Gramado & Canela
All of Brazil, within reach.
Adopted as an official municipal symbol under Lei Ordinária nº 364/1972, the Gramado flag has three vertical stripes — blue, yellow and green — with the municipality's coat of arms centered on the yellow stripe.
Gramado & Canela in pictures
About Gramado & Canela
Twin mountain towns in the Serra Gaúcha highlands of Rio Grande do Sul, Gramado and Canela sit roughly 115-120 km and about 1h30 by road from Porto Alegre. Settled from the 1870s onward by Azorean, German and Italian immigrant families and built around a cool-climate, chalet-and-pine aesthetic, the pair now forms Brazil's most consolidated year-round leisure and events hub outside the beach circuit: Gramado anchors shopping, gastronomy, the Kikito-awarding Festival de Cinema and the mega-scale Natal Luz Christmas season, while neighboring Canela supplies the nature side with Caracol State Park and its 130 m waterfall. For DMCs, the draw is a dense, walkable cluster of bookable attractions (Mini Mundo, Snowland, café colonial houses, wineries of the nearby Vale dos Vinhedos) that pairs easily with Porto Alegre or Foz do Iguaçu on a multi-day southern Brazil itinerary.
Salgado Filho International Airport
Main gateway, in Porto Alegre
Canela Airport
General-aviation airstrip (ICAO SSCN); no scheduled commercial flights, used for charter/private aircraft
Ground capacity for planning
Official 2025 figures where available — see sources below each chart.
How Gramado & Canela came to be
Sourced milestones your team can use for guest briefings and storytelling — not filler copy.
Curiosities & practical notes
What's on the table
Café Colonial
A large shared spread of homemade breads, cucas, jams, cold cuts and cheeses, rooted in German/Italian settler farmhouse meals and now a signature sit-down experience in Gramado and Canela.
Cuca
A German-style crumb-topped sweet cake, a café colonial staple.
Apfelstrudel
German apple strudel pastry, common on regional dessert menus reflecting the area's German heritage.
Galeto
Spit- or pan-roasted young chicken, considered one of Rio Grande do Sul's iconic dishes, typically served with polenta and pasta on the side.
Massas caseiras
Homemade Italian-style pastas — ravioli, gnocchi, capeletti — reflecting Italian immigrant influence in the Serra Gaúcha.
Churrasco
Southern Brazilian grilled-meat tradition, the broader gaúcho staple found alongside the region's German/Italian specialties.
Chimarrão
Traditional hot mate-leaf infusion sipped from a gourd, a daily ritual across gaúcho culture including the Serra Gaúcha.
Chocolate artesanal
Artisanal chocolate and truffles are a well-known Gramado specialty, sold in dedicated chocolate shops around town.
What there is to see
Marked where a site carries UNESCO World Heritage status directly, versus a locally or nationally protected landmark.
Mini Mundo
Miniature-world park in Gramado with scaled-down replicas of famous buildings, villages and working model trains.
Cascata do Caracol / Parque do Caracol
A roughly 130 m waterfall in Canela, viewable from a panoramic observation tower inside Caracol State Park (established 1973).
Snowland
Indoor artificial-snow park in Gramado offering sledding and snow play year-round.
Lago Negro
Artificial lake in central Gramado, created in 1953 and framed by imported pine trees; a classic paddle-boat and stroll spot.
Igreja Matriz São Pedro Apóstolo
Gramado's parish church, a stone Gothic-Revival landmark on the town's main square.
Rua Coberta
A covered pedestrian street in central Gramado lined with craft, food and gift stalls.
Palácio dos Festivais
Gramado's festival palace and main venue for the Festival de Cinema de Gramado.
Vale dos Vinhedos
Wine-producing valley near Bento Gonçalves within reach of Gramado/Canela, known for Italian-heritage vineyards and Brazil's first Denomination of Origin (wine).
What else we brief agencies on
This is what we prepare for every RFP, whether or not it's published on this page yet:
On request for every proposal
- Best season / weather windows and blackout dates for groups & MICE
- Permit and quota logistics for regulated attractions — lead time and group-size caps
- Accessibility notes and physical-difficulty ratings per activity
- Vetted ground partners, guides and transport already used on past programs
- Sustainability / certification credentials relevant to client RFPs, where they genuinely exist
- Real, checked room and vehicle availability for your travel dates — not a generic quote