There are few places where a rainforest drops directly into the sea, and the coast between Rio and Santos is one of them. Paraty sits at the edge of a bay, with the mountains of the Serra da Bocaina rising steeply behind and the green islands of the bay scattered in front. The town was founded in the seventeenth century and prospered as the port where gold from the mines of Minas Gerais was shipped to Rio and on to Portugal, brought down the mountain on the Gold Road, the Caminho do Ouro, which you can still walk in places. UNESCO listed Paraty and Ilha Grande in 2019, as a landscape of culture and biodiversity.
The centre of Paraty is a pleasant surprise, with whitewashed colonial houses, painted doors and streets paved with large uneven stones, closed to cars, which are laid so that the tide floods them a few times a month, washing the streets clean. In the bay, the island of Ilha Grande has long beaches and forest with no cars, and it once held a notorious prison that closed in the 1990s. The surrounding Atlantic Forest is among the most biodiverse on Earth, with monkeys, toucans and orchids.
For riding, the Rio–Santos highway, the BR-101, is a classic, with a long run of bends along the coast, views over bays and islands, and a lot of trucks and holiday traffic. It is better on weekdays and in the morning, and rain and fog can arrive quickly. Another good route climbs inland from Paraty up the old road to Cunha, with hairpins through forest, to a cooler plateau known for its ceramics. Surfaces are variable, and potholes and landslides can appear after heavy rain, which falls mostly from December to March.
Paraty has fuel, cafes and plenty of restaurants, and the town is known for its cachaça, the sugar-cane spirit, which is made in small distilleries nearby. Fresh seafood, such as fish stew cooked in coconut milk, is excellent. Parking in the old town is limited, so leave the bike in a hotel or paid lot, and take care at night, when the streets are quiet. Ferries to Ilha Grande leave from the nearby town of Angra dos Reis, and from Conceição de Jacareí, and you need to book.