South region

Blond children with blue eyes and a strong regional accent make you wonder: Am I really in Brazil? This is the south. Since it was colonized mainly by German, Italian, and Polish immigrants, the facial features and cultural preferences of this region's inhabitants create a markedly European atmosphere. In the state of Paraná, besides the city of Curitiba, a model in urban planning and lifestyle, you will be enamored by the Iguassu Falls, one of the largest waterfalls in the world. In the state of Santa Catarina, you will witness the industrial progress and savor the regional delicacies of the Itajaí Valley's cuisine. In Florianópolis, on Santa Catarina Island and along the entire coastline, the beaches are themselves a feast for the eyes, with waters and sands to suit all tastes. The northern coast of the island, in Joaquina, hosts international surfing competitions. In October, the city of Blumenau attracts enthusiatic tourists from all over the country and even abroad for the Oktoberfest, a beer festival. Pomerode in Santa Catarina, as well as Gramado and Canela, in Rio Grande do Sul, bear a striking resemblance to Bavaria, with their colonial cafés serving delicious German delicacies. The ruins of São Miguel, close to Santo Angelo, also in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, remind us of the 210 years of the Jesuit Missions presence in Brazil. The strong regional spirit in this state makes for a rich folklore of music and dance coupled with the traditional "churrasco", (barbecue) and the "chimarrão (mate tea).

Curitiba
Paraná is the northernmost of Brazil's southern states and one of the country's wealthiest. Curitiba, the state's capital, lies near the Atlantic coast on the Curitiba Plateau, on the west side of the Serra do Mar.

Curitiba is a Brazilian urban success story: It enjoys Brazil's highest standard of living; the city boasts excellent health, education and public transport facilities. Buses and pedestrians are given priority and much of the city centre is even closed to traffic. Thanks in part to the relative lack of traffic, it is a pleasure just strolling around day or/and night - in safety. With its wide boulevards, parks and gardens it has a reputation throughout Brazil as a pleasant place to live. And, to boost, Curitiba is one of the three cleanest cities in all Latin America.

Founded in 1693 as a goldmining camp, Curitiba was of little importance until 1853 when Paraná broke away from São Paulo and Curitiba was made capital of the newly founded state. With the tremendous growth of the coffee plantations in northern Paraná at the beginning of the 20th century, Curitiba began to take shape. With only 140,000 residents in 1940, the city has since then grown tenfold, to almost 1.5 million today.

Curitiba's inhabitants are descendants of large immigrant communities. From the 1880s onwards Germans moved northwards fr