As many of you know, Jacob and I were enjoying a Brazil road trip with our friends, Jorge and Paula. While on this road trip, we went to the State of Minas Gerais, which ended up being one of our favorite states in Brazil!
Not only does Minas Gerais have some of the best food, coffee, and cheese we have ever had, but it is also packed full of history and beautiful towns that boomed during the colonial gold rush. And how can I forget to mention the mountainous landscapes? There is so much natural beauty here!
- Where is Minas Gerais, Brazil?
- Tiradentes, Brazil
- Things to See & Do in Tiradentes
- Ouro Preto, Brazil
- Things to See & Do in Ouro Preto
- Visit Minas Gerais
- Watch Our Minas Gerais Vlogs
Read: Two Month Brazil Road Trip Destinations
Where is Minas Gerais, Brazil?
Minas Gerais, Brazil is a state in Southeastern Brazil that borders Northern Rio de Janeiro. It is the second most populated state in Brazil (5.8 million citizens), and fourth largest by area (226,460 square miles).
Of course we didn’t get to see the entire state of Minas Gerais because it is huge, but we did get to know a few places along the way. Our favorites were Tiradentes, Ouro Preto, and the beautiful Serra da Canastra National Park.
Tiradentes, Brazil
Tiradentes is a colonial city in Minas Gerais, Brazil that was founded in 1702, originally known as São João del Rei. It began as a mining camp along the Portuguese gold route. In 1889, the town was renamed to Tiradentes.
Tiradentes, of whom the city is named after, was the lead figure of the revolutionary movement known as Inconfidência Mineira. His goal was full independence from Portuguese power, and the creation of a Brazilian Republic. Though his acts are now viewed as noble, Tiradentes was arrested, tried, and hanged in 1792. Today, he is considered a national hero of Brazil.
Things to See & Do in Tiradentes
I will start with talking about the food scene, because as I mentioned above, we had some of the best food in Minas Gerais. Tiradentes has many, many restaurants to choose from, and the delicious restaurants are part of the reason many people make the trip to Tiradentes.
Here are a few of my favorite restaurants in Tiradentes.
Restaurante Delícias de Tiradentes
We stopped here for lunch on our first day arriving to Tiradentes, and it was a home cooked buffet style restaurant. All you can eat, homemade Brazilian cuisine. Need I say more?
Tapioca Maria Bonita
I stumbled across this restaurant on Google Maps while looking for restaurants, and I am so glad I did. It offers typical North Eastern, Brazilian cuisine. I had an escondidinho, cassava root purée with shrimp sautéed in coconut milk and requeijão (Brazilian cream cheese), and oh my was it delicious.
Uaithai Tiradentes
A traditional Thai restaurant. When we arrived in the evening, they said they were closing due to not having enough customers, but they decided that they would stay open for us, and we are glad they did. We had some incredible Pad Thai with a Brazilian twist!
Jane’s Apple
Jane’s Apple was a cute little combination of a boutique décor shop, café, and a gourmet caramel apple store. They had the cutest home décor in the store, and the caramel apples looked delicious, so we stopped at the café one morning and got a couple coffees and a gourmet caramel apple to split, and it was so good! I would have come back here every day, but there were so many good places to try.
Enough about the food…
Church of San Antonio
Though there are many churches in Tiradentes, this is the main one. You can see it from almost every street corner in the city, as it is situated at the top of the highest hill. It was built in the 18th century by one of Brazil’s most famous artists, Aleijadinho. The most interesting part of this church is that there were around 482 kilograms of gold used in decorating the interior of the church (which we found to be a common theme in this area). I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise in an old gold mining town.
After talking to some locals, we found out when the mass times were being held in the church, and we actually ended up attending a mass. Though we didn’t understand too much, it was fun to attend a mass in Portuguese.
Largo das Forras
This is the name of the town square in Tiradentes. It is full of restaurants, bars, and little shops. It is just fun enough to walk around the historic streets, shop in the different specialized stores, and of course, eat some more good food.
Rent Bikes
We biked a 24 mile route, with the bicycles that we rented from Lugar do Esporte. The owner gave us a map and suggested a route that fit what we were looking for. The route took us out of the town onto dirt roads, to the town of Bichinho, and then back to Tiradentes.
Bichinho was a nice town to take a break in and get some lunch. We ended up going to a typical Brazilian, home-cooked restaurant, and again, it was so good! Bichinho has more restaurants and shops that you could spend more time in, so we did a little shopping around before heading back to Tiradentes on our bicycles.
Hiking the Trilha do Carteiro
With Tiradentes sitting at the foot of the São Jose mountain range, there are some different hiking trail options in the area. We read about the Trilha do Carteira, which was an old trail used to take slaves from one city to the other.
While this trail has a very sad past, and many of the reviews we read said that the trail has a very eerie feeling, we wanted to do it for ourselves and find out.
Unfortunately, we started the hike a little late, and did not get to finish it because we wanted to make it back before it got dark, but we still ended up getting some good views, and we were majestically greeted by two white horses on the trail that wanted to follow us.
Ouro Preto, Brazil
Similarly to Tiradentes, Ouro Preto (meaning Black Gold) is another colonial gold town in Minas Gerais. It was founded at the end of the 17th century, and became a focal point of Brazil’s gold rush in the 18th century.
Ouro Preto became Latin America’s most populous city in the year 1730, with a population of about 40,000 people, and doubling that in the decades to come.
Ouro Preto is now designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site thanks to its Baroque Colonial Portuguese Architecture. Walking around the city, it is easy to understand why.
Things to See & Do in Ouro Preto
Again, I am going to start with the food scene because we had some very good restaurants in Ouro Preto too.
O Passo Pizza Jazz
We stopped here for dinner our first night in Ouro Preto, and we all loved it. The pizza was delicious and they had a jazz band playing on the patio while we ate. We enjoyed a bottle of wine, great pizza, and the jazz.
Tropea Cantina e Armazem
This restaurant actually has the same owner as O Passo Pizza Jazz. To be honest, we were not overly impressed by the interior of this restaurant, or the service, but nonetheless, the ravioli was fantastic and I would most definitely eat it again. Jake got the Filé mignon, and he said it was the best one he’s ever had!
It just goes to show, you can’t always judge a restaurant by its looks! We would have missed out on a great meal.
Minas Do Palacio (Gold Mine)
There are multiple gold mines you are able to tour today in Ouro Preto. We went to the Minas Do Palacio Velho, where a guide takes you through the old mine and teaches you some of the history.
There was so much gold mining in Ouro Preto, that people stumble across old gold mining sites in their backyard. That is exactly what this one was, it was on someone’s property behind their house, that they now offer tours of.
During the tour, we learned that African slaves were mainly used for mining and doing all the hard labor. Actually, the Portuguese didn’t even know how to find and extract the gold. The process was only known by the African slaves because they learned this in their native country before being brought to Brazil.
Honestly, overall the mine itself was not that exciting, but it was interesting to learn some history about the gold mining in the town.
Basilica Nossa Senhora do Pilar
It is hard to walk around Ouro Preto and not run into a church. I swear there is one for every street, but this one holds the most impressive collection of gold. Inside the church, there is hundreds of kilograms of gold decorating the interior. It is an insane site to see.
As I was wondering why a church would need so much gold, I found that during the gold rush, they were forced to send whatever gold they extracted from the hills of Ouro Preto, over to Portugal, with the exception of using gold in a place of worship. So there you have it, in an effort to keep some of the gold, they adorned their churches with it.
Tiradentes Square
The main town square of Ouro Preto is Tiradentes Square, again named after the Brazilian hero. This is where he was executed. Sitting in the focal point of the town square is the town hall, which contains the museum of the Inconfidencia, which we found extremely interesting, and the admission is free.
House of Alejedinho
Aleijadinho is that famous Brazilian artist I have been mentioning, who helped design and build many of the amazing churches in this area. Well, his home was located in the town of Ouro Preto, and they now offer tours.
It is interesting to see the home that he lived in, learn some history, and see some of the original parts of the home. The owner also distills a unique cachaça, known as Safra Barroca. They offer tastings, with a very crazy story at the end of the tour! You just have to try it for yourself!
Visit Minas Gerais
It is hard for me to truly show the magnificence of the state of Minas Gerais, and the historical brilliance of the cities of Tiradentes and Ouro Preto. You just have to visit yourself and experience the history, culture, and of course the amazing food!
– Morgan
Watch Our Minas Gerais Vlogs
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