Gramado
Mountain Resort Town In The Serra GaúCha, Home To The Gramado Film Festival And The Natal Luz Christmas Festival · Gramado, Rio Grande do Sul
Gramado is a mountain town in the Serra Gaúcha of southern Brazil, built in a mock Alpine style by the descendants of German and Italian immigrants, and it is one of the most visited destinations in the country. For Brazilians from the tropical north it offers something rare: cold. People come in winter to wear coats, eat fondue and chocolate, and hope for frost; in summer they come for hydrangeas lining the roads. The town is manicured, clean and deliberately picturesque, with half-timbered houses, chocolate shops, the Lago Negro framed by pines, and a long list of paid attractions. Its Christmas festival, Natal Luz, runs for weeks and is one of the biggest in the world; the Gramado Film Festival in August is Brazil's best-known. Canela, next door, has the Caracol waterfall and the Caracol Park, and the Vale dos Vinhedos wine region is about an hour away. Critics find it artificial and expensive. Visitors keep coming in huge numbers, and on long weekends its streets are packed.
Avenida Borges de Medeiros, Centro, Gramado, RS, Gramado, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
A town, always open, with its streets, the Lago Negro and the Rua Coberta free to walk at any hour. Shops, chocolate factories and paid attractions keep their own hours and most open every day, usually from mid-morning to early evening, with longer hours in peak season; a few close one weekday out of season - check before building a day around one. Restaurants serve dinner late by Brazilian habit, and fondue places need bookings on winter weekends. Winter, June to August, and Natal Luz, roughly late October to January, are peak seasons, and the day-ruining rule is traffic: the roads into and between Gramado and Canela jam for hours on long weekends, so a ten-minute hop can take an hour. The main Natal Luz shows are ticketed, have set dates and sell out; buying on arrival rarely works. The Film Festival in August fills hotels. The Caracol park and some nature attractions close earlier in the day and may close in storms or after flood damage in the Serra - confirm.