Brotas
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Brotas

Brotas

São Paulo interior town on the Jacaré-Pepira river, Brazil's rafting and canyoning adventure base.

Brotas is a small town in the interior of São Paulo state that has become Brazil's unofficial capital of adventure sports. The Jacaré-Pepira river, with its rapids and waterfalls cutting through the hills, makes for excellent rafting, canyoning, and kayaking. The surrounding countryside has zip lines, mountain biking, and horse trekking too.

Tour operators of all sizes run trips out of town, and most companies can arrange packages. It is popular with visitors from São Paulo, about 250 kilometres away, and tends to be busy on weekends and holidays.

Guide

Activities

The operators below run trips in and around Brotas. Each is registered with Cadastur, Brazil's Ministry of Tourism register of tourism businesses, and publishes a WhatsApp number on its own website — the usual way to book in Brazil.

Guide

Getting There

Brotas is about 250 kilometres from São Paulo, a drive of roughly three hours on the SP-310 and SP-225 highways. If you are not driving, buses run from the Tietê terminal in São Paulo to Brotas several times a day; the journey takes around four hours with a connection in Jaú or São Carlos.

Having a car makes a real difference here. Many of the adventure activity sites — waterfalls, canyons, and the more remote stretches of the Jacaré-Pepira — are outside town and not easily reached by foot or taxi. If you arrive by bus, most tour operators offer pick-up from the town centre as part of their packages.

Guide

Things to Do

Adventure sports are the reason most people come to Brotas. The Jacaré-Pepira river provides the backbone — rafting, canyoning, and kayaking on its rapids — while the surrounding cerrado hills open up for zip lines, mountain biking, and horse trekking. Most operators in town sell packages combining multiple activities, so it is easy to fill a weekend without having to plan too far ahead.