Paraty

Paraty was the port through which Minas Gerais gold left for Portugal, and its perfectly preserved colonial centre, a grid of whitewashed houses with brightly painted doors and windows on streets of large irregular cobbles, is a World Heritage Site. The historic core is closed to cars and its lowest streets were built to flood at high tide, flushing themselves clean. Beyond the town lies its other half: a bay scattered with forested islands and quiet beaches, backed by the steep, dense Atlantic rainforest of the Serra da Bocaina, so a visit divides naturally between wandering the old streets and taking a schooner out among the islands to swim and snorkel. The town is also known for its cachaça distilleries and a celebrated literary festival.

History

The village was founded in 1597 and formally established as a town by Portuguese colonists in 1667, in the land of the Guaianás people, whose name for the area means river of fish in Tupi. After gold was found in Minas Gerais in 1696 it became the port from which gold went on to Rio de Janeiro and Portugal, linked to the mines by the stone-paved Caminho do Ouro; pirate attacks on the gold ships led to a safer overland route to Rio, the gold began to run out in the late 18th century, and Paraty declined. By 1820 more than 150 cachaça stills were working in the region, and the coffee trade of the Paraíba do Sul valley revived the port in the early 19th century until a railway along the valley took the traffic to Rio de Janeiro (Wikipedia, Paraty).

The main sights

• The colonial centre - the car-free grid of whitewashed houses and rough cobbles.
• A boat trip round the bay - schooner cruises to forested islands and swimming stops.
• The tide-flushed streets - the low lanes deliberately built to flood and drain clean.
• Cachaça distilleries - the traditional sugar-cane spirit made in the surrounding hills.

When to go

April to October is drier and more comfortable, with better conditions for boat trips; the summer months are hot, wet and busy. The town fills for its literary festival and holidays. Check the tide if you want to see the streets flooding.

Good to know

The large, uneven cobbles of the historic centre are genuinely hard to walk and impossible for wheels or heels, a deliberate feature that catches people out. It rains a lot on this coast, and boat trips depend on the weather. It is four hours from both Rio and São Paulo on a road that can be slow, and it gets crowded on summer weekends and during festivals.

Nearby

Trindade's beaches are close; Ilha Grande and Angra dos Reis lie along the Costa Verde towards Rio.

Key facts