy without some knowledge of portuguese. We can arrange everything, the search and booking for a hotel as well as the transfer to and from the region or to other places in Brazil.

Gamboa Eco Refugio, PETAR

Pousada Fazenda Caacupé, PETAR

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