The Serra Gaúcha hill country north of Porto Alegre is the most popular excursion from the city, and deservedly so. Gramado and Canela, about 120 kilometres north, are mountain resort towns with a strongly Germanic character — hydrangeas, chalet architecture, chocolate shops, and a genuinely cool climate that feels almost European. Gramado hosts a famous film festival each August and goes extravagantly over the top for Christmas. Canela next door has the better natural scenery: the Parque Estadual do Caracol with its 131-metre waterfall is a short drive from town. Both are easily done as a day trip by bus or car, though a night or two lets you explore the surrounding farms and trails more slowly.
The Vale dos Vinhedos wine region around Bento Gonçalves, about 120 kilometres from Porto Alegre, produces the best Brazilian wines — mostly from Italian grape varieties brought by 19th-century immigrants. The valley has an official DOC appellation, the first in Brazil, and several estates offer tastings and cellar tours. You can reach Bento Gonçalves by bus and then take a tourist steam train through the vineyards. Further afield but extraordinary, São Miguel das Missões (about 480 kilometres west, best done with a car or overnight bus) is the UNESCO-listed ruin of one of the great Jesuit reduction settlements of the 17th century — a vast stone church standing in the pampas, hauntingly intact despite three centuries of abandonment. The nightly sound-and-light show is one of the best in South America. Closer to the city, Parque Estadual de Itapuã — about 60 kilometres south — has beautiful lagoon beaches, wildlife, and boat trips into the Lagoa dos Patos: the best beach day within reach of Porto Alegre.
