Pico da Bandeira

At 2,892 metres Pico da Bandeira is the third-highest mountain in Brazil, after Pico da Neblina and Pico 31 de Marco on the Venezuelan frontier, and it is by a wide margin the easiest of the three to reach - which is why it has become the standard high summit for Brazilian walkers. It stands on the Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo border inside Caparao National Park. The usual approach is to take a jeep up to Tronqueira, camp at Terreirao, and start walking around three in the morning to reach the top for sunrise, when the peaks stand above a cloud layer filling the valleys. The route is a walk rather than a climb, on rock and high grassland, with no technical sections.

What you actually see

• Brazil's third-highest summit - 2,892 metres, and the most accessible of the top three.
• A sunrise above cloud - valleys filled below the ridge line at first light.
• A walk, not a climb - rock and grassland with nothing technical.
• Atlantic forest below - the belt of protected forest on the way up.

When to go

May to September, the dry season. Two days including the overnight camp.

Honest expectations

Nights at Terreirao are genuinely cold and frost is common in winter - people underestimate this badly. The pre-dawn start is on rough ground by headtorch. Weather closes the view often enough that a spare day helps. The jeep transfer to Tronqueira is a separate cost.

Nearby

Alto Caparao is the base village; Caparao village is on the Espirito Santo side.