What's on in Gramado (Serra Gaucha), Brazil through the year

Peak crowds — Natal Luz, Summer holidays in Brazil

• Season

  Grape harvest in the Serra

  15 Jan – 15 Mar · usually

  The Serra Gaucha picks its grapes in late summer. Wineries in the Vale dos Vinhedos, about an hour away, run harvest days with picking, grape treading and long lunches. Source ↗

Still on: Natal Luz (20 Oct – 20 Jan (usually)), Hydrangeas on the roadsides (1 Nov – 31 Jan (usually))

Busy — Summer holidays in Brazil, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Grape harvest in the Serra (15 Jan – 15 Mar (usually))

Busy — ChocoPascoa Easter season, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  ChocoPascoa Easter season

  10 Mar – 25 Apr · usuallyEaster & Holy WeekCrowded

  The town decorates for Easter with a bunny village at Praca das Etnias, weekend parades on Avenida Borges de Medeiros and chocolate everywhere; the long Easter weekend itself is very busy. Source ↗

Still on: Grape harvest in the Serra (15 Jan – 15 Mar (usually))

Peak crowds — ChocoPascoa Easter season, Festa da Colonia

• Festival

  Festa da Colonia

  28 Apr – 31 May · usuallyFood & drink festivalCrowded

  Rural Gramado's harvest fair at Expogramado: Italian, German and Portuguese home cooking, folk dances, crafts and farm produce, busiest at weekends. Source ↗

Still on: ChocoPascoa Easter season (10 Mar – 25 Apr (usually))

Busy — Festa da Colonia

Nothing new starts in May.

Still on: Festa da Colonia (28 Apr – 31 May (usually))

Quiet — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in June.

Peak crowds — July winter break, July winter break in Brazil

• Season

  July winter break

  1–31 JulSchool holidaysCrowdedBook early

  Brazilians come up the serra in July precisely because it is cold, and the town sells that: fondue, log fires, queues outside the chocolate shops. It is the second-busiest month after December.

Busy — Festival de Cinema de Gramado

• Festival

  Festival de Cinema de Gramado

  8–25 Aug · usuallyFilm festivalCrowdedBook early

  Brazil's best-known film week takes over the Palácio dos Festivais in the middle of August, with a red carpet down the main avenue and the Kikito awards at the end of it. Hotels are full and priced for it. Source ↗

Shoulder season — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

• Festival

  Semana Farroupilha

  5–20 Sep · usuallyMajor festival

  Rio Grande do Sul's gaucho heritage fortnight: the Chama Crioula is lit, local CTGs host dances and accordion meetings, and a horseback parade on 20 September marks the state holiday. Source ↗

Busy — Natal Luz

• Festival

  Natal Luz

  20 Oct – 20 Jan · usuallyChristmas & New YearCrowdedBook early

  The largest Christmas event in the country runs for close to three months: ticketed shows in the amphitheatre, two big parades most nights, and the whole town lit. Rooms and show tickets sell from midyear. Source ↗

Busy — Natal Luz

• Nature

  Hydrangeas on the roadsides

  1 Nov – 31 Jan · usuallyWildflowers & blooms

  The hydrangeas that give the region its name line the roads between Gramado and Canela through the early summer, blue where the soil is acid and pink where it is not. They brown off by late January. Source ↗

Still on: Natal Luz (20 Oct – 20 Jan (usually))

Peak crowds — Natal Luz, Summer holidays in Brazil

Nothing new starts in December.

Still on: Natal Luz (20 Oct – 20 Jan (usually)), Hydrangeas on the roadsides (1 Nov – 31 Jan (usually))