Explore

The Chapada's postcard shot: transparent turquoise-blue water over a pool that looks like a natural swimming pool. It sits on Kalunga land (Engenho II) and visitor access is controlled.

The most famous lookout in the Chapada dos Veadeiros: a natural stone 'window' framing the Saltos do Rio Preto (120 m and 80 m falls) inside the National Park. It sits outside the PNCV gate, on privately managed land, with a ~8 km (round-trip) trail from free parking ~5 km from the village of São Jorge. Halfway along is the Cachoeira do Abismo, which only has a waterfall in the rainy season (October to early April). Paid entry at the gate (cash or Pix); sunset and sunrise only with an accredited guide.

The giant falls of the National Park: Salto I plunges ≈120 m. A long, self-guided trail with lookouts and a swimming pool below the second drop.

It plunges off the Serra do Segredo in a very tall curtain of water into a spectacular pool. The trail crosses the Rio São Miguel and the Rio Segredo several times.

A private complex at Fazenda Veredas, about 8 km from central Cavalcante (5 km of dirt road via the exit toward Colinas do Sul + 3 km driving within the property), with eight exclusive waterfalls. The main fall, the Cachoeira Veredas, plunges about 98 m inside a canyon and has easy access via a 300 m walkway from the parking area. The other falls — Veredinha, Poço Encantado, Lara, Cascata, Escondidinha (lookout), Toca da Onça, and Véu de Noiva — require trails of 1.5 to 4.5 km, moderate. A guide isn't required and entry is sold with online booking.

An imposing 44 m drop at the Santuário Fazenda Volta da Serra, at km 72 of the GO-239, 9 km from São Jorge. The clear, greenish water forms a pool about 3 m deep with the rock bottom visible — good for swimming and for taking it in. The well-marked trail also passes the Poço das Esmeraldas, the Cachoeira do Encontro, and the Cachoeira do Rodeador. In May 2026 the sanctuary closed for nine days after a puma injured a child on the trail; it reopened on 23 May 2026 with reduced hours and camera monitoring — confirm the current rules before you go.

The tallest fall in the Chapada — about 187 m, at Reserva Bellatrix in São João d'Aliança. Few people know it; those who go don't forget it.

The most imposing cave in the Parque Estadual de Terra Ronca: the entrance portal is 96 m high by 120 m wide, and the Rio da Lapa runs through the chambers — at one point the water reaches waist height and is crossed with the aid of a fixed rope. Inside is the Salão dos Namorados, with enormous stalactites and stalagmites, and the altar where the Bom Jesus da Lapa pilgrimage takes place on 5 and 6 August.

A tall, powerful drop (≈70 m) hidden in the Kalunga. A moderate trail and few visitors — one of the best-kept secrets in the northern Chapada.

The peak of adventure in the Chapada: falls of ~90–97 m plunging into the region's largest canyon, with ~100 m walls. Getting there is an expedition — a heavy trail and ~3 km of aquatic traverse in wetsuit, helmet, and life vest inside the Rio Macaquinhos canyon, at Reserva Piraquara (São João d'Aliança). Open to visitors since 2018.

A gorge where the entire Rio Paranã is squeezed between rock walls and becomes class III–IV rapids — the 'Funil' — within Kalunga land. The way to experience it is an ethnocultural rafting trip down the river with Kalunga guides, dry season only (the day trip departs from Alto Paraíso, not Cavalcante). Note a common mix-up: this Rio Paranã belongs to the Tocantins-Araguaia basin (a Tocantins tributary), not the Rio Paraná of the south. And the river-dolphin story: residents report a river dolphin on this stretch. If real, it would be of the genus Inia — probably the Araguaian dolphin (Inia araguaiaensis, only described in 2014, considered Brazil's only endemic river dolphin). But in fairness: there's no scientific or press record of a dolphin on the Rio Paranã itself (the known isolated population is in the neighboring Rio Maranhão basin), so it's an unconfirmed local account — not a 'new species discovered here' — and a sighting, when it happens, is pure luck.

The "Complexo das Lajes" doesn't exist as a separately cataloged attraction: the name refers to the Córrego das Lajes and Fazenda Lages, on the GO/TO border, which together with the Córrego Canjica form the well-known Complexo Águas Lindas e Canjica. It's a set of waterfalls, canyons, and infinity-edge pools set into rock slabs, with turquoise and emerald water. It sits on Kalunga land, about 75 km from Cavalcante by dirt road, with a guide required.

One of the richest caves in Brazil for speleothems, inside the Parque Estadual de Terra Ronca, with over 20 km of passages and the Rio São Mateus running through it. The original entrance collapsed millennia ago, so you enter through a narrow, steep fissure, descending about 5 m on a rope. Inside, monumental chambers open up — such as the Salão dos Travertinos Gigantes, the Salão das Agulhas, and the Salão das Pérolas — lined with white stalactites, calcite flowers, and multicolored travertine pools.

The most extreme of the Parque Estadual de Terra Ronca caves: entry is by a vertical rappel of about 40 m, and inside the Rio São Vicente forms a rare sequence of underground waterfalls. It's at São Vicente that the famous "blue ray" occurs — a beam of light entering through a gap in the ceiling around 1pm and taking on a bluish tone from the cave's humidity. The cave is closed to ordinary visits; only with Semad authorization and an accredited guide.

A private waterfall complex on the Rio Caldeira, ~19 km from Alto Paraíso via the GO-239 toward the village of Sertão, with four falls in a row: Caracol, Pedrão, and Walkyrias 1 and 2, all with swimming pools. The Cachoeira do Caracol, the last and tallest on the route, falls through a fissure in the rock forming a veil in front of a spiral wall — the final access is by via ferrata (a metal ladder fixed to the rock) with a harness and helmet provided, in groups of up to 6 visitors plus the guide; under-10s can't go up. The visit requires booking and an accredited guide — it's forbidden to enter the complex without a guide. An easy ~2.5 km (round-trip) trail along the river, with shaded forest stretches.

Also spelled Catuá. The gem of the village of Campo Alegre (Mocambo/Mucambo district), in Paranã (TO), on the disputed GO–TO border strip north of Cavalcante. Guides say the drop is ~70 m; the state tourism registry lists 101 m. A tall fall set into a rock wall, whose great distinction is two pools side by side: one of cold emerald-green water fed by the waterfall, and another of warm turquoise-blue water welling up from a spring in the rock. An isolated place with no facilities, visitable only with an accredited guide.

A free fall of about 115 m (some sources say 120 m) on the Simão Correia stream, a tributary of the Rio São Bartolomeu, in the rural area east of Alto Paraíso de Goiás — an area recently added to the National Park's expanded bounds. Access is via ~33 km of dirt road (GO-239 toward Nova Roma) and a ~12 km round-trip trail that starts by crossing the Rio São Bartolomeu, with crystal-clear pools and a secondary waterfall with a deep pool along the way. Open daily 7am to 6pm, with entry allowed only until 11am.

The Rio da Prata complex: clear water, pools for swimming, and far fewer people. The local pick when someone asks for 'the truly most beautiful one'.