The Ethnics Square is close to downtown Gramado and has a number of attractions, so it is worth spending a few hours there. In this space three houses representing the people who colonized Gramado were reproduced. This is the reason why you will find there a house with Italian architecture (with a memorial), a German one (which is the Casa do Colono), and a Portuguese one. A stone house was also built there, where you can buy the agrotourism tours, whose starting point is in front of the square.

Because it is next to the bus station, the Etnias Square is always busy, either by tourists who go to photograph the place or by residents of Gramado and the neighboring town Canela. Everyone has a common reason: to take the opportunity to buy a bread or a “cuca” that comes out of the clay ovens where they are made. That’s right, honoring its name, in the Etnias Square the farmers take turns, and every day residents from a countryside location leave their homes to come downtown to produce and sell bread, cakes, cookies, sweets, and many other delights.

On Saturday, the Ethnics Square has special attractions: a fair with colonial products and another with organic products, in both cases the products are sold by the settlers themselves. Vegetables, greens, fruits, jams, teas, and even flowers come straight from Gramado’s countryside and are a success, so we recommend that you arrive early (the markets start at 7am) to have more options to choose from.

Everything at the Ethnics Plaza awakens the desire for food! There are many delights, from the bread and cakes baked in clay ovens, to an infinite number of colonial products such as vegetables, legumes, fruits, jellies, sausages, honey, sweets, jams, wines, juices, spices, cheeses, pasta, cookies, and breads that are sold in the Casa do Colono (Settlers’ House), which looks more like one of those little dry and wet grocery stores you see in the countryside. If you are one of those people who loves to take an authentic souvenir with you from every trip, you will find many options of products made by local people at the Francisco Oberherr Fairgrounds.

You can make this tour on foot, so you will take many photos of the flowerbeds that are always impeccable, full of flowers. In the square there is also a glass angel that was produced and donated by the company Cristais de Gramado, as a tribute to Natal Luz. After enjoying the delights and beauties of the Praça das Etnias, go along the main avenue in town – the Borges de Medeiros – until the Covered Street, and check closely the store windows and the restaurants that make this stretch one of the most popular points in Gramado.