Sao Joaquim

Sao Joaquim sits at around fourteen hundred metres and records the lowest average temperatures of any Brazilian municipality, with frost through much of the winter and snow in most years - not deep and not lasting, but enough that when it falls the roads fill with cars from the coast within hours. The cold has two agricultural consequences. Apples are the main crop, needing the winter chill hours that almost nowhere else in Brazil provides, with orchards across the plateau. And since the 1990s a high-altitude wine industry has developed here, planting vinifera at heights where the growing season is long and the harvest falls months later than in Rio Grande do Sul, producing structured reds that are among Brazil's better wines.

What you actually see

• Snow in most winters - light and brief, but real, at 1,400 metres.
• Apple orchards - the crop the winter chill makes possible.
• High-altitude vineyards - vinifera planted for a long slow season.
• Araucaria plateau - the highland forest around the town.

When to go

June to August for the cold; February to April for the wine harvest. Two days.

Honest expectations

Snow is not guaranteed in any given winter and lasts hours rather than days; when it does fall, roads jam with visitors. Wineries need booking and are spread across the plateau. Accommodation is limited and prices spike on snow forecasts.

Nearby

Urubici is north; the Serra do Rio do Rastro is east toward the coast.