Altitude
2,360m
Above the layer of humidity that smears everything down below. It's what separates a good sky from any sky.
Mantiqueira range, Brazil · 2,360 meters
The sky that vanished from your city is still up here
Six rooms, sixty steps from the dome. The telescope opens at nine and someone from the observatory stays there until the last person gives in.
- Cloud-free nights a year
- 214
- Bortle scale
- Class 2
- Sky brightness
- 21.8
6:40 pm · the sun drops behind Mount Marins
First the orange goes
The light takes about forty minutes to really leave. In that window three or four points appear, and everyone points at the same one: it's Jupiter, almost every time.
9:10 pm · the dome opens
Then the sky fills up
With no moon, you can count more than two thousand stars with the naked eye. There is no fixed program: we point at whatever is good that night.
4:20 am · before first light
And at the end it gets cold
2 °C in July, and it's the best hour: the air goes still and the image stops shimmering. We keep coffee ready in the lounge from ten at night to six in the morning.
Two thousand stars with the naked eye. In your city you count thirty.
The night, in four acts
Nobody climbs 40 km of dirt road to see the usual
What to bring
- A real coat. The dome is not heated.
- A red-light flashlight, if you have one.
- Closed shoes, for the walk to the lookout.
- Any daily medication. The pharmacy is down in town.
- A spare memory card, if you plan to shoot.
- Some cash. The card machine depends on the signal.
The telescope
A 500 mm mirror
Shows Jupiter's bands and the Cassini Division on a calm night.
He went quiet for about ten minutes and then said he hadn't seen that since he was a kid, on his grandfather's farm.
The sky's calendar
If your dates are fixed, the table decides for you
Average of the last six seasons. June and July sell out first, and for good reason.
| Month | In the sky | Clear nights | Low |
|---|---|---|---|
| April | The Southern Cross high up, Omega Centauri rising in the east | 26 | 7 °C |
| May | Omega Centauri at its highest point of the year | 29 | 4 °C |
| June | The center of the galaxy rises just after dark | 28 | 2 °C |
| July | The Milky Way crosses the sky end to end | 29 | 2 °C |
| August | Sagittarius at the zenith, the Lagoon and Trifid nebulae | 28 | 3 °C |
| September | Shorter nights, Saturn well placed by nightfall | 23 | 6 °C |
Getting here
Three steps, and the last one is the one everyone gets wrong
- 01
Pick the month by the sky, not the holiday
June and July have the center of the galaxy rising early and nearly 30 clear nights on average.
- 02
Arrive in Itamonte with a full tank
It's 40 km of dirt road from there, all uphill. A low-clearance car won't make it in May and June.
- 03
Be at the gate before five in the afternoon
The last stretch has no lighting at all. Arrive by five and you still catch the sunset from the porch.
Questions
What people ask before booking
What if it's cloudy?
Two cloudy nights in a row and you rebook for another date in the same season, at no extra cost.
Do I need to know astronomy?
No. Most people who come up have never looked through a telescope. The operator explains what's in the eyepiece as you look.
Can I bring kids?
From age seven up. Below that, the small hours are too long and the cold is real.
My car sits low. Can I make it up?
From July to September, almost always. In May and June the answer is no: leave it in Itamonte and we'll pick you up.
Is there cell signal?
Only in the main lounge, and even there it's weak. The Wi-Fi works well.
Can I bring my camera?
Yes, and there's power and a table on the outside platform. On the four-night stay, one night is set aside for it.
2026 season
Six rooms, 183 nights
Opens April 1. July usually sells out by mid-February.
See dates, April to SeptemberTwo cloudy nights in a row and you rebook at no extra cost.