Like Jarek, I chose Peruíbe for my visit. It is probably the most convenient location to visit and took around 3 hours by rental car from Guarulhos airport. If you arrive at Congonhas it’s even closer, as you don’t have to pass through the center of São Paulo.

I spent the night in Guaraú, a village close to Peruíbe within the core zone. Guaraú beach is nice with some beautiful views over the park. I saw a lot of different birds early at the beach and only around 3 other people. As it’s not a overdeveloped touristy beach, it is still very much enjoyable. The nearby island also seems very nice from the pictures I saw, but with my limited research I didn’t find a way to get there. Instead I drove to the Paradise Waterfall.

 

The drive to the waterfall took 50 minutes, even though it’s only 12km. You can guess the road conditions when reading these numbers. Unsurprisingly the waterfall was not worth the effort to drive there and back. The low water level added to its unspectacular height and the cloudy weather gave it the rest. However, I’d still recommend doing, as the beach alone is not representative enough for this WHS and I only got the real “core zone feeling” when driving through the jungle on this muddy, rocky, bumpy, so called road. You can spend a month there, exploring this huge area, but a full day covers it pretty much.