What to Do in Bom Jesus, RS

Bom Jesus is a small town offering several natural attractions, like waterfalls, and it’s also one of Brazil’s coldest towns. Here are our tips for what to do here.

We came from Cambará do Sul, since it’s the safest route toward São José dos Ausentes. The municipality is part of the Campos de Cima da Serra tourist route, in the northeast of Rio Grande do Sul.

Access to the waterfalls, though, isn’t easy, and requires hiking trails, so we’d recommend hiring a guide. We only spent an afternoon in town, but it was really pleasant, and you could easily spend one to two days there.

How to Get to Bom Jesus

There are two paved highways leading to Bom Jesus: BR-285, coming from Vacaria and continuing toward São José dos Ausentes, and RS-110, connecting via the Rota do Sol, for anyone coming from or heading to the Serra Gaúcha or the Rio Grande do Sul coast.

What to Do in Bom Jesus

Ponte da Barra Moraes

Ponte da Barra Moraes is part of highway RS-110, spanning 350 m, crossing the Rio das Antas and the Barra do Arroio Moraes valley. Beneath the bridge, there’s a campground and visitor area for anyone wanting to head down to the riverside. It’s 18 km from town, and the bridge connects the Rota do Sol to Rio Grande do Sul’s northern coast.

Ponte da Barra Moraes

Barragem Rio dos Touros

This dam used to supply water for power generation for the municipality, but it’s now decommissioned and serves as a tourist attraction instead.

It stands 2 meters tall and 180 meters long, with a waterfall and flat rock bed below. There’s a concrete strip that serves as a crossing for vehicles traveling RS-110 toward São Joaquim, though your car needs high clearance to cross, and you need to know exactly where to drive.

Following the riverbed, you can hike a trail walking along the old piping, leading to Cachoeira da Usina, though we ended up not crossing since the water level was too high.

Distance from downtown: 18 km (12 km paved, 6 km unpaved).

Barragem Rio dos Touros

Cachoeira Funil da Água Branca

We ended up doing the trail to this waterfall on our own, with directions from a local resident, but we’re pretty experienced hikers, and the trail is genuinely easy to get lost on, so we’d recommend hiring guide Alex Boeira, (54) 99672-6886. We actually tried reaching him that day, but since it was a holiday, we only managed to get in touch at the end of the day.

The Funil (“Funnel”) is a rock formation creating a natural narrowing of the banks of the Arroio Água Branca. 10 meters downstream, there’s also the beautiful Cachoeira da Água Branca.

Cachoeira do Funil da Água Branca, Bom Jesus - RS

Cachoeira da Água Branca, Bom Jesus - RS

Igreja Matriz do Senhor Bom Jesus and Praça do Rio Branco

This church stands out as one of the largest buildings in town, and it also has a square out front with a playground. The tourist information center is located there, though it was closed the day we visited.

Igreja Matriz do Senhor Bom Jesus

Fazenda das Cascatas

Fazenda das Cascatas (Instagram) seems to be the town’s main attraction. It’s a cluster of waterfalls on a private property, with a 14 km (round trip) trail.

The site is home to three waterfalls: Roseira, Cachoeirão, and Cascata da Ferradura, plus a lookout — but when we tried reaching Alex Boeira, (54) 99672-6886, as mentioned earlier, we weren’t able to get through.

He did share some beautiful photos of the property with us, though, along with pricing and details on how it all works. The farm sits along the road that runs through town, with signs marking the way to Fazenda das Cascatas.

Hours run from 9 AM to 5 PM, and admission costs R$75.00 per person, including a rural-style breakfast, waterfall access fee, Wi-Fi, restrooms, and a hot shower.

The property also offers sport fishing (R$75.00 per person), camping (R$95.00 per person), and camping plus meals (R$175.00 per person). Drinks are sold on site.

Fazenda das Cascatas

Read more about our trip in São José dos Ausentes.