Joinville



Joinville is the largest city in Santa Catarina, Brazil. It is principally an industrial city and many of its 500,000 inhabitants are of German descent.

Understand
Joinville, in its first year known as Colônia Dona Francisca, was founded in 1851 by German, Swiss and Norwegian immigrants. Even though it is considered a German-Brazilian city, its name is French (Joinville was named after François d'Orléans, prince of Joinville, son of King Louis-Philippe of France, who married Princess Francisca of Brazil, in 1843).

The land where Joinville is located was part of the French and Brazilian Royal Family wedding gift, even though the Prince of Joinville and his Brazilian bride had never been to the land. However, a Royal Palace was built in their honor around 1870. In 1851, the French prince, after a financial crisis, sold almost all his lands in Southern Brazil to the German Senator Mathias Schröder. Senator Schröder was a member of the Colonization Society of Hamburg, which attracted immigrants to be sent to Brazil and thereby establish commercial ties between Germany and the German communities in Brazil. In 1851, the first 118 German and Swiss immigrants arrived, followed by 74 Norwegian immigrants. From 1850 to 1888, Joinville received 17,000 German immigrants, most of them Lutherans, poor peasants coming to occupy this part of Brazil. Later waves of immigration brought large numbers of Italian families to the area as well.

By plane
Numerous cities around Brazil have flights to and from Joinville Airport, with the most regular (multiple daily flights) being São Paulo (Congonhas Airport) and Rio de Janeiro (Guarulhos Airport).

Getting from Joinville airport to the city center, visitors have two options:
 * Taxi (recommended): The drive takes on average about 25 minutes and the fare was R$33-35 in 2011
 * Public Transportation (recommended for locals only): There are no direct buses from the airport to the city center or the bus terminal (rodoviária). It is necessary to take a bus to Iririú and change there to a bus towards center.

By bus
Alternatively, it is possible to get to Joinville from almost any town or city in Santa Catarina by bus (Catarinense, the state's largest bus company, offers the greatest range). Outside Santa Catarina, several places offer bus services to Joinville, including Curitiba, São Paulo, Porto Alegre and Iguaçu Falls (via Curitiba).

By car
BR-101 is the main highway through town, connecting from Balneário Camboriú and Florianópolis in the south and Curitiba, in Paraná to the north. If coming from the west via Canoinhas or Papanduva, you'll like arrive via BR-280, which intersects with BR-101 a few kilometers south of town, or SC-301, which hits BR-101 at the north end of town. The main entrance to town is considered to be the exit at Rua XV de Novembro, which leads east to the downtown district.

Get around
It is easiest to get around Centro (downtown) by foot, as everything is close together. Should you wish to venture out into the suburbs, Joinville has a reliable bus network which is used heavily by locals. Tickets can be purchased from any one of the numerous bus terminals around the city, or on the buses themselves. Be warned, however: both buses painted completely blue and those with a blue stripe on each side are direct buses, they generally go from one bus station to another without stopping.

See




Eat
In addition to the standard array of Brazilian, Italian, and Middle Eastern food that can be found pretty much anywhere in Brazil, Joinville is an excellent place to enjoy traditional German and Swiss cuisine, and restaurants of this type can be found throughout the city. Also look to pick up some streuselkuchen or apple strudel at one of the many confectioneries, and keep an eye out for locally produced chocolate such as Joinvilândia. If you're having trouble deciding what to eat, take a stroll down Rua Visconde de Taunay, the city's biggest concentration of restaurants and bars.

Connect
Internet cafes:

Go next

 * Beaches - For the residents themselves, by far the most common trip is to the beach. Barra Velha, Piçarras and Balneário Camboriú are amongst the most popular coastal towns within an hour's drive. All are reachable by bus.
 * Blumenau
 * São Francisco do Sul - It could be worth making the trip to this a fishing community on an island across from Joinville; it is around a 30-minute drive by car, or can be reached by ferry from Vigorelli Beach (See section above). São Francisco do Sul was one of the very first places in Brazil to be colonized by Europeans and the old area is full of brightly coloured Portuguese buildings.
 * Scenic drives between Joinville and Curitiba (off the BR-101 highway) which include lush countryside with ponds, fields, etc.