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For most of its history, communications from São Paulo to the outside world were slow and difficult. In 1856 the British-owned São Paulo Railway Company was awarded the concession to operate a rail line between Santos and Jundaí, 70km north of São Paulo city in what was then a developing coffee-growing region. The 139-kilometre line was completed in 1867, remaining under British control until 1947. Overcoming the near-vertical incline of the Serra do Mar that separates the interior of the state from the coast, the line was an engineering miracle and is slowly being restored today.

Paranapiacaba , 40km southeast of São Paulo and the last station before the rack railway plunges down the coastal escarpment, was the administrative and engineering centre for the rail line and at one time was home to four thousand workers, many of whom were British. Neatly laid out in the 1890s in a grid pattern, the village has remained largely unchanged over the years. All that remains of the original train station is the clock tower, said to be a replica of London's Big Ben, but the workers' cottages and locomotive sheds (one of which houses an old British steam engine) are in an excellent state of preservation, and some are open to the public. On a hilltop overlooking the village is the wooden English-style Castelinho: once the residence of the chief engineer, today the building houses the Centro Preservação da História de Paranapiacaba (Tues-Sun 9am-3.30pm), which displays old maps and photographs of the rail line's early years.

You don't have to be a railway buff to appreciate Paranapiacaba, however. The village is set amidst one of the best preserved areas of Mata Atlântica in the country and most visitors use it as a starting place for fairly serious hikes into the thickly forested Parque Estadual Túristico do Alto Ribeira . Employing a guide is advisable, as trails are unmarked, often very narrow and generally quite hard going; there's an office of the association of licensed guides as you enter the settlement from the station; expect to pay around $25 for a day and bring food, drink and sturdy footwear. The weather in this region is particularly unreliable but, as a general rule, if it's cloudy in São Paulo you can count on there being rain in Paranapiacaba.

Getting to Paranapiacaba is easy. Take a train from São Paulo's Luz station to Rio Grande da Serra (every 15min; 45min; 60¢), where, if you're lucky, there'll be a connecting service continuing the two stops to Paranapiacaba. If there's no train, take a bus from outside the station, or a taxi (about $5). Since there's nowhere to stay in Paranapiacaba, and only snacks in the way of food, you'll need to return to São Paulo the same day