Sete Cidades National Park

The park's name comes from the way the sandstone outcrops fall into seven separate groups, which early visitors read as the ruins of seven cities. They are natural: Devonian sandstone weathered into blocks, arches, mushrooms and overhangs, with iron oxide staining them red and yellow. Popular names attach to individual shapes - the Map of Brazil, the Elephant's Head, the Tortoise - and a road with walking trails links the groups. The real depth is under the overhangs, where hundreds of panels of prehistoric rock painting in red pigment show human figures, animals and geometric marks, part of the same north-eastern Brazilian tradition studied at Serra da Capivara further south. Cerrado and caatinga vegetation meet across the park.

What you actually see

• Seven groups of formations - the clusters early visitors mistook for ruined cities.
• Weathered sandstone shapes - arches, mushrooms and blocks stained red by iron.
• Prehistoric rock paintings - red-pigment panels under the overhangs.
• Cerrado meeting caatinga - the two dry-country vegetations overlapping here.

When to go

June to November, the dry season. A day. Go early, the rock has no shade.

Honest expectations

The park is small and a full circuit takes a few hours. There is no public transport from Piracuruca. Heat is severe from mid-morning. Rock art panels need a guide to find and read properly.

Nearby

Parnaiba Delta is north on the coast; Serra da Capivara is far south in the same state.