Located in the south of Brazil, the cities of Gramado and Canela are recognised tourist sites that offer a wide choice of attractions and traditional calendar events. Natal Luz (Light Christmas), one of the biggest Christmas events in the world, with fireworks, sound and lights show, enchants entire families with various shows and street parades. Film lovers can enjoy its Film Festival, recognised as one of the biggest of its kind in the country. The mixture of Italian, Portuguese and German cultures is a striking feature in Gramado and Canela, cities that are brought together by tree-lined avenue. If it were not for an indicative sign, visitors would not know where one starts and another ends. This advantage favours travel itineraries, when visiting one place you get to know two charming ones. An ethnic melting-pot promoted by colonisation has in gastronomy its main value, offering a banquet for the most demanding palates. Gramado has more than 150 restaurants, from colonial cafes to fondues, grills, pizzerias, international, Italian, oriental, game and many others. It is one of those places where, when walking around the city, it is possible to enter any little door, eat well and taste local or international delicacies. To meet visitors with different budgets, the hotel network is wide and diversified. From the luxury of Saint Andrews hotel to the simplicity of hostels, inns, resorts and spas, Gramado is tradition and excellence in accomodation.
© Hub Estúdio – Vinícius Piagetti
Unforgettable events Nature was generous with Serra Gaúcha, region where Gramado and Canela cities are located. Natural beauty, restaurant and hotel infrastructure contribute to the site being one of the main cities in the country to host corporate events, offering 15 thousand housing units. In 2016, for example, Gramado was the first Brazilian city to feature in the list of Trivago hotel search engine as the fourth best city in the world in hotel reputation. Natural landscapes, with more than 50 tourist attractions, the preserved vegetation that surrounds these cities and famous sites such as Black Lake, Joaquina Rita Bier Lake, Major Nicoletti Square, Etnias Square, Caracol State Park, among others, offer important additions in alternative social programming to congresses and fairs. In this sense, Gramado has the largest tourist infrastructure in the state, with two large congress centres and trade fairs. Serra Park, for example, is in the middle of a park with 460,000 sqm and has 28,000 sqm of covered area,
central air conditioning and parking for 3,000 vehicles. Expo Gramado offers a versatile venue that includes auditoriums, halls and pavilion for exhibitions and fairs with an outdoor patio of 13,400 sqm, air conditioning in all rooms and capacity, in Hortênsia Hall alone, for 1,100 seats in auditorium. The lower ceiling height is 3.18 metres and the highest is 4.88 metres, in addition to a permanent stage with a total area of more than 100 sqm. Anyone who has ever heard of Gramado as the Brazilian Switzerland, which offers the pleasures of the cold weather along with its mist and bucolic landscapes craving for cheese and wines, must also be surprised by a city that is also enchanted during summer and spring, contemplating nature and with the same comfort and elegance infrastructure.
Rose de Almeida