Published on May, 2023
Isaac was a great guide. He was prompt, attentive and patient (especially given the holiday traffic we endured)! He had attended school in the US, so his English was impeccable. This is a 10-hour tour (including ~2 hours each way between São Paulo and Campos do Jordão), so well worth the price, but note that the various ticket prices are not included in the Viator price. It was a major holiday weekend when we went, so the traffic was insane once we got to Campos do Jordão! (Check the calendar and avoid holidays!)
Our first stop was the entrance to Campos do Jordão. Other than a photo op with the welcome sign, there's not much there (a few restaurants and chocolate shops).
The next stop was Amantikir gardens. This was a very nice stop and the gardens were beautiful. (Some notes: they do not take credit cards, so have cash; they speak very little English (but Issac waited with us in line and translated until we went inside the gardens) so you may want to consider having Google Translate up and running; they wouldn't allow anything in the gardens except water, no other drinks or food -- due to bees.)
Next we drove through the heart of Campos do Jordão. It was a very pretty town and Isaac offered to stop at a few photo ops or to eat, but we opted to just enjoy the view from the car (since we were crawling along in the holiday traffic).
The next stop was Romantik Dalen - a "romantic park" that features a bridge where people put locks on railing of the bridge to symbolize "love locked forever." It wasn't super impressive, but made a nice photo op. From there, we walked to Parque Capivari. The park was crowded (again, holiday weekend), but very pleasant. We had the option to take the cable car up to Morro do Elefante, but chose not to due to the very long lines. If the lines hadn't been long, we definitely would've done the cable car, so I do recommend it. Instead, we grabbed a beer at Parrilla do Djalma and did some people watching. (We saw the bees be very aggressive with some Coca-Cola drinkers next to us, so understand why they didn't allow it at Amantikir.)
Next on the agenda was Ducha de Prata. It was some manmade waterfalls. Again, nothing super special, but had some nice photo ops.
From there, we went Parque do Itapeva. Absolutely stunning views. It wasn't crowded, so it was a nice respite from our day in the holiday crowds. They don't take credit cards either. This and Amantikir were certainly the highlight of the day.
If you're in São Paulo and want to escape the city for a full day, this is a great trip.
Summarizing some notes:
1. Avoid holiday weekends - very crowded and lots of traffic!
2. Bring cash, as tickets for various parks aren't included (and several places don't take debit or credit cards)
3. Have Google Translate handy if you're not with your guide
4. Amantikir didn't allow any food or drink, other than water due to bees. (Not sure this is a year round issue.)
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