Experience the best of Campos do Jordão

Campos do Jordão sits at around 1,600 metres in the Serra da Mantiqueira, which makes it one of the highest and coolest towns in Brazil. Chalets in a Swiss and German style line the streets of Capivari, the central district, with its shops, chocolate makers and cafés. The Palácio Boa Vista, the governor's winter residence, stands among gardens on a hill.

The Horto Florestal, a state park of araucaria pines and streams, has trails and a waterfall. Pico do Itapeva, at over 2,000 metres, gives a view over the Paraíba Valley, and Morro do Elefante has a chairlift. Each July the Winter Festival brings classical musicians to the town for weeks of concerts.

Fondue, chocolate, mountain trout and pinhão, the seed of the araucaria, eaten in autumn and winter, are the local flavours, with frost on clear winter mornings and cool, wet summers that keep the forest green.