Rio Grande do Sul · Brazil
In the destination Serra Gaúcha.
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
The city
Bento Gonçalves has a landscape and culture tied to Italian immigration and grape growing. You can explore rural routes and see historic buildings, trails and local traditions.
16 places to stay in Bento Gonçalves.
3 places picked to eat.
how to get there · how many days · itinerary · questions
The local experience
Brazil's benchmark wine region, with dozens of wineries open for visits, tastings and lunch among the vineyards. The landscape of hills covered in grapes is a portrait of Italian settlement in southern Brazil.
A cooperative founded in 1931 by 16 families, it now has more than 1,100 members and is in the city center. The guided tour goes through the underground cellars, with casks and tanks, and ends with a tasting.
Built in the 1980s in honor of the Italian immigrants, the church is shaped like a pipa, a barrel used in winemaking. Inside are stained glass windows, a wooden altar and pews decorated with bunches of grapes.
A steam locomotive that covers about 23 km between Bento Gonçalves, Garibaldi and Carlos Barbosa, with live music and wine and sparkling wine tastings on board. The stations preserve an early 20th-century feel.
A rural route that preserves stone and wood houses built by Italian immigrants, now turned into workshops, mills, cantinas and cafés serving café colonial. It's a step back into the daily life of the first settlements.
