Paraty is a small town on Brazil’s Costa Verde between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. With its white washed colonial houses and buildings bordered by bright colours lining the cobbled streets of the historic centre, Paraty is full of charm and atmosphere.
Paraty was the next coastal stop after Florianópolis during our three week journey up Brazil’s coastline to Rio. We had two full days to explore charming Paraty, which annoyingly was once again shaped by the weather. The overcast grey skies had followed us up the coast from Floripa.
By this point the illusion that the sun always shone on Brazil’s coast had definitely burst! That said, we did get a few hours of interspersed sunshine during our time there, just not as much as were hoping for.
We arrived to Paraty late afternoon and surprisingly bumped into a couple from our 3 day Uyuni salt flats tour, such a small world! After dropping our bags off at the hostel, we headed into the centre. This first venture into the centre was sidetracked by an unfortunate run in with wet cement. Walking down the cobbled streets in flip flops (which is actually quite tricky), my friend ended up stepping in a pile of cement and got stuck. Through our laughter, we managed to get her foot clear and rescue the flip flop in about ten minutes. With a cement covered foot and flip flop we returned to our hostel for a quick clean up before venturing into the centre part two, steering well clear of any cement.
6 things to do in Paraty
Below is a list of things to do in Paraty. We did five of them during the two days we were there and the sixth one came recommended but we ran out of time.
#1 Wander the cobbled streets of the historic centre
Lined by white washed buildings with colourful doors, local restaurants, cafes and artisanal shops, Paraty’s streets exude a lovely calm and relaxed vibe and are lovely to wander around. You’ll definitely be able to snap a photo of charming Paraty.
#2 Go on a boat trip
Paraty has some beautiful idyllic beaches and islands. Boat trips to a handful of these beaches leave the port at 11am and return around 4pm. You can book a place on a tour or if you head to the port you can negotiate a price with a private guide.
We stopped off at around four places on our tour, including Ilha Comprida and Praia da Lula, and could choose what we wanted to do, whether that was snorkel or just lie on the beach. We did get some sunshine for the first part of the day, I was soon wearing more layers as the cloud arrived.
#3 Trindade
25km south of Paraty is the small village of Trindade. With beautiful idyllic beaches backdropped by rainforest, Trindade is a lovely little place to explore whether you want to relax, hike or swim. It has great walking trails in the rainforest, natural swimming pools to cool off in and wonderful beaches.
A quick snap for the tiny bit of sun we had
You can sign up to a day trip to Trindade from Paraty or you can do it yourself. We caught the bus there and relaxed on the local beach. The weather honestly wasn’t great: windy and grey. In the sunshine it would be a beautiful place to explore.
Buses from Paraty bus station leave every hour with the Colitur company. It takes around 45 minutes and a ticket costs around R$4. Minivans also serve the area.
#4 Discover Brigadeiros
I will forever remember Paraty as the place we were first introduced to Brigadeiros. Wandering the cobbled streets post dinner we came across a cart selling desserts, one of them being the incredible Brigadeiros – a ball of chocolate made from condensed milk, butter, coca powder and covered in chocolate sprinkles. Not so healthy but it seriously brought me so much chocolate joy!
Try one! If you’re a chocolate lover, I’ll be very surprised if you don’t love them.
#5 Try Brazil’s delicious Moqueca
So here’s another food related thing we got up to: trying Moqueca – a Brazilian fish casserole dish made typically with white fish, vegetables, garlic, occasionally prawns and served with rice and farofa (a toasted manioc flour mixture).
Admittedly the name fish stew didn’t appeal to me at first but my friend really wanted to try it and I’m so glad she made sure we did. I really really loved it and enjoyed having it again on Ilha Grande!
#6 Visit Saco Do Mamanguá
Saco Do Mamanguá is a stunning 7km fjord-shaped inlet that lies southeast of Paraty. Our guide from the boat trip recommended it for its beautiful scenery; although, we weren’t staying long enough and the weather in our eyes wasn’t worth the trip so this is the one thing on this list that we didn’t do.
You can go on a boat trip or hike up to the Pão de Açúcar do Mamanguá peak for stunning views over the inlet and bay.
How to get to Paraty
Lying between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, the chances are that you’ll be getting a bus from one of these two cities.
From Rio
Buses to Paraty depart Rio several times a day with the Costa Verde bus company and take around 4.5 hours. You can book online or at the bus station. Occasionally seats sell out especially in the high season, but generally you should be able to turn up on the day and buy a ticket.
From São Paulo
Buses to Paraty depart from São Paulo’s Tietê bus terminal several times a day with the bus company Reunidas and the journey takes around 6 hours. Again you can book online or buy your tickets at the station.
We arrived to São Paulo early in the morning, after a night bus from Florianopolis, and went to book seats on the 8am bus to Paraty only to find it had sold out. Instead we had to get the later one at 10am which was fine but left us hanging around the bus terminal for a few more hours than we would have liked.
From Ilha Grande
Paraty is also a popular stop for those coming down the coast after a trip to Ilha Grande. From Ilha Grande, you’ll need to catch a boat back to Angra dos Reis on the mainland and then catch a local bus, run by Colitur, to Paraty which takes around 2 hours. We did this journey the other way around, Paraty to Ilha Grande, and it worked well.
There is also a company called Easy Transfer which transfers you door to door from Ilha Grande to Paraty or Rio or vice versa. It costs more but skips out the waiting around time.
Where next?
Depending on whether you’re heading north or south, you’ll most likely be heading up to Rio or down to São Paulo. Rio is definitely worth the visit, click here for things to do in Rio, but we skipped São Paulo seeing it as another big city and only used it to switch buses. Looking back now at what other people got up to in São Paulo, it could have been cool to spend a few days there checking out the street art.
You’re other option which is in complete contrast to the above two cities is to go to breathtaking Ilha Grande. This is what we did. We caught the bus to Angra dos Reis and then the local ferry to the island for our last stop before Rio. Click here for 8 things to do on Ilha Grande.
Final thoughts on Paraty
Paraty is a lovely town to spend a few days relaxing and exploring and definitely worth a visit. There is a wonderful atmosphere and charm surrounding its historical centre and in its cobbled streets. The cobbled streets make for interesting wanders and test the balance and ankles (especially if it’s recently rained).
Whilst tranquil and calm, there are plenty of things to see and do nearby making Paraty the perfect base for many a day trip. I would have loved more sunshine but that’s me the sunshine lover!
Have you been to Paraty? What things did you like about it?
