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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 270 km round trip from Ilha Grande - roughly 4 h 39 in the saddle. The stops in between: Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu, Paraty Historic Center, Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi and Morro da Vila Velha. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 20 km this is Rio-Santos Highway, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state, between Rio and Paraty, Ilha Grande rises from the sea, a mountainous island covered in Atlantic rainforest, with dozens of beaches, coves and waterfalls. For much of the twentieth century, it was home to a notorious prison and a leper colony, which kept development at bay, and today, most of the island is protected as a state park. It is part of the UNESCO site Paraty and Ilha Grande, Culture and Biodiversity, listed in 2019.
Read the complete Ilha Grande State Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ilha Grande State Park is where the day begins. Next is Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu.
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 comes up about 55 km into the recorded legs. Next is Paraty Historic Center.
Paraty is a small, white and ochre colonial town on the green coast of Rio de Janeiro state, between the sea and the steep forested wall of the Serra da Bocaina, and it looks almost as it did in the eighteenth century. It grew rich as the port at the end of the gold route: from the 1690s, gold from the mines of Minas Gerais was carried down the mountains by mule on the Caminho do Ouro and shipped from here to Rio and Portugal. When the gold trade moved elsewhere, the town slumbered, and that long sleep is the reason that its streets, churches and houses survived so intact. UNESCO listed Paraty and Ilha Grande in 2019, for the cultural landscape and its biodiversity.
Read the complete Paraty Historic Center write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 75 km into the recorded legs you reach Paraty Historic Center. 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, about halfway. 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.
Morro da Vila Velha sits at 135 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 163 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Paraty Historic Center.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Paraty Historic Center write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 193 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Paraty Historic Center. Next is back through 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.
back through Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu, late in the day. Next is Ilha Grande State Park.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ilha Grande State Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 270 km.
Ilha Grande State Park → Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu → Paraty Historic Center is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Paraty Historic Center → Paraty and Ilha Grande - Culture and Biodi is 30 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 → 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 → back through Paraty Historic Center is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Paraty Historic Center → back through Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Environmental Protection Area of Cairuçu → Ilha Grande State Park is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.