If ever there were a place that breaks the stereotypes of Brazil being about sun, sea and samba, it's Gramado. The town, and neighbouring Canela, are quite literally Brazilians' image of the perfect European village. Locals boast of the temperature dropping below zero and they dress as if they're out for a day in the Swiss Alps.
We were in Brazil for the Fifa World Cup and took a two-hour jaunt up the valley from regional capital Porto Alegre to Gramado.
It wasn't far, but as the bus wound its way into the Serras Gauchas mountains we were transported to another world. The forest got thicker, the people fairer, and the poverty that is everywhere in Brazil virtually disappeared.
Alpine-style architecture in Gramado. Photo / Supplied
I wasted no time on my arrival. The first male I met got a question that made him blush.
"Do you own lederhosen?"
Yes, was the answer.
"And my son Gustavo does as well", he said, pointing at the tween who didn't seem thrown by the question at all.
Milton and Gustavo celebrate Oktoberfest each year in Blumenau, said to be the biggest such event outside Germany. Nearer at hand and just 45 minutes down the valley from Gramado is Igrejinha, which has one of the top three annual Oktoberfests in Brazil.
With the lederhosen question settled, we set out to find out just what brings a staggering five million tourists a year to Gramado and twin town Canela.
The simple answer is, it's cold - as we found out on our first day - when the temperature dropped below zero overnight.
The Brazilians buy woollen hats and gloves for the experience and no hotel is complete without an open fire.
One must-do activity, is to be photographed beside the town thermometer, which recorded a high of 6C the day we arrived. That same day, the Japanese and Greek football teams were sweating it out elsewhere in the same country in temperatures just shy of 30C.
Snowmen can be found on roundabouts and footpaths in the Christmas village. Photo / Supplied
It's said there are a brazillion reasons to visit Brazil, and Gramado is more than a town thermometer. There are sufficient attractions to keep visitors going for days - more than we could hope to tick off in our five-day stay.
There is a chocolate museum, steam museum, medieval museum, fashion museum and many more. Petrol heads can visit the Hollywood Dream Cars Museum, where you can sit in your favourite car - be it a Chevy Impala or a Ferrari, and even drive it around the block for a fee. I left believing that Gramado/Canela, may house more museums per square kilometre than anywhere else on the globe.
Our favourite museum turned out to be one of the town's oldest - Mini Mundo. It's an unlikely museum housing miniatures of the Lichtenstein Castle, Wassen Church, Frankfurt's Old Town Square the Romerberg, the Hamburg Metro and many other famous European buildings. Odd, but popular. The little village gets a staggering 400,000 visitors a year.
Gramado has another claim to fame. It's Santa Claus' Brazilian home. That means it's Christmas every day of the year. The Aldeia do Papai Noel (Santa Claus Village) does a roaring trade in June, much to my son's amusement. And there are Christmas stalls open all year.
To top off the effect, the council has installed realistic fake snow men on roundabouts and footpaths.
Gramado's Mini Mundo miniature park attracts a staggering 400,000 visitors a year. Photo / Supplied
Eating is a favourite pastime in Gramado. But forget the feijoada (beans), barbecued prawns and tropical fruits of the lowlands. In Gramado, you're more likely to find yourself at a Bier Stube such as the Fritz Haus Restaurant, or the Otto Restaurante in the Hoppner hotel, which offers sausages, potato salad and a whole host of German delicacies.
As we found out, the Buffet de Kilo (kilo buffet) restaurants are a great way to try everything. Food is charged by the kilo with plates being weighed before you return to your table.
Top that off with a visit to the row of chocolate factories that line the connecting road from Gramado to Canela and you can seriously pile on the pounds by eating one too many chocolate football boots.
Considering our connection with Gramado it wasn't a surprise we spent a day at the town's newest attraction, Snowland. South America's only indoor snow park is bigger, bolder and brasher than its New Zealand cousin and offers ice skating, snow play, tobogganing and, of course, skiing and snowboarding.
If that all gets too much, wander over the road to the Vinicola (Winery) Ravanello. A winery isn't what you'd expect to find in Brazil, especially up in the mountains.
Nonetheless, Ravanello produces a reasonable drop of Cabernet Sauvignon and has a fast-growing following.
