Serra da Cantareira State Park Picture 19

More information on Serra da Cantareira State Park - São Paulo Photo by: fritz kintz

Serra da Cantareira State Park - São Paulo

Sao Paulo, which has about 11 million inhabitants, over 240 000 shops, 90 museums, among many other attractions metropolitan surprising to have one of the largest urban forest in the world: the Serra da Cantareira. The region is a biosphere reserve of the city according to Unesco. Ali, 10 km from the city center, is the Serra da Cantareira State Park, with an area equivalent to eight thousand football fields of the Atlantic Forest.

Visitors who pass through the local natural attractions as well as to glimpse the only species of pine native to Brazil, giant ferns and over 200 kinds of animals, you will learn more about the history of the region. The name "Cantareira" was adopted because of the large presence of troops between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries who kept their jugs of water on furniture called "Cantareira." In the late nineteenth century was built a pump to help supply the city and today it is a park of historical items. Water is still one of the highlights of the space, since some tracks go through waterfalls and rivers.

The site is divided into clusters, four of them are open to visitors: Big Stone, fat, Aguas Claras and Cabuçu. The Big Rock was the first to be opened to the public and today is one of the most recommended to the ordinary visitor. Its infrastructure account, even with an amphitheater. It features five tracks relatively easy to be traveled and its biggest names in explicit difference: Big Rock Trail (9.6 km), Bica (1.5 km), the Howler Monkey (500 m) and Figueiras (1 km). Animals, particularly monkeys, can be seen during walks, and lush landscape. Other great attractions are Lake of carps, which has a playground, and the Belvedere Stone Grande, 1,010 m, where, on clear days, one can see the Serra do Mar.

The second center was opened to the public of the Engordador. The space is so named because the cowboys who came from Minas Gerais and Goias in the region to stop the cattle recover from the exhausting trip and could be marketed at a fair that existed in what is now the region of Light this core is possible walking the trails of Waterfall (3 km), the Macuco (650 m) waterfall (3.4 km) and Mountain Bike (4 km). It also has the Visitor Center where you can see monkeys, lizards and several stuffed birds, the Nursery Seedling Production and Dam Engordador.

The Center of Clear Waters can also receive visitors and has tracks Acu-Fern (1.5 miles), Waters (500 m) and the puma (1.9 km), connected with the Center of Big Stone. The newest is the Cabuçu, which has four tracks: Ocelot (1 km), Tapiti (250 m), marmoset (730 m) waterfall (5.2 km).

Important information:
You may not:
- Any activity with fire;
- Entry of domestic animals;
- Practice ball sports, rollerblading and skateboarding;
- Bicycles only in the mountain bike trail in the Nucleus Engordador and helmet;
- Motor vehicles;
- Input devices / sound instruments;
- Flying kites;
- Swimming in dams and lakes.

Service:
State Park Serra da Cantareira
Garden Street, 799 - Tree Farm - North Zone
Phone: (11) 2203-3266
Time: 30/01/2009 Until Tuesday to Friday from 8h to 17h. From February only on weekends and holidays
Price: R$ 2

http://www.cidadedesaopaulo.com/sp/br/o-que-visitar/pontos-turisticos/213-parque-estadual-da-serra-da-cantareira