Exploring Bonito – a natural paradise in Brasil!

Bonito is in the Southeast of Brasil and has been called the “ecotourism capital of the world”. It is about 5,000 square kilometers, with a population of ~20,000 and was relatively unknown as a travel destination until the late 1990s. There is so much natural beauty in the area and since it was developed relatively later the town and surrounding area have done a really good job at intentional tourism. All the tours are super well-run both in terms of safety (e.g., the guides check in with each other at key checkpoints along the way, where there are also first aid kits and emergency evacuation access points) and in terms of preservation (e.g., only a certain number of visitors a day and must have an officially trained guide accompany you).

We headed to Bonito early on Wednesday morning from São Paulo’s Campinas (VCP) airport. This airport is located about 90 km out of the city of São Paulo and can easily take 2 hours (if not more!) to get there via car from SP. We decided to stay the night before with a family friend of Damian’s who lives close to VCP. VCP airport is really great – modern and clean and easy to navigate! Azul only runs two flights a week to Bonito from São Paulo (VCP), which gives you an idea of how this area of Brasil is still early in its development.

We arrived in Bonito in the afternoon and hopped on the bus of a tour company and paid 60 reais total (about $18) to get to our hotel – Bonito Ecotel. We loved staying here – the room was simple and clean, there was a nice pool with a jacuzzi and a bunch of cute hammocks and lounging areas outside and free breakfast was served every morning. The staff was very friendly and helpful and the hotel itself was two blocks off the main street, so it was a bit quieter.

The afternoon we got to the hotel we ventured out into the town to get a bite to eat. We stumbled upon an amazing restaurant, Casa de João. I can’t remember the name of our dish, but it was a giant portion of fish covered in their signature red sauce and lots of cheese, plus french fries, rice and beans. It was so delicious. By the time we waddled back to the hotel it was late afternoon and we were both pooped from the early wake-up call and I was a bit annoyed because of mosquito bites. So we napped, watched Trainwreck (we thought it was hilarious), read our books and called it an early night!

It was good we got our rest because we were up early the next morning for the first day of our tours! I’ll write a separate post on touring in Bonito because otherwise this post would be a behemoth, but to give a quick overview, on Thursday we did a snorkeling tour down the Rio da Prata (River of Silver). This was absolutely stunning and when you were underwater it looked like you were in a whole different world!

On Friday Damian did a waterfall tour called Boca da Onça (Mouth of the Puma – named because one of the waterfalls resembles the mouth of a puma). I was feeling really uncomfortable with the bug bites I had gotten the day before and needed to take the day easy and so didn’t join him (and instead slept in, swam in the pool, read in the hammocks and relaxed). Damian had an absolutely stunning day though!

After Damian returned we did a little bit of night swimming and then showered and headed out on the town for dinner. Bonito feels like a little beach town and we felt completely safe walking around at night. We went to a place called Taboa Bar, which looked like it would be the place to be during high season! The food was ok but we really enjoyed the atmosphere – which had a live band and a place on the walls to mark our spot.

Post-dinner we went for dessert! We first went to Delicias do Cerrado to get Damian a popsicle. They had dozens of flavors of popsicles – ranging from chocolate to grape to guava to even avocado and corn! Damian got a jabuticaba popsicle (made with a local Brasilian fruit). Then I got a soft serve chocolate ice cream cone (you can take the kid out of the girl …) and we wandered around the local park. The park was super cute with lights hanging in the trees, a water sculpture celebrating the most important local fish, lots of locals hanging out and listening to music and kids playing soccer.

The next morning (Saturday) we decided to make our own little “tour” at Parque Ecologico Rio Formoso (Ecological Park of the Handsome River) – a local park with a bunch of water activities to do in the Rio Prata that flows through it. Since the park was only 7km from our hotel we decided to make an activity-filled day of it and bike there. It was hot in the sun and there were bunches of difficult uphills but we had a blast biking (and it was a good return to the Flywheel classes I’ve been missing!).

We were so excited when we laid eyes on the park! There was a huge “lake” which was really a section of the Rio Formoso, lounge chairs, stand up paddle boards, kayaking, a zipline and bunches of adventure-y activities we could participate in. As a water baby we started by swimming, swimming, swimming! The water was cool and clear and about 2 meters deep.

We then decided to do the zipline, yay! Again, this place was super well-run – they required us to wear life jackets when we ziplined, just in case we hit the water the wrong way and there was a lifeguard watching the whole time. Things started off great with each of us going down the zipline with good form and Damian getting in some of his signature gymnastics tricks (video of a trick below).

And, well, sometimes ziplining doesn’t go exactly as you hope. On one of Damian’s flip he lost his watch, but luckily the bottom of the river is a sandy beige and his watch is black so after about 30 minutes of snorkeling we were able to find it! I also had a snafu, for some reason on one of my runs my hands could just not hold on to the zipline and I flopped right into the water at the start. It was hilarious after the shock wore off, so I’ve included the semi-embarrassing video below (I must have hit the water hard because look how quickly the lifeguard pops up!).

We decided that was a good time for a break from the zipline and headed to the reception area on site to eat a delicious buffet lunch! We had also signed up for tubing down some rapids and waterfalls and so after lunch we were off to that activity. Since it was low season we were the only ones on the tour with two guides plus a photographer and we had so much fun! Again, this was set up great, with ropes to hold on to along the way so one person didn’t get too far ahead, fun waterfalls to go down and a bunch of deeper swimming and diving areas. The park took pictures for us and we purchased them but they are all on a CD (whomp whomp) so I’ll add those to the post the next time we are near a computer with a CD-drive. Until then here is a generic picture of the tubing at this park.

After tubing these water-lovers weren’t ready to be done in the park so we did some stand-up paddleboarding and then practiced floating in the water. Fun fact: Damian can’t float; every time he tries he just ends up with his head out of the water and the rest of his body vertically in the water. It is the most hilarious thing. I can float quite easily and so whenever we are in water I try to teach him. It doesn’t usually work (which I attribute to his low percentage of body fat and me having woman parts that are made of fat) so this time we tried doing an inter-twined float, which worked moderately well!

As the sun started getting lower in the sky (the sun sets super early at this time of year in Brasil, around 6pm!) we packed up and biked back to our hotel. We saw a lovely toucan on the way, along with farms full of horses, sheep and cows. We showered and then head out for dinner. Damian was craving pizza so we went with the local recommendation of Venus Pizza and it was very delicious! We wandered around town a bit more and Damian got another popsicle – this time it was pequi flavored – it tasted kind of like orange juice.

We had a morning flight on Sunday from Bonito to Rio (connecting through São Paulo’s VCP) and so woke up, packed, checked out and took a 50 real (~$15) cab to the airport. We had such a good time in Bonito and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a place with fun outdoor adventures. I’m sure when we come back in 5, 10 or 15 years it will be way more developed, but it is already such a gem of a town and area as it is today!

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Read more about our time in Brazil using the links below:

• Brazil Country Recap – What we loved (and didn’t love) in our six weeks there
• Iguazu Falls
• Exploring São Paulo
• Exploring Bonito (you are here!)
• Touring in Bonito (river snorkeling and waterfall hiking)
• Rio de Janeiro: Our first three days in Rio
• Rio de Janeiro: “Professor-ial” thoughts on attending a game at Maracana
• Rio de Janeiro: Volunteering with Project Favela
• Three days in the beach paradies of Ubatuba!
• Rio de Janeiro: Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain
• The amazing landscape of Lençóis Maranhenses
• Three days in the hippie beach town of Jericoacoara
• Why we had to skip Canoa Quebrada and go to Natal instead
• Six days in Praia da Pipa (my favorite beach town)
• 24 hours in Olinda