Blumenau
City In The Itajaí Valley Founded By German Immigrants In 1850, Known For Its Half Timbered Architecture, Breweries And Oktoberfest, One Of The Largest Outside Germany · Blumenau, Santa Catarina
Blumenau is a mid-sized industrial city in the Itajaí valley of Santa Catarina, founded in 1850 by the pharmacist Hermann Blumenau and a small group of German immigrants. Across Brazil it is known for its Oktoberfest, held every October in the Vila Germânica park and often described as one of the largest outside Germany, with brass bands, parades, folk dancing and a great deal of beer. For the rest of the year the city is quieter and more ordinary than its image: a working textile town with traffic, a wide brown river and green hills. The German heritage shows in scattered half-timbered buildings, the Castelinho on Rua XV de Novembro, family names, bakeries and a strong brewing culture, from the Eisenbahn brewery to many small craft producers. Small museums cover the colony, the naturalist Fritz Müller and beer. The Itajaí has flooded the city many times, with severe floods in the 1980s and a deadly disaster in 2008, and that history is part of the place. Pomerode, about half an hour away, is smaller and rural, and is often called the most German town in Brazil.
Vila Germânica and Centro, Blumenau, SC, Blumenau, Santa Catarina, Brazil
A city, so the streets are always open, but what you can do depends heavily on the season and the day of the week. Oktoberfest runs for about two and a half weeks in October at the Vila Germânica park, opening in the evening on weekdays and from the afternoon at weekends, with a ticket to enter the pavilions; dates, prices and the programme are set each year, so confirm before booking a trip around it. Hotels in Blumenau fill months ahead for the festival and prices rise sharply. Outside October the Vila Germânica still has shops, beer halls and smaller events, some of them only on weekends. Brewery visits and tastings usually need a booking, run on set days and may not operate on Mondays or holidays. The city museums keep short hours, often closing on Mondays and at lunchtime, and some close for maintenance without much notice. Shops in the centre close early on Saturday afternoons and most stay closed on Sunday. After heavy rain, roads along the river and in the hills can be closed, so check local news.