Brazil's Santa Catarina is South America's next hot tourist spot

When most people think of Brazil, they remember Rio’s Carnival, tropical jungles, the Amazon or such thriving metropolises as Sao Paulo. Well, leave your preconceptions about Brazil at home, because one of the country’s top tourist destinations, frequented by savvy insiders, is the southern state of Santa Catarina. Just 438 miles south of Sao Paulo and 709 miles south of Rio is a state so varied in landscapes, ethnic populations and cultural backgrounds that even the locals refer to it as a “different” Brazil.

While the Azoreans first settled on the Santa Catarina coast in the mid 1800s, European immigrants -- led by the Germans and Italians -- settled inland, and by the 20th century, other Europeans, Asians, Arabs and Brazilians from other regions arrived, making Santa Catarina’s 6 million inhabitants the most diversified in the Brazilian states.
 At just 36,835 square miles (roughly 1 percent of the country’s territory), Santa Catarina is the smallest of the southern states, but it has 347 miles of coastline as well as mountains, Atlantic rain forests, Brazilian pine tree forests, mangrove swamps, lakes, rivers, dozens of thermal-mineral springs, ecological parks and deserted beaches, in addition to picturesque fishing villages and happening resort towns.





 Just 19 miles north of Blumenau in the valley of the Itajai-Acu river is Pomerode, the most German city in Brazil, where an estimated 90 percent of the 20,000 residents are fluent in both German and Portuguese. For a step back in time, stay at the Mundo Antigo Hotel Farm, where pastoral cabins offer simple yet comfortable accommodations. The Fischer family has run the farm for more than 75 years, employing organic farming methods, and the restaurant in the original farmhouse building serves mouth-watering, traditional German fare adapted with several Brazilian ingredients.

Joinville is the biggest city of Santa Catarina, with more than 500 thousand inhabitants. Today it is one of the most visited cities in South Brazil. The old industrial vocation also turned Joinville into the richest city of the state, consolidating a new characteristic Latin – American reference as a center for tourism and events. It is the headquarters of international enterprises but it is still charming with its simplicity. Flowers and gardens decorate houses, buildings, parks, avenues and factories.
Besides its official name the city of Joinville has some other titles: The City of Flowers, The City of Bicycles, The City of Princes, and The Capital of the Dance.

Since 2000, 90 miles of the southern coast of Santa Catarina has been preserved as a whale sanctuary. Right whales make their annual migration from the Antarctic to these warmer waters to give birth and feed their young. Between June and November, the southern right whales can come so close to the shore that many can be sighted from the beach. Imbituba was the last whaling center to close in Brazil in 1973, and the town is now a whale observation center.

The Vida Sol E Mar Eco Resort & Beach Village  in Imbituba overlooks Rosa Beach (Praia do Rosa) – known for great surf waves -- and a freshwater lagoon that migrating whales use as their nursery in the cooler months. This hillside retreat with a surf school opened in 1993 and operates on ecologically sound principles. There are 29 rooms in the eco-resort portion of the property, and 12 superior villas in the beach village. The villas are individually furnished and can accommodate two to 10 guests, making it ideal for families and nature lovers. In collaboration with the Southern Right Whale Institute, the resort helps support research, education and conservation efforts involving whales and their environment, and also organizes whale-watching excursions from ashore or at sea. Between July and October, boat trips accompanied by a biologist leave from nearby Garopaba.

Inland from Garopaba is the Catarinense Mountain Range, the coldest region in Brazil and the only place in this tropical country where it snows each year. The landscape is comprised of 6,500-foot mountain peaks, massive canyons, valleys, lakes and araucaria (Brazilian pine) forests. Ranchers in this area created what is known as rural tourism in Brazil with 100-year-old farms, cattle-driven cuisine and Gaucho cowboy-style culture.

In the town of Bom Jardim da Serra, on top of the Serra do Rio do Rastro mountain range, is the Rio do Rastro Eco Resort. Access is by a winding road that snakes up a 4,800-foot mountain, offering stunning vistas along the way. The property has a series of cabins surrounding a trout-filled lake and spread across a field with brightly colored wildflowers. But these aren’t your average rustic accommodations – luxurious details include a glass-enclosed porch with comfortable reading chairs, a fireplace, a bathroom with a hot tub and picture window, and evening turndown service with an electric blanket to ward off the chill. Outdoors-oriented guests can take four-wheel-drive tours or horseback rides to the canyon, go on ecological tracks with guides or visit the winery at Sao Joaquim.

You can get to Santa Catarina on TAM Airlines, which flies nonstop from New York-JFK and Miami to Sao Paulo and continues to Rio de Janeiro. Continental flies nonstop from Newark to Sao Paulo, and Delta flies nonstop from Atlanta to Sao Paulo and Rio. TAM, Varig and such domestic airlines as GOL and WebJet Linhas Aereas have flights from Sao Paulo and Rio to Florianopolis.

Whether you’re looking for unspoiled beaches, superlative surfing, sultry nightlife, ecotourism or a taste of Euro-Brazilian culture, Santa Catarina has something for everyone – all served with the warmest hospitality. No wonder it’s the hottest new tourist destination in South America.