Main SitesGramado to Caracol Falls, Brazil: Self-Guided Driving Tour
Welcome to the Serra Gaúcha, the highlands of Brazil's far south, where towns built by German and Italian settlers sit among araucaria pines, and a waterfall drops into a hidden canyon. Over the next 12 miles (19 km), we'll drive from Gramado's Lago Negro, the Black Lake, along the hydrangea avenue to Canela, and down the Estrada do Caracol to the Caracol Falls park. The lake we start beside has a story of its own. In 1942, a fire tore through this little valley, the Vale do Bom Retiro. About ten years later, a local man named Leopoldo Rosenfeldt dammed the stream and replanted the slopes, with seedlings associated with Germany's Black Forest. The dark trees gave the water its name. Along the way, you'll hear about a film festival in a mountain town, a locomotive that changed Canela, a church dressed in stone for 34 years, and a house built without a single nail. Between the stories, you'll learn about hydrangeas, a living Italian dialect, and the mate tea of the gaúchos. Your directions will come as short spoken cues just before each turn. Sit back, and let the highlands come to you.