Roof opening
Light pours in.
Rodrigo Postol — CC BY-SA 4.0 · João Victor Cassemiro — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Galakir — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Vitor Nakaba — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Carolina Zabini — CC BY-SA 3.0
Buraco do Padre, «the Priest's Hole», is a sandstone cave 40 metres high, formed where faults and fractures cut the rocks of the Furnas Formation and water eroded them from below. You enter along the bed of the Quebra-Pedra river to an imposing waterfall inside, and the wide entrance lets in so much daylight that no lighting is needed. It lies in Campos Gerais National Park, about 24 km from the city of Ponta Grossa, at the end of an easy 880-metre trail, and the visit is self-guided. The name is thought to come from Jesuit priests who used it as a retreat in the 17th or 18th century. It opens Wednesday to Sunday 9:00-16:30; tickets are sold online and prices change, so check before you go.
Light pours in.
Inside the cave.
880 m.
Itaiacoca, Ponta Grossa, Paraná
Yes, tickets are sold online; it opens Wednesday to Sunday 9:00-16:30.