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São José dos Campos is a city in the Paraíba Valley of São Paulo state, Brazil, about 94 km northeast of São Paulo, famous as the home of Embraer and Latin America's largest aerospace complex. Its top sights are the Banhado wetland, the Parque da Cidade, the Parque Vicentina Aranha, the Memorial Aeroespacial Brasileiro and the mountain district of São Francisco Xavier.
The city grew from the Jesuit village of São José, moved in 1643 to the site of today's centre and made a town in 1767. Coffee spread from the 1880s, and early in the 20th century its climate, thought to be healthy, made it known as the Sanatorium City, until antibiotics ended that era in the 1940s.
Industry took over in the second half of the 20th century, and in 2022 the city had 697,428 people. It hosts the DCTA, the ITA engineering school and the INPE space institute, and is the only city in the world with research centres of Embraer, Boeing and Airbus. To the north, the Serra da Mantiqueira offers trails, waterfalls and the 2,082 m Pico do Selado.
The Banhado is a floodplain wetland of the Paraíba do Sul river beside the centre of São José dos Campos, framed by a semicircular slope up to 50 m high that forms a natural amphitheatre. Seen as the city's main postcard view, it is protected by a state APA and a municipal natural park.
Parque da Cidade Roberto Burle Marx in São José dos Campos is a 960,000 m2 park opened in 1996 on part of the old farm of the Paraíba textile mill of Olivo Gomes. Its highlights are the Olivo Gomes house, designed by Rino Levi's office with gardens by Roberto Burle Marx, and a folklore museum.
Parque Santos Dumont is a green leisure area in central São José dos Campos, opened on 23 October 1971 over 46,500 m2. Named after the aviator Alberto Santos Dumont, it displays a replica of the 14-bis, a prototype Bandeirante aircraft and Sonda rocket models beside a Japanese garden and a lake.
Parque Vicentina Aranha in São José dos Campos fills the grounds of the former Vicentina Aranha Sanatorium, owned by the Santa Casa de São Paulo and opened in 1924 by state president Washington Luís, in the years when São José dos Campos was known as the Sanatorium City.
Memorial Aeroespacial Brasileiro in São José dos Campos is a museum created in 2004 by the DCTA to preserve the history of Brazil's aerospace industry, facing the airport and Embraer's main plant. It displays the second prototype of the EMB 110 Bandeirante, plus full-size aircraft and a VLS rocket.
Museu do Folclore de São José dos Campos is a museum of popular culture in the old Olivo Gomes house inside the Parque da Cidade. Created in 1987 by the municipal folklore commission, it settled there for good in 1997 and presents the folklore of the city, the Paraíba Valley and the north coast.
Mercado Municipal de São José dos Campos is a century-old market in the city centre, housed in a building begun in 1921 and opened on 11 March 1923 on the site of the original. Its 90 registered traders sell fish, meat, vegetables, pastéis and crafts to some 15,000 visitors a month.
Igreja Matriz de São José stands on Praça Cônego João Marcondes Guimarães, the oldest square in central São José dos Campos and the city's ground zero, where the Jesuit village of São José was moved in 1643. The present mother church was built in 1934, the original having collapsed in 1831.
São Francisco Xavier is a mountain district of São José dos Campos in the Serra da Mantiqueira, 54.8 km from the city centre by way of Monteiro Lobato. Born as a stop for mule drovers from Minas Gerais, it is now an ecotourism base for trails, mountain biking, paragliding and waterfalls.
Pico do Selado is a 2,082 m peak of the Serra da Mantiqueira where São Francisco Xavier, the mountain district of São José dos Campos, meets Monte Verde in Minas Gerais and Joanópolis. A favourite for climbing and hiking, it gives panoramic views over many towns of the region.
Cachoeira Pedro David is a waterfall in São Francisco Xavier, the mountain district of São José dos Campos, dropping 15 metres in a series of falls. One of the district's many cascades, it has visitor facilities with changing rooms, toilets, a food area and a playground.
Monte Verde is a mountain resort district of Camanducaia in Minas Gerais, high in the Serra da Mantiqueira, and makes a day trip from São José dos Campos by the dirt road from São Francisco Xavier. Most of its people have German or Latvian roots, and it is known for its inns and araucaria pines.
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Log in to add photosPhoto: Mirian Menezes de Oliveira, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Halley Pacheco de Oliveira, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Paulo Roberto de Souza from São José dos Campos, Brasil, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
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Photo: Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)., Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Mirian Menezes de Oliveira, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Photo: Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)., Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Photo: Parque Vicentina Aranha, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Photo: Elias muller from são jose dos campos, brasil, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)., Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)., Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Photo: Sofia de Almeida Sampaio, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Carlos de Paula, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
Photo: Wilson Neves de Miranda from São José dos Campos, Brasil, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
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Photo: Giuliano Maiolini from Campinas / SP -, Brasil, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Giuliano Maiolini from Campinas / SP -, Brasil, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
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