Tour of São João Del Rei and Tiradentes with children

A walk through history with the little ones

Many people think that touring São João Del Rei and Tiradentes with a child will be impossible and boring, but you might be surprised!
We stayed in São João Del Rei, at the Garden Hill Golf and Resort hotel, which was already a huge attraction for our little one, with two swimming pools and two wonderful children's areas! But like any traveler, I really wanted to get out there and see every corner! Of course I was worried, after all Minas Gerais has many churches and historical attractions, how was I going to reconcile all this with my little one? Not to mention that he should have fun too, I didn't want it to be a "boring" adult program.

One tip I always give is to entertain your little one, play a lot, burn off energy and draw their attention to something you want them to be interested in as something very interesting right from the start, start talking about the next attraction with charm and interest, that way everything becomes easier.

Maria Fumaça ride

It's possible to get from São João Del Rei to Tiradentes in one jump, by car it's very close, but we opted for the Maria Fumaça, of course we got it right, after all that was the cool part of the tour, uhuuullll!!!!!
A real trip back in time, with the chiq chiq and the swing that reminds us of travelers from the past, Emmanuel couldn't have been happier and more excited, after all he was going to ride the much-loved "train train" for real and not just in his imagination, or in an amusement park toy.

We sat on the left side, the landscape is more beautiful and you can see the animals that pass by on the way to the rural area of the city. He spent the whole ride enthralled, never leaving the window and shouting all the time, "Horse! Ox!!!" Endless happiness, the most fun 12 km we could have!
I seemed to hear his thoughts:
 "Mom, Dad, what a cool thing to do! Thank you so much Mom, at the same time I'm riding a train seeing a horse and an ox! They're so different from toys or drawings, they're huge! Look at them drink real water and this train swings, let me hold my toy cow so it doesn't fall, oops! Was that a spring breaker? Mom, Dad, my little cow isn't like the cow I see here, why? I want one as big as that"

The ride takes around 40 minutes, the Maria Fumaça goes very slowly and we were able to enjoy it, it was a delight and it is certainly a must-see for anyone traveling with children in São João Del Rei and Tiradentes.
I only found the price a bit steep, R$ 60.00 return, if it's a one-way trip it's R$50.00, children up to 6 don't pay, from 6 to 12 or students and senior citizens pay half price. Our family alone spent R$ 120.00, and that's because the little one is still small, lol - a small bill, but worth every twinkle in Emmanuel's eye!
We left at the earliest time, 10 a.m., and returned at the latest time, 5 p.m., just enough time to get to know charming Tiradentes.

Carriage ride with children through Tiradentes

Right in front of the train station in Tiradentes, you'll find countless options of carriages, pink, blue, cartoonish, crude, you name it!
We went to the first one we came across and perhaps because we had a child, stroller and so on, he stuck it to us, a very high price that even made us give up on the tour.
We continued walking, certain that we would be taking the cart to the center of Tiradentes, until it clicked and we asked the price of another cart, a simple guy who was already on his way back and to our surprise he charged us HALF the price!

The city is very small, there are two options for the carriage, the one to the center or the city tour that also leaves us in the center afterwards, as we were with the baby, stroller and the sun was very strong, we opted for the city tour, that way we would get to know the city comfortably and quickly. We passed by all the main sights, the route is minimal, walking everything is super easy, but with a stroller on those streets and in that sun, everything would be more tiring.

Adriano was the guide who told us lots of interesting facts about the Mother Church, the Church of the Blacks, which hadn't been finished so as not to pay taxes, and even about the Church of the Mulattoes, which is next to the house of Tiradentes' godfather, where he lived when his parents died, where there was a secret passage between the church and the house, so that when the inconfidentes met, it would be an escape route!

Adriano told us lots and lots of stories and one that I thought was really cool was the origin of the saying "I'm going over there to wash the mare". In the old days, slaves hid gold in the animals' fur and smeared it with mud to disguise it. When one slave said he was going to wash the mare for another, they understood that it was to get the gold that would also be used to decorate the blacks' churches.

Well, I don't need to tell you that it was another very nice outing to distract the little one while we made the "boring adult" stops and visited the churches. He enjoyed riding in the carriage pulled by Polegar the horse...lol so it was much easier, he just had to say that we were going back to the pocotó and he got excited! And so we managed to get to know the whole city with lots of information and no stress, a great option for those going with little ones.

São João Del Rei with Children

São João is a slightly larger city, but with magnificent architecture, points with latent and well-preserved baroque architecture and churches that are the envy of many millenary European churches, of course the little ones don't enjoy this coming and going of the churches so a good tip is, right in front of the Igreja Matiz Nossa Senhora do Pilar, there's a souvenir shop with lots of options for the little ones, such as old handmade toys, I still remember the little cow I got from my grandmother when I was little, I just had to squeeze it from the bottom and it would lay its head down or sit down lol, I loved it! And there you can find
A great tip is to take your child and tell them to choose a new toy!
We bought Emmanuel some tree branch pencils, he loved them and stared at them for hours until we left.

Tour of Bichinhos

Very close to Tiradentes, there's a town called Bichinhos, which is easier to reach if you're driving, as it's not so close to walk to.

The city is also very pretty and for moms there are incredible handicrafts! For dads, there's a breathtaking car museum, and the little ones who love bibies will also love seeing relics that they don't even know once existed.

Cala a Boca Nature Reserve

The Cala Boca reserve is located in São João Del Rei, has a shallow waterfall with a small drop, but what really caught my attention was the space for the little ones, they even have a mini zip line with tires, Emmanuel spent hours playing, going up and down in the little house, climbing the ramp, sliding and swinging!

If you want to get away from the hotel atmosphere for a while and burn off the kids' energy, this is a great option. There's also a restaurant, but it's only open on Sundays.

The trip was incredible and we saw how easy it is to travel with our little one, of course there can't be things just for him, much less just for us, and with this we are learning more and more to give in and share incredible moments!
He gets into our routine and we get into his! A theoretically boring trip for a child can and should become something magical for the whole family, just by following a few tips.

I hope that our experience has helped and inspired you to visit more and more of Minas Gerais' historic cities with your little ones, after all, even the smallest ones will treasure this adventure forever.