17.02.2014 : Serra do Faxinal: Cânion da Fortaleza & Cachoeira do Tigre (66 km)

Excursion to the Cânion da Fortaleza with a Land Rover through terrible dirt roads (R$ 90 p.p.). What a bumpy ride with this vehicle and it takes 1 hours to do 33 km! When we arrived and walked to the look out there was nothing to see, only mist. But we decided to wait and were lucky to see almost the whole canyon which is 900 m steep and has vertical walls. After that we went to see the cascade Cachoeira do Tigre on another stretch of the canyon, amazing! Lunch at the hotel, siesta, walk to the other side of the river, whirl pool and rest.

18.02.2014 : Parque Nacional dos Aparados da Serra (20 km)

This time we went with our car into the park and I must say, it is much better with a normal car to drive on these dirt roads. Entrance to the park was R$ 6,5 p.p. + R$ 5 for the car. We walked the Trilha do Cotovelo which tooks us to the wide side of the Canyon de Itaimbezinho where we could see the Cascata Prea and then the Trilha do Vértice with the end of the canyon. After a relaxing afternoon with a champagne in our whirlpool we dined at the Restaurant “O Casarão” in Cambará do Sul: galeto and a big buffet with fresh organic salads, soup, pasta, and desserts (R$ 70).

View from our terrace

A few of our visitors:

a blue jay, a woodpecker and a canary

Parque Nacional da Serra Geral: Cânion da Fortaleza

We were lucky to eventually see this amazing canyon with the steep walls

Mist all over the place

Trilha do Cotovelo

Canyon Itaimbezinho

Enjoying our last evening in our private whirlpool

Here you get very good pastéis with a nice service, although it doesn’t look like it...

The typical Araucárias you see everywhere here

Our luxurous “tent” with private whirl pool