Serra da Bocaina: the dirt roads between Rio and São Paulo

Between Brazil's two largest cities there is a whole country of red clay that most visitors fly over. Inland from the coastal strip, around the Serra da Bocaina, the tarmac runs out and a network of farm roads takes over — hundreds of kilometres of laterite that nobody rides but the people who live there. This is our favourite off-road riding in Brazil, and it starts closer to the airport than you would think.

Where it is

The range sits between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, inland from the coast road. From either city you can be on unpaved road inside half a day, which is the practical reason it works: you do not need a two-week expedition to get properly lost out here, you need a long weekend.

What the surface is like

Red laterite clay and gravel, hard-packed on the well-used stretches and loose where the grading has worn off. Expect washboard on the straights, a dust cloud behind anything moving, and ruts on the climbs. After rain the clay goes slick in a way that punishes optimism. In the dry it is fast and enormously good fun. Either way it is not technical enduro riding — it is adventure riding, the kind you can do all day with luggage on the back.

The country you ride through

This is working land, not a park. You ride between eucalyptus plantations and standing cane, down lanes roofed over by mango trees, past farm gates and water tanks and a dog that will chase you for exactly one hundred metres. The villages have one bar, and the bar is also the shop. Where the land lifts towards the range you get the long view over the ridges, and it is worth stopping for. Phone signal comes and goes. That is part of the point.

Which bike to take

A light dual-sport or trail bike is the honest answer, and it is what we ride out here: easy to pick up, tall enough for the ruts, happy in deep dust. Mid-size adventure bikes go through comfortably. Big flagship adventure machines are fine in the dry with a rider who knows them, and hard work once the clay is wet. Luggage on a soft mount, not a hard case at knee height.