Are you planning a visit to Aparecida? Not sure what to do during your visit?
I will tell you what we did on our day visit to the town on this post. In the end you will have an idea of what to do and how to spend a great day in Aparecida.
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On our last few days in Brazil, we decided to take a day trip to Aparecida, a town in the interior of the state of São Paulo. It is home of the second largest catholic cathedral in the world “Catedral Basilica do Santuário Nacional de Nossa Senhora Aparecida“, the first biggest being the “St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.
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.
Aparecida is about 3 hours’ drive from São Vicente where we were based and the route to get there by car is via Rodovia dos Imigrantes, Rodoanel Mario Covas and the BR-116.
From São Paulo Capital it is about 2 and a half hours, and the best route is to take the Rodovia Airton Senna, Rodovia Carvalho Pinto and BR-116.
Below is a map of the places we went while in Aparecida:
The best time to visit the town is during the week because on weekends the town is flooded with pilgrims wanting to see the cathedral and pray to the patron Saint of Brazil “Nossa Senhora Aparecida”.
It gets very busy on weekends. It is thousands of coaches with excursions coming from all parts of Brazil and other South American countries, plus all the other visitors going privately.
If you go on a weekend, be prepared to endure people elbowing their way past each other as they wander through the vast extent of the sanctuary grounds.
We went on a Wednesday and the place was almost empty. Very few visitors on that day and we felt we had it all to ourselves.
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT APARECIDA
The name “Aparecida” is after the patron Saint of Brazil “Nossa Senhora Aparecida” and the town depends exclusively on tourism receiving more than 7 million tourists a year. The town is also known as “Aparecida do Norte”.
The main attraction is the “Catedral Basilica do Santuário Nacional de Nossa Senhora Aparecida”. It is the most popular religious pilgrimage site in South America.
It all started in 1717, with the finding of a statue of the Virgin Mary by three fisherman fishing at Paraiba River.
They were not catching much on that day and later, one of the fishermen caught the statue of the saint on his net.
After cleaning and wrapping it on a cloth they returned to their fishing. Their lucky overturned from that moment and they were able to fish all the fish they needed in a very quick time.
They attributed their change of fortune to the saint and one of the fishermen kept the saint on his house. This belief was spread, and people started coming to his house to see and prey for the Saint. Miracles started happening and many people achieved their graces attributing it to the Saint.
As the number of visitors increased, they built a small chapel to house the statue. They replaced the chapel by a larger one in 1734 and in 1834, the first basilica was built on the site. With the number of visitors increasing year by year, the construction of the present building started in 1955 in a site nearby.
The new basilica was constructed in a Romanesque Revival style and the responsible architect was Benedito Calixto Neto. It has the form of a Greek Cross with arms of 188 m in length and 183 m in width. The Dome is 70 m high; the tower is 109 m high. The total space of the basilica is 23.226 m2 (250,00 sq. ft). It can accommodate 200,000 people.
On the grounds, there is a shopping mall, restaurants and a large infrastructure to serve the visitors including a medical clinic, accessibility for disabled, lost and found, Pilgrim Support Centre, Baby Stations, Property Security, Utilities and Parking for 2000 buses and 3000 private cars covered by mechanical assistance and insurance against theft of vehicles.
VISITING APARECIDA
I’m Catholic but I’m not a practicing one. However, the name Aparecida and the Saint has a very strong influence on me. My second name is Aparecida, my grandmother’s name was Aparecida, and my son was born on 12th October the day of the Patron Saint. So, I have a lot of faith and respect for her.
We arrived in Aparecida just before 11 o’clock. On arrival, we went straight to the Basilica because a mass was about to start at 11 am.
We watched mass and when it was finished, we visited the various areas inside the basilica and admired the beautiful, stained glasses, mosaics and the magnitude of the cathedral. It was just spectacular!
It was lunch time, and we were hungry, so decided to go for lunch before continuing exploring the complex. The complex has a large area full of shops and restaurants to chose from.
We picked a restaurant by the kilo, where there is a buffet with a variety of dishes. You chose what you want to eat, put it on your plate and on the way out you weight your plate and pay by the weight. Usually the dishes are home-made, simple dishes with a choice of rice, beans and accompaniments of a beef dish, chicken or vegetarian option. It is not expensive, and you can eat very well and not spend a lot.
Lunch was good and after feeling satisfied we walked back in the direction of the Basilica. On the way we stopped and bought tickets to go up to “Morro do Cruzeiro” via the cable-car.
“Morro do Cruzeiro” is an important place to visit in the Sanctuary complex. It comprises of a look-out point in a tower that has 360 degrees views of the area and the Basilica. Very nice attraction in Aparecida.
When we were back at the cable-car station, we decided to visit the Old Basilica that was built in 1888 and still exists. It is in the Historic Town and to get there we needed to go via the long walkway called “Passarela da Fé” (Walkway of Faith).
You can get to the Historic Centre by car, but you will need to leave the complex and you will not be allowed to return afterwards. Also, it is difficult to park in the historic town, so the best way to get there is walking via the walkway.
The” Passarela da Fé was built to connect the two Basilicas and was inaugurated in 1971. It is 392.2 metres long and just a few days after it’s inauguration a large procession carrying the image of the “Nossa Senhora Aparecida”, (Our Lady Aparecida) from 1717 crossed the walkway for the first time.
The walkway is used by many pilgrims that usually cross it on their knees.
The walkway finishes in a little shopping centre selling all kinds of religious objects, from candles to rosaries and figurines of the Saint. We crossed the Shopping centre, and we were in a square called “Praça Nossa Senhora Aparecida”. The Old Basilica is on this square and you can easily see it.
We entered the Old Basilica and admired the simplicity of its interior in a baroque style. It was refurbished in 2015 and still welcomes large crowds of Pilgrims.
A visit to Aparecida without seeing the Old Basilica will be incomplete as it is an important monument in the town. It was declared a monument of historical, religious and architectural importance in 1982. After the visit we walked back via the walkway.
Once on the other side again we went to see the image of “Nossa Senhora Aparecida” in a designated space for everyone to admire.
We also went to see the “Capela das Velas” (chapel of the Candles). This is a chapel where devotees can light one or more candles and offer their prayers to the Saint. There are thousands of candles lit up there and the atmosphere is full of energy.
After that we went to see the “Room of the Promises” underneath the church. It is a room where people leave pictures, and objects to thank the Saint for the graces achieved.
There are other things to visit in the complex that we would have loved to have visited, but time didn’t allow us. The following activities are interesting to do/visit if time allows:
1 – The Pilgrims Train – This is a train ride that connects the City of the Pilgrim to the river where the image of the Saint was found. The train passes the “Caminho do Rosario”, a path with statues representing various stages of the life of Christ. You can appreciate the whole path aboard of the train that is a replica of a “Maria Fumaça” (steam train). Some devotees also walk this path on their knees to pay their promises.
At the time of our visit the train was not working on that day. At that time of the year (April) the train was only working on weekends. Check the site to see if the train is working when you go.
2 – Our Lady Aparecida Museum – You will find sacred art, ancient paintings and indigenous art at this museum.
3 – Memorial of Devotion of Our Lady of Aparecida – This is a project that intends to evangelize through art and technology. It combines art and multimedia effects taking visitors to three centuries of Our Lady’s history.
4 – Wax Museum – There are 50 life-size wax statues of saints and famous devotees such as Father Galvão, Madre Teresa and Pope João Paulo II to see.
5 – Morro do Presépio de Aparecida – You have to climb to get there, and, on the top, you will see 70 sculptures telling the story of the birth of Jesus in an area of about 7000 m2.
6 – The statue of “Nossa Senhora Aparecida” on the hill – This is a hike to get to a statue of the Saint on top of a hill. From there you will have panoramic views of the town and the Basilica. This is something to be done if you have enough time and perhaps are staying in town overnight.
It was already about 5 pm and it was time to leave as we needed to drive three hours to get back to São Vicente. We left the Sanctuary Complex and took the motorway, but we had such an amazing day in Aparecida! We left in a high, full of energy and faith from a very magical place. Aparecida is certainly a very interesting place to visit even if you are not religious or if you are from a different religion other than Catholic.
If you are based in São Paulo, this tour will take you to Aparecida and you will spend the day exploring the town with a guide for the day.
Below are some more photos of Aparecida and the Sanctuary:
Below is a post from The Travelling Surveyor Instagram accounts with more photos of Aparecida. Check it out and follow me on Instagram as well.
This is my last post from this trip to Brazil series. Have a look at the other posts from this trip and other trips on the Brazil page of the site.
I hope this post gives you some ideas of what to visit and what to do in Aparecida and helps you to plan your visit there.
HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR VISIT TO APARECIDA
Below you will find a list of what to visit, where to stay and where to eat in Aparecida. 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 – Catedral Basilica do Santuário Nacional de N. Senhora Aparecida – ***
2 – Morro do Cruzeiro and the cable-car – ***
3 – Passarela da Fé – ***
4 – Old Basilica – ***
5 – The image of Nossa Senhora Aparecida – ***
6 – Capela das Velas – ***
7 – Sala das Promessas – ***
9 – Our Lady Aparecida Museum
10 – Memorial of Devotion of Our Lady of Aparecida
11 – Wax Museum
12 – Morro do Presépio de Aparecida
13 – The statue of Nossa Senhora Aparecida on the Hill
WHERE TO STAY
ACCOMMODATION
1 – EcoMAPP Hotel – ££
2 – Hotel Rainha do Brasil – 4* – ££
3 – Hollywood Palace Hotel – 3* – ££
4 – Apto. Vista Privilegiada – 4* – ££
5 – Rogai Hotel Pousada – 4* – ££
6 – Hotel Minorus – 3* – ££
If you prefer to look for your own accommodation, search and book via the below widget:
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WHERE TO EAT
RESTAURANTS
1 – Any restaurants in the Pilgrim Support Centre food court
3 – Barzin Choperia and Petiscaria
4 – Lamari Restaurate e Choperia
6 – Restaurante and Churrascaria da Nona
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
3 – Balneário Camboriú – Santa Catarina State
4 – Blumenau and Pomerode – Santa Catarina State
5 – Florianópolis – Santa Catarina State
6 – Caverna do Diabo – Eldorado – São Paulo State
7 – Guarujá – São Paulo State
8 – Aparecida do Norte – São Paulo State
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