For those who want to discover that Rio de Janeiro is just the beginning.
Just a few hours from the city, between the Bocaina Mountains and the sea, Paraty awaits as one of Brazil's best-kept secrets — a destination that enchants even before arriving, as the road leaves the pavement and the landscape yields to an increasingly lush and untouched nature.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, recognized simultaneously for its historic center and biodiversity, Paraty exists in a category of its own.
The historic center is a journey through time. Irregular stone streets, designed to be flooded by the tide and thus naturally cleaned, lead visitors among 18th-century churches, colonial mansions with colorful facades, studios, cachaça distilleries, and bistros that make Paraty one of the most sophisticated cultural and gastronomic destinations in Brazil.
The craft cachaça is a chapter unto itself — the region produces some of the most awarded and celebrated in the country, and a visit to a traditional distillery is an experience that goes far beyond tasting. Around the city, the preserved Atlantic Forest holds trails, waterfalls, and hideaways of a beauty that silences any visitor.
But it is in the sea that Paraty reveals its most precious card. The bay, dotted with islands covered in vegetation that descend to the white sand, is a permanent invitation to sailing, diving, and contemplation. Crystal-clear waters, deserted beaches, and a horizon that seems painted by hand complete an experience that combines, with rare elegance, history, nature, culture, and beauty.
A journey that expands beyond Rio — and that no one who experiences it just once can resist wanting to repeat.