Brazil Hotels

The states forming the South of Brazil - Parana , Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul - are generally considered to be the most developed part of the country. The smallest of Brazil's regions, the South maintains an economic influence completely out of proportion to its size. This is largely the result of two factors: the first is an agrarian structure that, to a great extent, is based on highly efficient small and medium-sized units; and the second is the economically over-active population which produces a per capita output considerably higher than the national average. With little of the widespread poverty found elsewhere in the country, Brazilians tend to dismiss the South as being a region that has more in common with Europe or the United States than with South America.

Superficially, at least, this view has much going for it. The inhabitants are largely of European origin, anyway, and live in well-ordered cities where there's little of the obvious squalor prevalent elsewhere. Beneath the tranquil setting, however, there are tensions: due to land shortages people are constantly forced to move vast distances - as far away as Acre in the western Amazon - to avoid being turned into mere day-labourers, and favelas are an increasingly common sight in Curitiba, Porto Alegre and the other large cities of the South. From time to time these tensions explode as landless peasants invade the huge, under-used latifundios found in the west and south of the region, and it is no coincidence that it was here that the Landless Movement (the MST) first emerged.

For the tourist, though, the region offers much that's attractive. The coast has a subtropical climate that in the summer months (November to March) attracts people who want to avoid the oppressive heat of northern resorts, and a vegetation and atmosphere that feel more Mediterranean than Brazilian. Much of the Paranaense coast is still unspoilt by the ravages of mass tourism, and building development is virtually forbidden on the beautiful islands of the Bay of Paranagua . By way of contrast, tourists have encroached along Santa Catarina's coast, but only a few places, such as Balneario Camburiu , have been allowed to develop into a concrete jungle. Otherwise, resorts such as most of those on the Ilha de Santa Catarina around Florianopolis remain small and do not seriously detract from the region's natural beauty.

The interior is even less frequently visited. Much of it is mountainous, the home of people whose way of life seems to have altered little since the arrival of the European pioneers last century. Cities in the interior that were founded by Germans (such as Blumenau in Santa Catarina), Italians ( Caxias do Sul in Rio Grande do Sul) and Ukrainians ( Prudentopolis in Parana) have lost much of their former ethnic character, but only short distances from them are villages and hamlets where time appears to have stood still. The highland areas between Lages and Vacaria , and the grasslands of southern and western Rio Grande do Sul, are largely given over to vast cattle ranches, where the modern gauchos keep alive many of the skills of their forebears.

Travelling around the South is generally easy, and there's a fine road network. Most north-south buses stick to the road running near the coast, but it's easy to devise routes passing through the interior, perhaps taking in the Jesuit ruins of Sao Miguel or the spectacular Iguacu waterfalls.

Travel Details

To begin, select a topic in the navigation bar to the left

Buses
Blumenau to: Florianopolis (6 daily; 3hr); Itajai (hourly; 2hr); Joinville (hourly; 2hr); Pomerode (hourly; 1hr).

Curitiba to: Blumenau (10 daily; 4hr); Buenos Aires (2 daily; 37hr); Florianopolis (14 daily; 5hr); Foz do Iguacu (14 daily; 10hr); Guaraquecaba (2 daily; 6hr); Paranagua (hourly; 2hr); Porto Alegre (10 daily; 11hr); Prudentopolis (4 daily; 6hr); Rio (9 daily; 11hr); Sao Paulo (hourly; 6hr).

Florianopolis to: Blumenau (6 daily; 3hr); Buenos Aires (2 daily; 30hr); Curitiba (14 daily; 5hr); Foz do Iguacu (2 daily; 16hr); Joinville (hourly; 3hr); Porto Alegre (10 daily; 7hr); Rio (8 daily; 19hr); Santo Amaro da Imperatriz (4 daily; 1hr); Sao Paulo (10 daily; 12hr).

Foz do Iguacu to: Curitiba (14 daily; 10hr); Florianopolis (2 daily; 16hr); Itaipu (hourly; 1hr); Prudentopolis (3 daily; 7hr); Rio (4 daily; 22hr); Sao Paulo (7 daily; 18hr).

Joinville to: Blumenau (hourly; 2hr); Curitiba (hourly; 2hr 30min); Florianopolis (hourly; 3hr); Porto Alegre (2 daily; 10hr); Rio (1 daily; 15hr); Sao Francisco do Sul (hourly; 1hr); Sao Paulo (7 daily; 9hr); Vila Dona Francesca (hourly; 45min).

Porto Alegre to: Buenos Aires (2 daily; 22hr); Curitiba (10 daily; 11hr); Florianopolis (10 daily; 7hr); Livramento (4 daily; 7hr); Montevideo (3 daily; 12hr); Pelotas (hourly; 3hr); Rio (6 daily; 26hr); Rio Grande (hourly; 1hr); Sao Paulo (8 daily; 18hr).

Trains
Curitiba to: Paranagua (1-2 daily; 4hr 20min).

Porto Alegre to: Livramento (3 weekly; 14hr); Santa Maria (daily except Sat; 7hr).

Ferries
Guaraquecaba to: Ariri (2 weekly; 10hr); Paranagua (1 daily; 3hr).

Explore South

Parana is the northernmost of Brazil's southern states and one of the wealthiest in all Brazil. Its economy is based on small and medium-sized land holdings, modern industries which, unlike those of neighbouring Sao Paulo, have been subject to at least limited planning controls, and a population comprised largely of the descendants of immigrants. All of which combine to give Parana something of the vague feel of an American Midwestern state transplanted to the subtropics.

For several decades after breaking away from Sao Paulo in 1853, Parana's economy remained based on pig-raising, timber extraction and erva mate (a South American bush, the leaves of which are used to make a tea-like beverage), and in its early years the province was linked to the rest of Brazil only by a network of trails along which cattle and mules passed between Rio Grande do Sul's grasslands and the mines and plantations of the northern provinces. Parana was sparsely populated by Indians, Portuguese and mixed-race caboclos, who worked on the latifundios, scratched a living as semi-nomadic subsistence farmers or, on the coast, fished.

Then, because of a labour shortage in Brazil brought about by the end of the slave trade, the provincial government turned to immigration as a means to expand Parana's economy and open up land for settlement. The first immigrant colonies of British, Volga-Germans, French, Swiss and Icelanders were utter failures, but, from the 1880s onwards, others met with some success. As mixed farmers, coffee or soya producers, Germans moved northwards from Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina; Poles and Italians settled near the capital, Curitiba; Ukrainians centred themselves in the south, especially on Prudentopolis, Japanese spread south from Sao Paulo, settling around Londrina and Maringa; and a host of smaller groups, including Dutch, Mennonites, Koreans, Russian "Old Believers" and Danube-Swabians established colonies elsewhere with varying success rates. Thanks to their isolation, the immigrants' descendants have retained many of the cultural traditions of their forebears, traditions that are gradually being eroded by the influences of television and radio, the education system and economic pressures that force migration to the cities or to new land in distant parts of Brazil. Nevertheless, this multi-ethnic blend still lends Parana its distinct character and a special fascination.

Unless you're heading straight for the Iguacu waterfalls, Curitiba makes a good base. Transport services fan out in all directions from the state capital and there's plenty to keep you occupied in the city between excursions. The Bay of Paranagua can be visited as a day-trip from Curitiba, but the bay's islands and colonial towns could also easily take up a week or more of your time. Inland, the strange geological formations of Vila Velha are usually visited as a day-trip from Curitiba, but - by changing buses in Ponta Grossa - you can head west to the Ukrainian-dominated region around the towns of Prudentopolis and Irati ; and from there, head yet further west to Foz do Iguacu.