Parque Nacional de São Joaquim

Parque Nacional de São Joaquim protects more than 49,000 hectares of the Serra Catarinense highlands, covering a landscape of Araucaria pine forests, high-altitude grasslands, and cold-water streams. The park sits at elevations between 700 and 1,822 metres, and the variation in altitude produces dramatically different vegetation zones within a short distance. Araucaria angustifolia — the distinctive umbrella-shaped Paraná pine — dominates the upper elevations and gives the landscape a look unlike anything else in Brazil.

The main park entrance is in Urubici, about 60 kilometres north of São Joaquim. Several hiking trails lead through the forest and up to exposed ridges with views across the Serra. The park receives significant rainfall year-round, and fog is common at higher elevations, which adds to the atmosphere if you accept it rather than wait for clear skies.

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A story
The park was created in 1961, well before the Serra Catarinense highlands became a destination. For decades it was one of the least-visited national parks in Brazil — too cold, too remote, too far from the coastal tourism circuit. That obscurity preserved an unusual stretch of highland Atlantic Forest and Araucaria woodland that elsewhere in Santa Catarina had been cleared for cattle and farming.

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