Hiking the Brazilian Highlands

When to hike the Brazilian Highlands

All year except September, all 6 destinations clear our recommendation criteria. The area is quietest in September, with 5 of 6.

Averaged across the destinations, February is the warmest month at 24 degrees in the hiking window and July the coldest at 19. Every destination here is in the southern hemisphere.

How far apart the destinations are

The selected grid cells run from 636 metres at Serra dos Órgãos to 1,206 metres at Itatiaia, with a median of 1,125 metres. Both clear the criteria in 12 months (all year).

The longest season belongs to 5 destinations, including Serra da Canastra and Chapada Diamantina, at 12 months each; the shortest to Chapada dos Veadeiros, at 11 months (all year except September).

What closes the missing months

Where a destination loses months, a critical climate component falls below the threshold at which we stop recommending a month. The main reason is heat for 1 of the 6 destinations. 5 are recommendable in all twelve months.

In September, the quietest month, 1 of 6 destinations are closed, all of them by heat.

Conditions in July

July is when the open destinations score highest on average. Hiking-window temperature then runs from 14 degrees at Aparados da Serra to 23 at Chapada dos Veadeiros, and rain falls on 0 to 36 percent of days depending on the destination.

What these figures cover

Each destination is described by one selected ERA5-Land grid cell, averaged over 1991 to 2025. The figures above summarise those 6 cells. They are not a map of the whole area or of any route, and they are not a forecast.