Best Places to Paraglide in Brazil: Top Sites for 2026

Brazil is one of the world's top-3 paragliding nations, yet almost every online guide to it stops at Rio de Janeiro. Here are ten sites across eight states — from the cross-country thermals of Minas Gerais to the flatland flying of the Northeast — with season, skill level and access, based on the OutDare site database.

The best paragliding sites in Brazil at a glance

Site	State	Best for	Best season	Why it's special
São Conrado (Pedra Bonita)	Rio de Janeiro	All levels, tandem	May–Oct	The country's iconic beach-landing flight
Governador Valadares	Minas Gerais	Intermediate+, XC	Aug–Mar	Brazil's cross-country capital
Quixadá	Ceará	Intermediate+, XC	Jun–Jul, Nov–Dec	Flatland XC arena of the Northeast
Pacatuba	Ceará	All levels	Year-round	Low, forgiving launch near Fortaleza
Baixo Guandu	Espírito Santo	Intermediate+, XC	Year-round	Doce River valley thermals
Bom Retiro — Costão do Frade	Santa Catarina	Beginner+	Spring–Autumn	Southern Brazil's thermal hub
Rampa Vila Velha	Paraná	Intermediate	Spring, Autumn, Winter	Launch over the Vila Velha rock park
Morro do Cal	Paraná	Intermediate+, XC	Year-round	Wide wind window near Curitiba
Pirapora do Bom Jesus	São Paulo	Intermediate+	Year-round	Closest big-city XC to São Paulo
Serra Grande	Bahia	Soaring, hike	Year-round	Coastal-interior soaring in the Northeast

A note on ranking: this is a curated shortlist, not a claim these are the only good launches — Brazil has hundreds. Always confirm current conditions and site rules locally before flying.

Rio de Janeiro: São Conrado and Pedra Bonita

São Conrado is Brazil's most famous flight, and for most visiting pilots it's the first one they do. Launching from Pedra Bonita, high above the city, the glide runs out over Rio's skyline — Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf visible off the wing — to a landing right on São Conrado beach. Rio's federation, CBVL, is headquartered here, and the concentration of certified tandem operators is the highest in the country.

The dry season, May–October, brings the clearest skies and steadiest winds; the site flies in some form most of the year, which is why it carries the bulk of the country's tandem traffic. It's a beginner-friendly tandem site, not a place to start solo flying — the beach landing sits in busy airspace shared by dozens of operators a day.

Governador Valadares: the cross-country capital

Pico do Ibituruna, over the city of Governador Valadares in Minas Gerais, is where Brazil's distance records get set. The mountain fires strong, well-organised thermals over open flatland below, and on the best August-to-March days pilots ride them for hundreds of kilometres — Olympio Faissol, one of Brazil's best-known XC pilots, has described the terrain's reliability as a reason GV competes with any thermal site on earth. It's grown a genuine pilot community around it: schools, a season and a culture built specifically for cross-country flying.

This is intermediate-and-up terrain. The thermals that make GV great for distance are the same ones that punish a pilot who arrives without a rating or local knowledge — fly it with someone who knows the site first.

Andradas, further south in Minas Gerais, deserves a mention too: it hosted the 6th FAI Pan-American Paragliding Championships in 2024, confirming its status as a serious competition venue, though it doesn't yet have its own OutDare site page.

The Northeast: Quixadá and Pacatuba

Ceará is Brazil's flatland XC country. Quixadá, launching from the Morro do Urucum, sits among the state's famous inselbergs — granite domes rising straight out of the sertão — and pilots fly it for distance more than scenery. The trade winds that power it ease twice a year: June–July and November–December are the windows locals fly hardest.

Pacatuba, closer to Fortaleza, launches from a much lower hill and suits a broader range of pilots — a workable year-round option for a pilot who wants Northeast flying without Quixadá's bigger air.

The South and Southeast: Santa Catarina, Paraná, São Paulo

Southern Brazil runs a gentler, greener season than the tropical north. Bom Retiro's Costão do Frade in Santa Catarina is a beginner-friendly thermal site and one of the south's most active hubs. In Paraná, Rampa Vila Velha launches over the sandstone formations of Vila Velha State Park, and Morro do Cal, near Curitiba, takes a wide range of wind directions — practical for a pilot without a long weather window. Pirapora do Bom Jesus, the closest real cross-country site to the São Paulo metro area, is where the city's pilots go without a long drive.

Bahia and the coast: Serra Grande

Serra Grande, inland from Bahia's coast, offers coastal-adjacent soaring and hike-to-launch flying rather than the big flatland thermals of GV or Quixadá — a lower-key option for pilots exploring Brazil's Northeast beyond the famous beaches.

When is the best time to paraglide in Brazil?

There's no single Brazilian season — the country spans a continent, and each cluster peaks differently. Rio and the coast fly best May–October (the dry season); Governador Valadares peaks August–March, when inland thermals build hardest; Quixadá's trade winds ease in June–July and November–December. Coastal sites like Rio and Pipa are flyable in some form most of the year, which is what makes Rio the default first stop for a pilot with only one trip.

Flying Brazil as a visiting pilot

The gap that shows up fastest for a traveling pilot is coverage: most guides stop at Rio, and finding anything beyond it means digging through forums and Portuguese-language club pages. OutDare's database lists over 13,900 flying sites worldwide, Brazil included — with wind directions, altitude and skill level per launch — so a pilot landing in São Paulo or Fortaleza with a free afternoon can find a legitimate local site rather than guessing.

Before you fly a Brazilian site for the first time

• Fly with locals or a school first. GV's thermals and Quixadá's flatland conditions are unforgiving of guesswork; a local pilot or instructor will flag the site-specific traps.
• Check the CBVL-affiliated state federation for rules. Sites here are typically self-organised by state and city clubs — see our beginner's roadmap for how licensing and ratings map to what a site expects of you.
• Match the site to your rating. As with the Alps, Brazil's roundup spans beginner-tandem beaches to serious XC terrain — don't let a big-name site tempt you past your level.
• Respect the season. A site flying badly out of season isn't a bad site — it's the wrong month. When conditions and the calendar disagree, believe the calendar, and if in doubt, don't launch.