Because of its location equidistant between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Paraty is a favorite weekend destination for the Brazilian upper crust—the cachaça-tinged soft landing from the demands of city life. There, you’re as likely to share one of the little bars on the town square with a fisherman as you are with a tech entrepreneur, ceramist, or painter.
Situated on Brazil’s Emerald Coast, Paraty is rich with colonial architecture and a past decorated with a trail of gold. In Paraty’s surrounding mountains, the Portuguese discovered the world’s largest gold deposits, making this village on the coast the first stop in the export of the precious metal on its journey to Rio de Janeiro, then on to Portugal.
