Qualla: Nova Friburgo

Nova Friburgo: Introduction

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit IQUEETTY, CC BY-SA 4.0. In May 1818, King John VI of Portugal signed a royal decree inviting the Canton of Fribourg in Switzerland to send one hundred families to Brazil. The king was looking for allies against Napoleon's lingering influence. He was also looking for European settlers to populate the mountains above Rio de Janeiro. The Swiss obliged. Between 1819 and 1820, 265 families boarded ships and crossed an ocean - 1,458 immigrants in all, far more than the original decree had called for. They chose a mountainside 136 kilometers from the capital, 846 meters above sea level, and they named it after home. Today, Nova Friburgo is a city of 189,939 people with the second-largest hotel network in the state, a Swiss house museum, a cheesemaking school, and a memory of cold winters that most Brazilian cities cannot share.

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Image: IQUEETTY | CC BY-SA 4.0

Nova Friburgo: Before the Swiss

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Vitorperrut555, CC BY-SA 4.0. The land that became Nova Friburgo was not empty when the settlers arrived. The Coroado Puri people lived in these mountains, a subgroup of the Puri with their own customs and language, moving through the forests and fishing the high-altitude streams. The royal decree that brough...

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Image: Vitorperrut555 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Nova Friburgo: The Hundred Families Who Became Thousands

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mariospassos, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Morro Queimado farm in Cantagalo district was chosen because its climate and terrain resembled the Swiss home country - cool, mountainous, fit for European crops and European nerves. In 1822, Brazil declared independence from Portugal. The imperial government of Pedro I conti...

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Image: Mariospassos | CC BY-SA 3.0

Nova Friburgo: The Underwear Capital

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit User: (WT-shared) Marcusmansur at wts wikivoyage, Public domain. Today Nova Friburgo is known nationally as the capital of the undergarment industry. The origin story is mid-twentieth century: Swiss and German textile traditions grafted onto Brazilian manufacturing yielded a cluster of lingerie factories that now produce enormous variety and v...

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Image: User: (WT-shared) Marcusmansur at wts wikivoyage | Public domain

Nova Friburgo: January 2011

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Claus Bunks aka Afrobrasil on flickr, Public domain. On 11 January 2011, the rains that had been falling for days collapsed the hillsides. Mudslides tore through neighborhoods. The 2011 floods in the mountain region of Rio de Janeiro killed at least 916 people across several municipalities, including at least 424 in Nova Friburgo a...

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Image: Claus Bunks aka Afrobrasil on flickr | Public domain

Nova Friburgo: Chairlifts and Cold Mornings

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Vitorperrut555, CC BY-SA 4.0. The tourist reason to visit Nova Friburgo is the climate. Annual average temperature sits at 19 degrees Celsius, with humid mild summers and dry cool winters under the Köppen Cwb subtropical highland classification. The coldest temperature ever recorded here was -1.4 degrees Cels...

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Image: Vitorperrut555 | CC BY-SA 4.0