Paraty
Paraty's historic centre was built to flood, and it does at every full moon, when the streets fill and the houses double in the water. Brazil's only fjord is a boat ride away.
Paraty in a nutshell
Paraty: what to expect
Our travellers have planned 71,000+ stops in Brazil on Stippl. That is where the numbers here come from.
Paraty survived because it was forgotten. Founded in 1667 as the sea end of the gold route from Minas Gerais, it was abandoned when the port moved to Rio, and the colonial centre stayed exactly as it was. The streets are car-free, paved in large rounded stones, and they flood at spring tides by design so the sea washes them clean. The town built four churches, one each for the rich, for women, for free people of colour and for the enslaved, and Santa Rita dates from 1722.
The longest Brazilian itineraries and the most domestic ones are the same trips, and Paraty is on both. Trips carrying it hold nearly twice the Brazilian stops of the national picture, and more of them stay inside the country than at any comparable destination: length and border-crossing turn out to be separate things. Three quarters of Paraty trips also carry Ilha Grande, which makes sense, because the two are one UNESCO property.
3 nights is what almost everyone plans, and the range barely moves. Two thirds of the stays here are two or three nights and nineteen in twenty are four or fewer, the tightest distribution we have measured anywhere. Take the schooner out into the bay and the jeep up to Cachoeira do Tobogã and an alembic. Skip Paraty if uneven ground is a problem for you, because the cobbles are boulders and the centre offers no alternative surface.
Für wen sich Paraty eignet
Here for the colonial centre
It is the best-preserved one on the Brazilian coast and it is the whole reason the town is on the map
Eaters.
A UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy designation, seafood straight out of the bay, and a cachaça tradition older than the country
Pairing it with Ilha Grande
Three quarters of Paraty trips carry the island, and the two are one UNESCO property
Walkers and jeep-tour takers
for the Gold Trail, the waterfalls and Serra da Bocaina
Not for a week.
Half of everyone plans two or three nights and 94% plan four or fewer
Wann du nach Paraty reist
Wet summer
December–March
427–543 mm a month, hot, humid, and the town at its most expensive. Our peak.
Dry winter
June–September
104–192 mm, 19–20 °C, clear walking weather. The best time to be here.
- The booking peak (Q1): 34.3% of trip starts against a national 30.2%
Add your Paraty dates and we'll flag the weather
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Beschreibe deine Reise und erhalte in Sekunden eine Route für Paraty
Alles in diesem Reiseführer ist bereits in Stippl. Sag dem Planer, wie viel Zeit du hast und was dir gefällt: Er baut die Route, die Tage und die Reisezeiten, und du änderst, was du willst.
Was du in Paraty nicht verpassen solltest
Photo by Gilberto Olimpio via Unsplash
Photo by Douglas Lopez via Unsplash
Photo by Desert Morocco Adventure via UnsplashWalking the Centro Histórico
ideally at a spring-tide high water when the streets flood and the buildings double in the water
A schooner day on Paraty Bay
island to island with swimming and snorkelling stops and lunch aboard
The jeep tour to the waterfalls and an alembic
Cachoeira do Tobogã, where you slide down the rock, and a cachaça tasting to finish
Saco do Mamanguá
described as Brazil's only fjord, with the Pico do Pão de Açúcar climb of about 425 m above it
The Caminho do Ouro
the stone-paved colonial gold road up into Serra da Bocaina, walked as a half day or as a multi-day trek
Kayaking the bay and the mangroves
from Praia do Pontal, best in the morning before the wind
Die Viertel von Paraty
Centro Histórico
first-timers, culture
The car-free colonial grid: whitewashed houses with coloured shutters, four churches, the pier, and every restaurant worth the trip. Floods at spring tides
The best-preserved colonial centre on the coast, car-free and flooding at spring tides.
The edge of the centre
comfort, families
A few streets back from the cobbles: pousadas with gardens and pools, easier walking, five minutes in
Pousadas with gardens, pools and parking, five minutes from the cobbles.
Praia do Pontal
budget, sunset
Across the river north of the centre, the town beach with the beach bars on it
The town beach with the beach bars, and where the bay kayaking starts.
Praia do Jabaquara
families
The second beach, north again and still on foot from the centre, calmer and shallower
Calm shallow water, still on foot from the centre.
Paraty Mirim & the bay
off-the-beaten-path
Bays south-east of town reached by road or boat, where the beach pousadas are. Merges into Paraty in our data
Quiet bay beaches with the beach pousadas on them, by road or boat from town.
See every Paraty neighbourhood on one map
Save the areas you like and Stippl plots your days so you're not crossing the city twice.
Wo man in Paraty übernachtet
Pousadas are the format, most of them in colonial buildings inside or beside the centre
Centro Histórico
The car-free colonial grid: whitewashed houses with coloured shutters, four churches, the pier, and every restaurant worth the trip. Floods at spring tides
The edge of the centre
A few streets back from the cobbles: pousadas with gardens and pools, easier walking, five minutes in
Praia do Pontal
Across the river north of the centre, the town beach with the beach bars on it
Praia do Jabaquara
The second beach, north again and still on foot from the centre, calmer and shallower
Paraty Mirim & the bay
Bays south-east of town reached by road or boat, where the beach pousadas are. Merges into Paraty in our data
Was du in Paraty essen solltest
Coconut-milk fish stew
Sugarcane spirit, distilled at six working artisanal alembics
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Paraty customs and what not to do
The churches were segregated
and guides tell it that way rather than glossing it
Enslaved people built the road
and the stone road above the town is their work
People live inside the listing
Caiçara, Quilombola and indigenous communities do and are part of why it was listed
Nobody walks fast in Paraty
and the town is relaxed about it, the cobbles decide the pace
Evenings are live music
and terraces rather than clubs
Tagesbudget für Paraty
Budget
€39 · ≈ €45 (R$265)
Hostel dorm, prato feito or marmitex set plates, city buses and the occasional overnight coach, free beaches and free blocos
Mid-range
€105 · ≈ €118 (R$700)
A pousada double with breakfast and air conditioning, restaurant meals, Ubers, one or two domestic flights, paid attractions
High-end
€340 · ≈ €393 (R$2,340)
Beachfront hotels, private guides, a Pantanal lodge with full board and boat safaris, Noronha, camarote seats at Carnaval
Track what you actually spend
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Wissenswertes über Paraty
A town with two UNESCO designations: World Heritage (mixed, 2019, shared with Ilha Grande) and Creative City of Gastronomy
The historic centre was built to flood, and does, at every full and new moon
"Parati" was once Brazilian shorthand for good cachaça, from more than 250 colonial mills; six alembics still work
3,407 mm of rain a year, nearly three times Rio's. January alone delivers 43% of Rio's annual total
Brazil's only fjord, Saco do Mamanguá, is a boat ride from the pier
The tightest night curve in this knowledge base. one in four stay 2 or fewer; typically 3; one in four stay longer than 3, a spread of about one night
Lokale Tipps für Paraty
The coast road
The coast road is the point of the drive. Both approaches end on the Rio–Santos coastal route through the Atlantic Forest, and one source recommends leaving the São Paulo–Rio motorway early to take more of it
The hinge between two cities
Paraty sits almost exactly between Rio and São Paulo, which is why it appears on so many itineraries as the hinge
Angra for Ilha Grande
Angra dos Reis is 1h 30 away and is the gateway to Ilha Grande. That is the hop three quarters of Paraty travellers make
The town needs no transport
The centre is car-free and both beaches are walkable
No location named
The UK government names no location in Paraty. Its Brazil advice lists specific theft spots in Rio, São Paulo, Brasília and the north-east and nothing on this coast, the country-level advice is what applies
Comfortable at night
Sources describe the town as comfortable to walk at night, which is not what the same publishers say about Rio or São Paulo
Paraty questions, answered
As a pair with Ilha Grande, because most people do. Paraty carries 6.9% of everything planned in Brazil on Stippl, and Angra dos Reis, the ferry port for the island, is ninety minutes up the road. Put both into Stippl as one Costa Verde block out of Rio de Janeiro.
Three nights. 3 nights is the normal stay in the Paraty stops planned on Stippl, and the spread around it is tight. One day for the historic centre and the cachaca distilleries, one for a schooner around the bay, one for a waterfall or a beach.
A stay. Just 17.7% of the Paraty stops on Stippl come to one night, because the town is four hours from Rio de Janeiro and the best part of it, the bay and its islands, needs a boat day of its own. One night gets you a cobbled evening and nothing more.
Yes, on the full and new moon high tides, and it is by design. The colonial centre was laid out so the sea would run up the streets and wash them clean, and it still does exactly that. Check a tide table if you have a suitcase to wheel, and enjoy it if you do not.
Not really, and people do arrive expecting one. The town beaches are ordinary. What you come for is the bay: a scatter of islands, coves and clear water reached on a schooner or a small boat, and every beach worth the trip is a crossing away from the town.
Seafood, and moqueca above all, a fish stew of coconut milk, palm oil and coriander served in a clay pot. Then cachaca, because the town has working alembics you can visit and taste at, and what they make bears no relation to the stuff in a cheap caipirinha.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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