Have you heard about Itu in São Paulo State in Brazil? There is a chance that you might have as it is famous for having everything bigger than the normal.
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On this post I will highlight our visit to Itu and list the places that we visited.
In April this year we visited Brazil again. We go every year and always try to go in April as for us it is the best time to visit Brazil. It is out of high season, hence not very busy and it doesn’t rain as much as in summer. It is not as hot, but you still get plenty of sunny days to enjoy the beach and outdoor activities without scorching.
We are based in São Vicente, São Paulo state, which is about one hour’s drive from São Paulo capital.
We have our own flat in São Vicente that we use when we are there and let as a holiday accommodation when we are not using it. It is a lovely flat in front of the beach with wonderful sea views. You can check/book it HERE if you are going to visit the area and is looking for accommodation.
While we are in Brazil, we always travel to different places. This time we went to visit some relatives in Sorocaba, another town in São Paulo state. Itu is close to Sorocaba, so we decided to stop there for a visit before going to Sorocaba.
We left São Vicente early, about 8 am and went in the direction of Itu. It took us about two and half hours to get there, but it was an easy drive without a lot of traffic on the way. To drive to Itu from São Paulo capital is about one and half hours.
We were travelling independently with a hired car as we are confident travellers and speak the language. However, if you prefer to be part of a tour and to have everything organised for you, I advise you to book a complete tour with Tourradar.
They have different kinds of tours that will fit your time and budget. If you book it via my links you can get a discount by using this code: RoseG50.
Below is a map showing the places we visited in Itu:
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ITU
The name Itu comes from the Old Tupi language which was spoken by the indigenous Tupi people. These indigenous inhabited the coast, some regions of the South and Southeast of Brazil. Itu means “Big Waterfall”.
The town was founded in 1610 and became a city in 1843. It was the birthplace of the Republicans in Brazil and played an important role in Brazil’s history when the country became a Republic in 1889.
In Itu you will find one of the most important geologic parks in South America. On this park there is the Rock of Itu, a sedimentary rock of more than 280 million years from the time that this part of South America was covered in ice.
Itu was brought to fame when in the 1960’s there was a humoristic TV programme with a character that was from Itu. On the programme he was always boasting how big everything from his town was.
The fame stuck with the support of the city’s people. Soon people started to visit the town to look for the famous big things. That was when they started installing oversized objects in the town and nowadays Itu is famous in the whole of Brazil.
VISITING ITU
We arrived in Itu at about 11 o’clock and we drove straight to the FAMA Museum (Fabrica de Arte Marcos Amaro). The FAMA Museum was created in a group of buildings belonging to an old weaving factory the “Tecelagem São Pedro”. The buildings were empty since the factory closed its doors for good in 2003.
Many cultural areas were created providing art exhibitions and areas for cultural events in the old factory. Besides the art areas, there is also a restaurant, an antiques shop and the unique atelier of the famous artist Kobra.
Eduardo Kobra is a famous brazilian artist, famous for the beautiful murals he painted in buildings all over the world. There is also a nice, peaceful garden within the grounds that can be explored by the public.
Kobra’s atelier was inaugurated in February 2024, so still very new and not known by many people. We visited the Kobra Atelier first as I’m a fan of his work and the reason we went there on the first place. We admired his work hanging all over the space but unfortunately, he was not working there on that day.
After that we visited the other art exhibitions, the garden, outside buildings, and the antique’s shop. The shop is great with many desirable antiques on show.
It was lunch time, and the restaurant on the site was very appealing, but I wanted to go to “Bar to Alemão” to try their famous “Parmegiana Steak”. Bar do Alemão is a traditional bar and restaurant in Itu that has been operating since 1902 by a family of German immigrants called Steiner.
We didn’t have a reservation at Bar do Alemão, but we were lucky to get a table there at lunch time as the restaurant was very busy.
When we finished lunch, which was delicious, we walked to the historic centre, rich with the colonial architecture of the time. From the historic centre we ended up at “Padre Miguel Square”.
On this square you will find the biggest public telephone in the world, which is 7 metres high. Public phones in Brazil are called “Orelhão” meaning “Big Years” because they are in the format of an ear. Nowadays they are not very commom as everybody has a mobile phone. So, this one is on the square in a large size to honour the reputation of the town of having very large objects.
On the square you can also see the larger than normal traffic lights still in use since the 1970’s when it was installed.
The “Igreja Matriz Nossa Senhora da Candelária”, a church built in 1780 is also located facing the square. The church has gone through various refurbishments since it was first built in a Baroque style. This church is considered one of the best patrimonies of the town.
We visited the church outside and inside and after the visit drove to the next place we wanted to visit, the “Exaggeration Square”.
“The Exaggeration Square” is a thematic park where all the objects are in a larger than usual size. You will find super-sized animals, fruits and other objects, all scattered around the park. This park is mainly a place dedicated to children and there are many places where children can be entertained for hours.
There are many other places worth visiting in Itu, but we didn’t have time to visit all of them on that day as we still needed to drive to the next town, Sorocaba to visit my cousins. But I would have loved to go to the “Parque Geológico do Varvito” to see the sedimental rock formed from millions of years. Also, the “Museu Republicano” and the “Museu da Energia”.
There is also a chocolate factory on the outskirts of the town that we visited many years ago when our kids were small. It is a great place to go with children as they have lots of activities involving the nature and animals as well as the fabrication of the chocolate. Worth visiting and to spend the day there if you have kids.
From the “Exaggeration Square” we ended our visit to Itu and headed to the motorway to continue with our trip to Sorocaba. Sorocaba is another town worth visiting and I will write a post about it in the future.
I hope this post gives you some ideas of what to visit and what to do in Itu and helps you to plan your visit there.
HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR VISIT
Below you will find a list of what to visit, where to stay and where to eat in Itu. I classified each place as follows:
BOLD – Visited, tried and recommended
NOT BOLD – Not visited or tried, but planning to visit or try and heard very good reviews
RED – Visited and tried but do not recommend, avoid or be cautious
*** – Excellent
** – Good
* – OK
£££ – Expensive
££ – Fair and affordable
£ – Cheap
PLEASE NOTE: Every hotel, restaurants and attractions I mention on my blogs are not sponsored reviews and we always paid the full price when visiting. We give our own opinion of the place and detail our experience, good or bad.
WHAT TO SEE
ATTRACTIONS
1 – FAMA Museum – ***
2 – Atelier Kobra – ***
3 – Padre Miguel Square – ***
4 – Historic Centre – ***
5 – Nossa Senhora da Candelária Church – ***
6 – The Exaggeration Square – ***
7 – Parque Geológico do Varvito
9 – Museu da Energia
10 – Fazenda do Chocolate – ***
WHERE TO STAY
ACCOMMODATION
1 – Hotel Pousada Bem Bom – 3* – ££
2 – Hotel KK – 3* – ££
3 – Pousada Corujas – 4* – £££
4 – Novotel Itu Terras de São José Golf & Resort – 4* – £££
5 – Otho Hotel Convention & Spa – 5* – £££
6 – Limoeiro da Concórdia Hotel Fazenda -5* – £££
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WHERE TO EAT
RESTAURANTS
1 – Bar do Alemão – *** – ££
2 – Restaurante São Pedro (inside FAMA Museum) – ££
3 – Restaurante Caipira (inside Fazenda do Chocolate) – ££
4 – Restaurante Von Strudel (German) – ££
5 – Spanizzi Ristorante (Italian) – ££
6 – Rancho da Picanha – ££
If you tried any of my recommendations above, please send me a message and tell me about your experience good or bad, so I can update the list accordingly. Thanks!
If you enjoyed reading this post you might also like to read:
On this trip to Brazil:
1 – Itu – São Paulo State
2 – Guaratuba – Paraná State – Coming Soon
3 – Balneário Camburiú – Santa Catarina State – Coming soon
4 – Blumenau and Pomerode – Santa Catarina State – Coming Soon
5 – Florianópolis – Santa Catarina State – Coming Soon
6 – Caverna do Diabo – Eldorado – São Paulo State – Coming Soon
7 – Guarujá – São Paulo State – Coming Soon
8 – Aparecida do Norte – São Paulo State – Coming Soon
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