Visconde de Mauá is a group of mountain villages in the Serra da Mantiqueira, on the border of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais, about three and a half hours from Rio de Janeiro. It was settled by European immigrants in the early twentieth century and later by hippies, and it has become a quiet retreat of chalets, craft breweries, trout restaurants and waterfalls in the Atlantic forest.
The region is really three villages strung along the Rio Preto: Visconde de Mauá itself, Maringá, divided by the river between the two states, and Maromba, at the end of the road, where the Cachoeira do Escorrega is a natural rock slide into a pool. The Santa Clara and Veu da Noiva waterfalls are close by.
Nights are cold in winter, which is part of the appeal for people coming up from the heat of the coast. The roads are winding and partly unpaved toward Maromba; allow time.