January 19-21, 2025: We rented a car in our area of Consoloçao – not far from our hotel (Pergamon Frei Caneca) to go on a small road trip to Picinguaba. My ex-colleague Erica was spending her summer holidays there with her daughter. Before travelling to Brazil we chatted and she sent photos that inspired immediately to travel there: a fisher village at the end of the world.
We rented a car from Localiza, the largest rental car company in Latin America. Of course we booked the full insurance package that you always need to include in your booking when driving abroad. It will save you from lots of hassle in case of damage to the car. So far we only had driving experience in Argentina (rather behaved) and Venezuela (very wild). Thus we were curious about how the Brazilians would drive!
The drive was actually quite easy – approx. 260 kilometers. As we drove on a Sunday the traffic in São Paulo was light – even for a 22 million city. But probably due to summer vacation many people had escaped from the city. The motorway was in a good condition. Here and there you needed to pay some tolls but our car had the automatic declaration system on board. We could easily drive through and did not have to bother at the toll stations.
The vegetation along the road was incredible. We passed lots of intense green hills and partly jungle like areas. As São Paulo is situated at a height of 800 meters we had to descent to sea level at a certain moment in order to arrive to the village of Picinguaba. So just right before the town of Ubatuba we encountered an adventurous road crawling down the mountains with many steep slopes. The speed limit was set to 20 km/h thus it did not feel dangerous at all.
The drive took about four hours in total and we were happy to have arrived at our destination where we met Erica immediately.
Picinguaba – Arriving to paradise
We had arrived to paradise! Our “pousada” (bed and breakfast) was directly located by the water and we had an incredible view over the picturesque bay. All felt like being painted! Obviously not many foreigners would come to this place. It was much more popular among Paulistas – people from Sao Paolo city who would spend a weekend in Picinguaba. The village had about 30 little houses, many of them were holiday rentals. The beach was about 300 meters long with a couple of beach bars that served great cocktails and local food.
Next to hanging out at the beach and sipping on our Caipirinhas we also did a boat trip to one of the tiny islands off coast. There is only one ticket office in the village and all is well organized. The boat ride took probably 15 minutes. On the island that we went to we found a restaurant serving refreshments. However, we walked over the islands for a few minutes to find a beautiful bay where we stayed. We started snorkeling there. The variety of fish was great.
We had a wonderful time together and even though it was just 48 hours it felt like a trip to paradise! The return trip to São Paulo was uneventful. As we would fly to Colombia the next day we dropped off the car at Guarulhos Airport and spent a night at the Ibis Budget Airport Hotel (not to be recommended).
Things to do in São Paulo – Roadtrip to Picinguaba
1) Rent a car, for example at Localiza.
2) Drive 260 kilometers to Picinguaba, enjoy the landscape! The vegetation is incredible along the roads.
3) Book one of the cute little holiday houses in Picinguaba.
4) Relax on the beach with a variety of Caiprinhas (the one with tamarind leaves was yummy)
5) Get to one of the tiny islands off the coast by boat. Go snorkeling there.
6) Try local dishes in one of the restaurants (we loved lunch at Cumbuca Caiçara)
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