Southern Brazil - Advice? Trip reports?
 

Hi all,
Just hit Argentina and heading south, but planning to loop back north through Uruguay and southern Brazil. Looking for some advice. We should be entering Uruguay in early March and planning to ship home in May or June. We're in a Toyota 4Runner and tent camping most of the way.

- What places shouldn't we miss?
- Any blogs or recent trip reports I should read?
- Is the Pantanal going to be passable in the end of the wet season?
- Anything to see in Paraguay?

Thanks in advance!

Hello, in southern Brazil there are some very nice areas that you shoudn´t miss.

The Gramado/Canela area in Rio Grande do Sul is very nice and from there head up to Itaimbezinho and the Parque Nacional de Aparados da Serra where you will see beautiful canions. From there, go to São José dos Ausentes, and from there head north in a very nice dirt road that will take you to Bom Jardim da Serra. There are some nice waterfalls on the way and also beautiful canions that can be seen if you take short detours. Be sure to ask in São José dos Ausentes before going to Bom Jardim da Serra. From Bom Jardim da Serra go east to Lauro Muller via the awesome Serra do Rio do Rastro

Resultados da Pesquisa de imagens do Google para http://areadeescape.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/postalserra.jpg

From Lauro Muller, head north to Grão Pará and then head west to Urubici via Serra do Corvo Branco, a beautiful dirt road that goes up the serra (mountains)

Oops, I hit the wrong key and hadn´t finished yet. Here´s a pic of Corvo Branco

Resultados da Pesquisa de imagens do Google para http://portaldeurubici.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/urubici-serra-corvo-branco-04-foto-juan-rivas.jpg

Urubici is a nice *adventure* city with good rafting and many other activities. From there, go to Florianopolis, a beautiful island.

If after Florianopolis you still plan to go north, let me know and I´ll give you some suggestions to avoid the highways.

Enjoy your trip!

Fernando
Ilhabela, Brazil

Here´s a little video of one my trips to Serra do Rio do Rastro

DESCIDA DE MOTO SERRA DO RIO DO RASTRO - EDITADO - JUNHO 2011 - YouTube

Hi Fernando,
Thanks so much for the info. Yes, we do plan to continue north from Floranopolis, at least to Rio, but probably not farther than that. We have only about 6-8 weeks.
Thanks again!

OK, here´s a suggestion to go From Florianopolis to Rio. I would strongly suggest to avoid São Paulo unless you have a very good reason to go there. Here´s the link:

https://maps.google.com.br/maps?sadd...6,7,8&t=m&z=10

I don´t know why Goggle shows two alternatives but I recommend the one that goes along the coast.

São Francisco do Sul is a nice old city that has a very nice Ocean Museum with several typical boats from the Brazilian coast.

:: MUSEU NACIONAL DO MAR ::

Very much worth a visit and the city is also very nice.

From Morretes to BR 116 you will go up the nice serra da Graciosa, a brick paved road that is very picturesque.

From there up until Ilhabela there is no place worth a stop. If you choose this route and plan to visit Ilhabela please let me know and we could meet up!

From Ilhabela to Rio go along the coast

https://maps.google.com.br/maps?sadd...&via=1&t=m&z=9

and make sure to make a stop in Paraty, a wonderful colonial city with very nice colonial architecture. Arriving in Rio may be a bit tricky and you will have to ask in Paraty what is the best way to get there.

Thanks again Fernando. I like this coastal route. DO you think it's worth going inland at all? We were considering going to the Iguazu Falls and then to the Pantanal, and then cuting back across to the south coast. Do you think it's worth it? It's a long way out of the way and will likely be the end of the rainy season in the Pantanal.

Hi, altought I´ve been to both Iguaçu and Pantanal I´m really not very familiar with these regions. I know that the ride from São Paulo to Iguaçu is very boring (I´ve done that once), but the falls themselves, if there is enough water volume, is out of this world. Same thing regarding the Pantanal. Riding or driving around the region does not offer many attractives coming from where you would be coming, but I´ve never done it. I´ve flown to Pantanal and, during the dry season, it is really out of this world, particularly for people who love nature and animals. As I understand it, during the wet season there is not much to see as all the area is flooded. Hopefully some other guys more familiar with these regions will jump in and give a more informed opinion. Best,

Dont miss Iguazu falls. Stunning! Beats Niagra and Victoria falls hands down! Figure it into your loop. After there, would you be heading north or south?

Merv.

Merv-
Yes, Iguazu falls is certainly on the list. We will be heading north from there. Our plan (at the moment) is to go from Buenos Aires, though Uruguay, then back into Argentina and drive up to the falls. From the falls we cross into Brazil. We would be crossing into Brazil late March. From there we have 2-3 months before we need to ship our car home, probably from Sao Paulo or Rio. Still working on the shipping plan. But we have no idea where to go in Brazil...

Thanks for the help!
Jess

I don't know how it is to ship from Brazil, but I foresee a lot of red tape. And yes, the interior of Brazil is stunning, skip the coast!

Adventurous greetings,
Coen

The Iguazu falls are a definite have to see, visit both sides, Argentinian and Brazilian. a bit more north the pantenal is worth visiting as also (though quite commercial) the town Bonito.
Lots of excursions from there, snorkeling a river, "big hole" with Arka's, Bleu cave, etc. Do a few day's tour in the pantanal it's worth it.
If you fancy nature, monkeys, alligators, birds etc.
For an impression with pictures stanswebsite.tk , Zuid Amerika 2010 - 2011 , November .

You just got a bunch of very good advice:

Go see the falls: entirely worthwhile. As was said above, better than Victoria Falls--which is saying something.

Go to the Pantanal: also worthwhile, but you'll want to do a lot of travel within the wetlands by boat, and that means either a big, organized tour or some more casual poking around in canoes. I was there in March or April, and it was easy enough to just show up at lodges in both northern and southern Pantanal and negotiate lodging, food and tours.

Don't ship from Brazil. It will be easier from Buenos Aires, and worth the couple of days driving down there. Google Dakar Motos in B.A., get a number and call them to talk to Sandra about shipping--she gives excellent advice for free, and makes arrangements for a price.

I would add only that you should be aware of a longstanding police scam on ruta 13 heading to or from the falls in Argentina. You can Google this too, looking for the thread on horizonsunlimited.com which discusses it through the years. There is no need to encourage them by paying anything.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

coming to the Falls
 

Just in case you come to the Falls, give me shall so I can help with your reports showing the city and the main points for travellers. Just let me know in advance so I can arrange some time free.

Cheers

Rod

Thanks again everyone. This info has just saved me hours of time.

At this time we are planning to ship from Montevideo. I'm waiting for official quotes, but I have been warned that the port fees and taxes are much higher from Brazil. Also, we don't speak any Portuguese.

I think we'll go from the falls to the Pantanal and self drive what we can and arrange a boat tour for the rest. Then we'll cut across the main land roughly to Rio and drive south, more or less along the coast, and back to Uruguay.

Thanks again.