CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
206 km from Paraty to Paraty, about 4 h 01 of riding. The stops in between: Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi, Morro da Vila Velha, Serra da Bocaina National Park and back through Morro da Vila Velha. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 44 km this is Rio-Santos Highway, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Between the old colonial port of Paraty and the border of São Paulo state, the mountains of the Serra do Mar come down to the sea in a jumble of forested peaks, rocky headlands and small, perfect bays, and the Cairuçu Environmental Protection Area covers much of this coast. It is part of the World Heritage site of Paraty and Ilha Grande, inscribed in 2019 for its combination of cultural and natural values. The forest here is the Mata Atlântica, the Atlantic rainforest, one of the richest and most threatened ecosystems on the planet, home to monkeys, toucans, hummingbirds and countless species of orchids and bromeliads. Within the area lie fishing villages of caiçaras, the traditional coastal people, and settlements of quilombolas, descendants of escaped slaves, as well as Guarani villages.
Read the complete Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu is where the day begins. Next is Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi.
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.
Read the complete Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi comes up about 44 km into the recorded legs. Next is Morro da Vila Velha.
Paraty sits between the mountains and the sea, and Morro da Vila Velha, a hill beside the old town, is a good vantage for seeing why. The mountains of the Serra do Mar rise steeply behind, covered in Atlantic forest, and the bay in front is dotted with islands. Portuguese settlers took the site in the sixteenth century, and in the eighteenth it became the port for gold from Minas Gerais, carried down the Caminho do Ouro on mule trains and loaded onto ships. UNESCO listed Paraty and Ilha Grande together in 2019, recognising both the culture and the nature.
Read the complete Morro da Vila Velha write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 73 km into the recorded legs you reach Morro da Vila Velha. Next is Serra da Bocaina National Park.
The Serra da Bocaina is the green wall that rises behind the coast between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, the high end of the Serra do Mar, and the national park that covers it protects one of the largest surviving patches of Atlantic forest. Rain from the ocean falls on the slopes almost daily, and the result is a dense, dripping jungle of tree ferns, bromeliads, orchids and enormous trees, with waterfalls and rivers running down to the sea. Clouds sit on the ridge, and the air smells of wet leaves and earth.
Read the complete Serra da Bocaina National Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Serra da Bocaina National Park, about halfway. Next is back through Morro da Vila Velha.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Morro da Vila Velha write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Morro da Vila Velha sits at 137 km, about halfway. Next is back through Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi comes up about 160 km into the recorded legs. Next is Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu closes the day.
Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu → Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi → Morro da Vila Velha is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Morro da Vila Velha → Serra da Bocaina National Park is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Serra da Bocaina National Park → back through Morro da Vila Velha is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Morro da Vila Velha → back through Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi → Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.