Things to do in Gramado
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Gramado
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months, May autumn calm and September to early October spring flowers, before Natal Luz prices and crowds.
Easter chocolate season brings parades and factory events with far gentler crowds than Christmas.
Winter brings fireplace and fondue weather and peak July school holiday saturation, plus the August film festival.
Natal Luz runs from late October to mid January, with the highest prices and congestion of the year in December.
February is warm and quieter outside Carnival, with the Gramado in Concert music festival as the draw.
What's on
- Natal Luz de Gramado 22 October to 17 January
The defining Christmas festival, with Nativitaten, the Great Christmas Parade and free street lights and parades.
- Festival de Gramado August
Brazil's biggest film festival at the Palacio dos Festivais, with red carpets and the Kikito awards.
- Festa da Colônia April to May, dates move by year
The colonist festival at Expogramado, wood oven breads, colonial products and German and Italian music.
- Páscoa em Gramado March to April, around Easter
The official chocolate season, with parades, decorations and factory events across town.
- Festival de Cultura e Gastronomia de Gramado 8 to 18 October
Restaurants and Serra Gaucha producers celebrate regional food identity just before Natal Luz begins.
- Gramado in Concert February
An international classical music festival that gives summer Gramado a cultural reason to visit.
Best things to do in Gramado
Lago Negro
A dark pine ringed lake with a flat walking loop and swan pedalos, and Gramado's best free hour at dawn or dusk.
Mini Mundo
A 1 to 24 scale miniature world of castles, stations and streets that rewards slow looking for two to three hours.
Natal Luz de Gramado
Brazil's great Christmas festival of lights, a free street parade and ticketed lake and parade shows across 88 days.
Rua Coberta
Gramado's covered cafe street off Borges de Medeiros, the centre's rainy day living room and evening meeting point.
Igreja Matriz São Pedro Apóstolo
The basalt stone parish church on Borges de Medeiros, lit at dusk and framed by hydrangeas and apostle statues.
Catedral de Pedra
Canela's soaring grey stone cathedral tower, floodlit at night and the landmark of the calmer twin town.
Le Jardin Parque de Lavanda
Lavender rows, greenhouses and range views south of Gramado, one of the few honestly cheap paid sights nearby.
GramadoZoo
A forested zoo of only Brazilian fauna, with walk through aviaries and jaguars, best in the active morning hours.
Where to stay in Gramado
Centro, Borges de Medeiros and Rua Coberta
first trip, walking to dinner and shows
Walk to restaurants, the festival palace and the parade route, and leave the car parked while the centre gridlocks.
Planalto and Lago Negro
calm, families and repeat visits
Quieter garden streets around Lago Negro and Mini Mundo, a short drive or taxi from central dinners.
Bavária and Vale do Quilombo
splurge hideaway and honeymoons
Leafy valley side seclusion and destination hotels, with town reached by transfer by design.
Gramado outskirts, garden setting
longer stays with a car
Space, gardens and quiet at mid prices, a short drive from everything in both towns.
Think twice about
- Far RS-235 Linha Carazal strip
Not unsafe, just isolated from both towns, dependent on scarce taxis and slow Uber pickups on the road that jams first.
- Isolated rural addresses marketed as Gramado
Beautiful at breakfast but 15 to 25 minutes out on unlit roads, tedious and costly by taxi if you dine in town nightly.
- Borges de Medeiros parade frontage in Natal Luz
The festival is the view and it is loud until late, so avoid a parade level room here if sleep matters.
Best restaurants in Gramado
Vue de la Vallée
The benchmark Gramado fondue, a refined French Swiss sequence in a hushed room on Avenida das Hortensias.
Catherine Gramado
Gramado's modern French splurge, with tasting style presentation and a serious drinks programme in the centre.
Belle du Valais
The grand traditional fondue ceremony in a Swiss alpine room, cheese then meats then local chocolate.
Cantina Pastasciutta Rua Coberta
Handmade pastas paired with your choice of sauce since 1981, in generous portions built to share.
Nonno Mio
Gramado's other Italian pillar since 1982, pasta, polenta and galeto with notably professional service.
Cantina-Restaurante Famiglia Guimarães
A warm family cantina with Neapolitan leaning Italian cooking that reviewers rate above bigger themed rooms.
Casa Di Pietro
The reliable central all rounder, Italian and Brazilian plates with lighter options for mixed groups.
Josephina Café
A nostalgic cafe bistro by Sao Pedro church for Mediterranean plates, waffles and cake at local prices.
Outdoor things to do in Gramado
Parque do Caracol
The 131 metre Caracol waterfall off a basalt cliff in Canela, seen from platforms and forest trails in a state park.
Snowland
South America's first indoor snow park, where first timers ski, snowboard and tube on a refrigerated snow mountain.
Skyglass Canela
A glass platform 35 metres over the Ferradura valley, plus the Abusado chair ride with your legs over the drop.
Parque Olivas de Gramado
A working olive grove turned rural park in Linha Nova, built around tastings and sunset over the valley canyon.
Cânion Itaimbezinho
A 700 metre deep basalt canyon in Aparados da Serra, walked on two flat rim trails from Cambara do Sul.
Maria Fumaça
The Vale dos Vinhedos steam train day from Gramado, with music and tastings between Bento Goncalves and Garibaldi.
Alpen Park
Canela's hillside adventure park, anchored by a hand braked alpine coaster down the forested slope.
Gramado Golf Club
A visitor friendly parkland golf course among araucarias outside Gramado, with guests welcome and clubs for rent.
Best hotels in Gramado
Castelo Saint Andrews
A Relais and Chateaux castle hotel above the Quilombo valley, Gramado's internationally recognised luxury stay.
Hotel Estalagem St Hubertus
A hushed lakeside lodge facing Lago Negro, with fireplaces, a small spa and breakfasts guests write paragraphs about.
Hotel Casa da Montanha
The classic central grand hotel near Rua Coberta, all chalets, fireplaces and detail in the middle of everything.
Wish Serrano Resort
The big resort near the centre, with pools and kids infrastructure at rates below the boutique luxury tier.
Hotel Bangalôs da Serra de Gramado
Garden bungalows on the edge of town, a quiet eco leaning base for longer stays with a car.
Petit Casa da Montanha
A small pet friendly hotel steps from Rua Coberta, where position and warmth are the whole product.
Pousada da Colina
A simple, well kept pousada near the centre that keeps Gramado's rare cheap tier honest and walkable.
Is Gramado expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | R$350 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | R$700 a person |
| Splurge | R$1,600 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Mini Mundo: a few days ahead
- Natal Luz de Gramado: months ahead
- Snowland: a few days ahead
- Skyglass Canela: a few days ahead
- Cânion Itaimbezinho: a few days ahead
- Maria Fumaça: weeks ahead
- Gramado Golf Club: a few days ahead
- Castelo Saint Andrews: months ahead
- Book Natal Luz headline shows and December and July hotels months ahead.
- Reserve fondue institutions and Catherine Gramado days to weeks ahead in season.
- Buy Snowland and Mini Mundo tickets online in school holidays, and reserve the Maria Fumaca and Itaimbezinho day tours.
- Time Skyglass to a clear forecast rather than pre committing to a foggy day.
Is Gramado safe?
- Gramado and Canela are among the safest feeling towns in Brazil, with a lit walkable centre and families out late.
- Keep phones unobtrusive on crowded parade nights and use registered taxis or apps at the bus station.
- Treat foggy, frosty mountain road driving as the main risk, ahead of any street risk.
- Emergency numbers are 190 for police and 192 for ambulance, and winter nights need real heating in your room.
Gramado travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Aldeia do Papai Noel is the lowest rated major attraction in town, fine for small children and poor value for adults.
- Wax, selfie, chocolate theme and novelty museums on the Canela road eat an expensive day that nature fills better.
- Rua Coberta restaurants, the Fonte do Amor Eterno padlocks and Rua Torta are free photo stops, not paid sights.
- Lobby city tours that spend half the day in chocolate factories and knitwear outlets are shopping funnels.
Getting around Gramado: public transport and more
- Citral buses run Porto Alegre airport and city to Gramado about a dozen times a day in about two and a half hours.
- Walk the centre, and use the Bustour, local buses, taxis or Uber between Gramado and Canela.
- Pre arrange returns from Skyglass and Olivas, where Uber pickups are repeatedly reported slow.
- Do not drive to a Natal Luz headline show expecting nearby parking, and allow double time on the Porto Alegre road at holiday peaks.
Who Gramado suits
| Solo travellers | OK |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Gramado your trip
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