Things to do in Ouro Preto
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Ouro Preto
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best sightseeing window, with easing rains, superb light and the CineOP festival in June.
Cold, dry and full for the Festival de Inverno, the cultural trip to time and book early.
Best late dry season months, with waterfalls still running and the town visitable as itself.
Rains return, but 12 October brings the Festa do Doze and the república homecoming party.
Worst for sightseeing, with heavy rain, slippery cobbles and flooded trails, plus Carnival in February.
Rain eases but Semana Santa can fall here, bringing processions, crowds and peak prices.
What's on
- Carnival February or early March, Friday to Ash Wednesday
The legendary student carnival of the repúblicas, with house parties and blocos filling the lanes.
- Semana Santa March or April, Holy Week
Candlelit processions and the coloured sawdust carpets made overnight for the Easter Sunday procession.
- Tiradentes Day 21 April
Civic ceremonies in Praça Tiradentes for the Inconfidência martyr, creating a long weekend crowd.
- CineOP June
The heritage film festival screening at the Casa da Ópera and around the historic centre.
- Festival de Inverno de Ouro Preto e Mariana July
UFOP winter arts festival of concerts, theatre, exhibitions and workshops across three cities.
- Festa do Doze 12 October
School of Mines alumni homecoming, when former students return to their repúblicas for a second great party.
Best things to do in Ouro Preto
Igreja São Francisco de Assis
Aleijadinho carved it and Ataíde painted its ceiling, making it the masterpiece of Brazilian baroque in one church.
Basílica Nossa Senhora do Pilar
The gold church, coated in carved wood and gold leaf, showing the sheer wealth of the richest gold era parish.
Igreja Nossa Senhora do Carmo
The connoisseur church by the square, late baroque turning rococo, with Aleijadinho stonework and a fine ceiling.
Igreja Santa Efigênia dos Pretos
Built by the Black brotherhood high in Antônio Dias, it tells the counter history the gold churches gild over.
Museu da Inconfidência
The national museum of the 1789 independence conspiracy in the great former town hall on Praça Tiradentes.
Casa dos Contos
The free treasury house where gold was weighed and taxed, with coin history above and slave quarters below.
Museu do Oratório
Hundreds of domestic prayer oratories in wood and soapstone, the intimate private religion behind the public gold.
Mina Chico Rei
A guided walk through hand dug gold galleries inside town, tied to the legend of Chico Rei and bought freedom.
Where to stay in Ouro Preto
Centro Histórico
first trip, all round base
Every major sight and the best restaurants start here, at the cost of the steepest lanes and festival noise.
Rosário
comfort with kinder car access
Larger historic hotels, broader arrival streets and an easier run to the bus station, still walkable to the square.
Antônio Dias
quiet and local texture
A residential parish under São Francisco and Santa Efigênia, with smaller pousadas and quieter mornings.
Cachoeira do Campo
resort stay with a car
Pools, spa, space and easy parking in exchange for a drive to every sight and no evening stroll into history.
Lavras Novas
countryside second base
Waterfalls, cool air and romantic village pousadas as a complement to nights in the historic centre.
Think twice about
- Cachoeira do Campo highway strip without a car
You will be stranded a drive from every sight, dependent on scarce taxis, and miss the town at night entirely.
- Bauxita campus edge
Student housing and university sprawl with no historic character and a bus ride to every sight.
- República blocks in the Centro Histórico during Carnival
The party is inside those houses all night by design, so choose them only if sleep is not the plan.
- Upper lanes above São Francisco de Paula for limited mobility
The steepest and darkest daily return climb in town will dominate the trip for anyone with mobility limits.
Best restaurants in Ouro Preto
O Passo Pizza Jazz
Wood fired pizza and world dishes in an 18th century mansion with a famous terrace and weekend jazz.
Bené da Flauta Restaurante e Café
The most praised traditional mineira lunch in town, in a bright historic house beside São Francisco de Assis.
Restaurante Sebastião
Contemporary Minas tasting menus on the square, rethinking regional ingredients with strong vegetarian cooking.
Restaurante Casa do Ouvidor
The classic central mineira house on Rua Direita, generous and dependable for both lunch and dinner.
Restaurante Contos de Réis
Traditional mineira dishes and homemade desserts in a rustic historic building at mid range prices.
Escadabaixo Cozinha Brasileira
Brazilian home cooking with a modern hand on Rua Direita, the reliable mid range dinner locals return to.
Restaurante Chafariz
The by weight lunch that feeds the town, a full hot mineira plate for the price of a coffee elsewhere.
Pizzaria Satélite
Big affordable pizzas and a student and family crowd, the honest cheap dinner that funds tomorrow mine visit.
Outdoor things to do in Ouro Preto
Parque Natural Municipal das Andorinhas
Free municipal park where the Andorinhas waterfall drops into a rocky grotto, ten minutes from the centre.
Parque Estadual do Itacolomi
The state park for the steep guided climb of Pico do Itacolomi, with shorter trails, a lake and camping.
Trem da Vale - Ouro Preto e Mariana
The scenic tourist train to Mariana, an hour of valley, forest and tunnels along the old gold route.
Lavras Novas
A cool mountain village ringed by swimmable waterfalls, the Custódio reservoir and the Mirante da Pedra viewpoint.
Nefelibatas Expedições & Aventuras
The top rated adventure operator in Lavras Novas for guided rafting, kayaking, canyoning and waterfall rappelling.
Santuário do Bom Jesus de Matosinhos
Aleijadinho Twelve Prophets in soapstone and the Passion chapels, a UNESCO ensemble worth the road day.
Floresta Estadual Uaimií
Atlantic Forest trails and river pools by tiny São Bartolomeu, the quiet local forest day near town.
Best hotels in Ouro Preto
Hotel Solar do Rosário
The top historic hotel in town, 41 rooms around courtyards with rooftop pools and a panoramic terrace.
Vila Galé Collection Ouro Preto
The only full resort near town, with three pools, a spa and flat accessible grounds, a drive from the centre.
Pousada Solar da Ópera
A small 19th century boutique pousada 50 metres from the square, with spa bath suites and valet parking.
Grande Hotel de Ouro Preto
Sleep in an early Oscar Niemeyer landmark from 1940, comfortable and walkably central at mid range rates.
Hotel Pousada do Arcanjo
The well run mid range favourite in a historic house, with a garden, big breakfasts and famously helpful staff.
Pousada Clássica
A traditional colonial pousada on the central shopping street, dependable and heavily used at mid range rates.
Brumas Ouro Preto Hostel e Pousada
Dorms and private rooms with a garden, terrace, shared kitchen and free parking at hostel prices.
Pousada Casa dos Contos
Simple, cosy budget rooms beside the Casa dos Contos, with every central sight a short walk away.
Is Ouro Preto expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | R$300 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | R$650 a person |
| Splurge | R$1,400 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Mina da Passagem: a few days ahead
- Parque Estadual do Itacolomi: a few days ahead
- Trem da Vale - Ouro Preto e Mariana: weeks ahead
- Nefelibatas Expedições & Aventuras: a few days ahead
- Hotel Solar do Rosário: weeks ahead
- Vila Galé Collection Ouro Preto: weeks ahead
- Pousada Solar da Ópera: weeks ahead
- O Passo Pizza Jazz: a few days ahead
- Book lodging weeks ahead for Carnival, Semana Santa, the Festival de Inverno and any long weekend.
- Book the Trem da Vale panoramic car and Mina da Passagem slots ahead, and reserve O Passo and Bené da Flauta.
- Never plan sightseeing on a Monday, when many sights close, and expect a long midday closure on other days.
Is Ouro Preto safe?
- Wear solid flat grippy shoes, as wet cobbles on steep grades cause more ruined trips than crime does.
- Prefer lit and peopled central lanes after dark and take a taxi back to outlying pousadas.
- Drink bottled or filtered water, and note emergency numbers 190 for police and 192 for ambulance.
Ouro Preto travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Doing every church is the trap, so pick four interiors plus the Oratory Museum and do them slowly.
- Skip the most aggressive soapstone and gemstone selling and compare prices at the fair by São Francisco.
- Inhotim is a Belo Horizonte day two plus hours away, not an Ouro Preto afternoon.
Getting around Ouro Preto: public transport and more
- Take the bus from Belo Horizonte in about two hours, then walk in town and use taxis for uphill returns.
- Do not rent a car for Ouro Preto itself, as parking is scarce and the steep narrow lanes defeat most visitors.
- Ride the Trem da Vale one way to Mariana and return by the roughly 30 minute bus or a taxi.
Who Ouro Preto suits
| Solo travellers | Great |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Great |
| Families | OK |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Ouro Preto your trip
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