Pedra Azul

Pedra Azul is a granite inselberg rising to about eighteen hundred metres above the Espirito Santo highlands, and the blue in the name is real but conditional - the rock is stained with lichen and algae that read blue-grey in some light and green or almost violet in others, so the colour changes through the day and people who arrive at the wrong hour are often puzzled by the name. Locals point out a face profile in the silhouette. The state park protects the dome and the forest around it, and the trail up to the natural pools on the flank is guided, capped and needs booking. The surrounding highlands are cool, settled by German and Italian immigrants, and are now a weekend region of chalets and coffee for people from Vitoria.

What you actually see

• A colour that shifts - lichen and algae reading blue, grey or green by the hour.
• A 1,800-metre granite dome - standing clear above the highlands.
• Guided pools trail - capped daily places on the flank of the rock.
• Immigrant highlands - the German and Italian settlement around it.

When to go

April to September. A day. Late afternoon gives the strongest blue.

Honest expectations

The trail requires advance booking and fills at weekends, and turning up without one usually means only seeing the rock from below. The climb is steep and slippery on wet granite. Cloud hides the dome entirely on many days.

Nearby

Domingos Martins is below; Vitoria is east on the coast.