Curitiba, Brazil-6-day-itinerary

Curitiba is the only Brazilian city that is frequently cited by urban planners alongside Copenhagen and Bogota as a model of functional public transit and green infrastructure. It is also the capital of Parana state, a region shaped by waves of German, Italian, Polish, and Ukrainian immigration that have left a food and architectural culture unlike anything in Rio or Sao Paulo. Six days is enough time to take the city seriously rather than treating it as a stopover.

Getting There and Arriving

Afonso Pena International Airport (CWB) sits about 18 kilometres south of the city centre in the municipality of Sao Jose dos Pinhais. The airport bus (Executivo Aeroporto, line 208) connects to the city’s tube-shaped BRT stations and costs around R$10 per person, taking 45-60 minutes depending on traffic. A taxi or app-based ride (99Taxi or Uber both operate here) to the Centre costs R$60-100. Licensed taxis use meters; app rides are typically cheaper. Do not accept unlicensed rides from drivers who approach you in arrivals.

Where to Stay

The Centro Historico and the Batel neighbourhood are the best bases. Golden Tulip Curitiba Towers in the Centre (mid-range, around R$350-450 per night) has reliable service and a good location near Rua XV de Novembro. For a more design-forward option, Hotel Nikko in Batel (mid-range, R$400-550) is popular with business travellers and has better restaurant options nearby. Budget travellers have reasonable options in the Agua Verde neighbourhood, 10-15 minutes by bus from the Centre.

Day 1: Arrival and the Botanical Garden

Check in, leave the bags, and go directly to the Jardim Botanico (Botanical Garden of Curitiba). The main glasshouse, modelled on London’s Crystal Palace and completed in 1991, contains tropical orchids and bromeliads in an Art Nouveau iron structure that photographs exceptionally well. Entry is free. The gardens open at 6am and close at 8pm (9pm in summer). The formal French-style gardens in front of the glasshouse and the surrounding forest trail are worth at least two hours.

Walk or take the Tube (the city’s BRT bus rapid transit system, which uses dedicated lanes and tube-shaped boarding stations with prepaid entry) to the Largo da Ordem in the afternoon. This is the colonial heart of the old city, a sloping cobblestone square lined with baroque churches, street cafes, and art galleries. On Sundays it hosts a large craft and antiques market, but it is pleasant to walk any day of the week.

For dinner, try Mercearia Fantinato, a traditional boteco (neighbourhood bar and restaurant) that has been serving carne de onca since the 1950s. Carne de onca, Curitiba’s most distinctive local dish, is raw ground beef seasoned with onion, chives, olive oil, sweet paprika, and salt, served on slices of crusty bread. It is not to everyone’s taste, but it is genuinely local in a way that most restaurant food in the city is not.

Day 2: Architecture, Museums, and Ukrainian Heritage

Start at the Museu Oscar Niemeyer (MON), a striking building designed by Brazil’s most celebrated architect and devoted to modern art, architecture, and design. The main hall, topped by a large eye-shaped annex, is one of the more unusual museum spaces in South America. Admission is around R$20. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm.

Walk or bus to the Opera de Arame, an open-air theatre made entirely of tubular steel and wire, set inside a former quarry and surrounded by a small lake. Performances are scheduled throughout the year and tickets vary by event, but the structure itself can be visited and photographed from outside at any time.

Afternoon: the Ukrainian community in Parana is among the largest in the world outside of Ukraine, and in Curitiba this heritage is tangible. Barbaran, on Avenida Marechal Floriano Peixoto, is a traditional bar recognisable by the Ukrainian tryzub on the door of the Ukrainian Society building next door. The menu includes vareniki (dumplings), borscht, and holubtsi (stuffed cabbage rolls). It is frequented by local Ukrainians and is an unpretentious, cheap lunch.

For dinner, Batel Grill in the Batel neighbourhood was elected the best churrascaria in Curitiba by the Bom Gourmet 2024 award. The rodizio service includes picanha, maminha, and lamb alongside a salad and seafood buffet. Weekday lunch rodizio runs R$149.90 per person; Sunday is R$174.90. Book a table, especially for weekend visits.

Day 3: The Serra Verde Express and Morretes

This is the day that most visitors to Curitiba remember longest. The Serra Verde Express train departs from Curitiba’s main station daily and runs approximately 70 kilometres through the Serra do Mar mountains and the Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlantica) to the colonial town of Morretes, crossing 30 bridges and 14 tunnels over about 3.5-4 hours. The scenery is genuinely spectacular: waterfalls, canyons, and dense forest dropping steeply toward the coast.

Book economy class tickets (R$199 per person for foreign visitors in 2025) in advance on the Serra Verde Express website. A passport or national ID is required for purchase. Sit on the left side of the train when departing Curitiba for the best views. The train departs in the morning; confirm the exact schedule when booking as it varies by season.

In Morretes, have barreado for lunch. This is the dish’s spiritual home: beef cooked slowly for 14-16 hours in a sealed clay pot with a broth of bacon, garlic, cumin, and bay leaf, then served with rice, manioc flour, and banana. Several restaurants cluster near the main square; Madalozo is well-established and reliable. Budget two to three hours in Morretes to walk the colonial streets along the Rio Nhundiaquara.

Return to Curitiba by bus (operated by Viacao Graciosa, about R$15-20 per person, taking 90 minutes) rather than train, to preserve time and avoid retracing the route.

Day 4: Parks and the Iguassu Detour Option

Curitiba has 28 parks and green spaces within the city, which is unusual for a Brazilian city of its size (around 1.8 million people). Parque Barigui is the largest, popular with local families on weekend mornings for cycling and jogging, with a lake, capybaras wandering freely near the water, and a small natural history museum. Entry is free.

Parque Estadual de Vila Velha, about 90 kilometres west of Curitiba, is worth a day trip for those interested in geology. The park contains stone pillars eroded over 300 million years into dramatic shapes, a set of lagoons connected by a natural tunnel, and a network of walking trails. Entry is around R$35. A car is the most practical way to reach it; the drive takes about 90 minutes.

Note for those with extra days: Curitiba is often used as a base for a day trip to Foz do Iguacu (the Brazilian side of Iguassu Falls), roughly 650 kilometres west. The domestic flight takes about 90 minutes and is frequently cheap on GOL or Azul. The falls are the largest in the world by volume and are worth a separate trip if your schedule allows. This itinerary does not attempt to cover both, but it is a realistic option to consider before booking.

Dinner: Locanda della Mimosa on Rua Vicente Machado in Batel serves contemporary Italian-Brazilian cuisine using Parana ingredients, with a wine list that leans toward Argentine and Chilean bottles. It is quieter and more serious than most of the Centre’s restaurant options. Mid-range: expect R$100-160 per person with wine.

Day 5: Rua XV, Shopping, and Sao Jose dos Pinhais

Rua XV de Novembro is Curitiba’s main pedestrian commercial street, running through the Centre and lined with shops, flower stalls, and street performers. It is best walked in the morning before the crowds build. The Mercado Municipal on nearby Avenida Sete de Setembro is a covered market with fresh produce vendors, delicatessen stalls, and a food court serving local snacks. Worth an hour, especially for buying dried Mate tea (the local beverage of choice in Parana) and regional coffee.

The Santa Felicidade neighbourhood, originally settled by Italian immigrants in the late 1800s, is now the restaurant district that locals take out-of-town guests. It is about 10 kilometres from the Centre by taxi or app ride. The neighbourhood is dense with cantinas serving Veneto-style pasta and wine in large portions at reasonable prices; Madalosso (not to be confused with the Morretes restaurant) has been running since 1963 and can seat over 4,000 people at full capacity, which tells you something about the appetite for the formula. It is not subtle food, but it is exactly what the neighbourhood was built for.

Evening: walk along Rua Voluntarios da Patria in the Centro to find several good craft beer bars that represent Curitiba’s growing microbrewery scene, influenced partly by the German and Czech immigrant heritage in the wider Parana region.

Day 6: Departure

Allow at least 90 minutes from the Centre to the airport in normal traffic. The airport bus from the city’s main tube station is reliable if you have modest luggage; a taxi or ride-share is faster for early morning departures when the city’s famous BRT system is less crowded.

Before leaving, the Feira do Largo da Ordem (Sunday craft market in the old city) is excellent if your flight is afternoon or evening. It sets up from about 9am and runs until around 3pm, with craft stalls, regional food vendors, and live music.

Transportation in Curitiba

The BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) system is the feature that urban planners come from all over the world to study. The tube-shaped boarding stations at street level allow passengers to board from a raised platform directly into the bus, like a subway, without steps. A single ride costs around R$5 and the network covers the entire city. For longer trips and park visits, app-based rides (Uber, 99) are practical and cheap by European standards. Car rental gives the most flexibility for day trips outside the city.

One Local Tip

The Curitiba that most visitors miss is the Beco do Batman of Sao Paulo equivalent closer to home: the street art district around Avenida Manoel Ribas in the Santa Felicidade and Bacacheri neighbourhoods. The murals are large-scale and regularly updated, and the streets are quiet enough that you can take them in without a crowd.

Seasonal Timing

Curitiba sits at 935 metres above sea level and is the coldest state capital in Brazil. Winter (June to August) brings temperatures that regularly drop to 5-10C and occasional frost. Bring a layer even if you are accustomed to southern hemisphere seasons. The city is pleasant year-round, but March and April (Brazilian early autumn) offer mild temperatures and lower hotel prices than the December-January peak.