Free Winter Beer Festival Near Florianópolis This Weekend
Santa Catarina · FOOD & DRINK
Key Facts
—When: Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 August 2026, closing at 10pm on the Sunday.
—Where: Parque dos Lagos, in the Pedra Branca district of Palhoça.
—Price: free entry; beer and food are paid for on site.
—The draw: draft beer, or chope, poured outdoors with live music.
—Getting there: about 20 kilometres south of central Florianópolis.
—The setting: a planned district built around a lake and a university.
Draft beer, live music and no entry fee, in a planned lakeside district twenty minutes from Florianópolis. It runs Saturday and Sunday only.
The Festival Cervejas de Inverno takes over Parque dos Lagos in Pedra Branca, Palhoça, on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 August. Admission is free.
What is on at Pedra Branca
The Festival Cervejas de Inverno is a winter beer festival, which in southern Brazil means August. It runs across Saturday and Sunday at Parque dos Lagos.
Agora Floripa reported on 17 August that entry is free across both days. The Sunday session keeps the same hours and closes at 10pm.
Chope is the Brazilian word for draft beer, served cold and in small glasses. It is the centre of the event rather than a sideline.
The name translates as Winter Beers Festival, which tells you what to expect from the taps.
Live music runs alongside the taps across both days. The programme is built around the park rather than a single stage act.
Where Pedra Branca actually is
Pedra Branca is a planned district in Palhoça, on the mainland side of the Florianópolis metropolitan area. It is roughly 20 kilometres south of the island’s centre.
The district is built around a lake, a university campus and a walkable street grid. That is unusual enough in Brazil to be worth the trip on its own.
Parque dos Lagos, where the festival sits, is the park at the middle of it.
Pedra Branca gets written about in Brazil as a rare experiment in dense, walkable planning. Most Brazilian suburbs are built for cars.
What it costs
Nothing at the gate. Beer, food and anything else are paid for at the stalls inside.
That structure is standard for open-air festivals in Santa Catarina. It also means you can look in for an hour without committing to a ticket price.
Bring a card. Stalls at Santa Catarina festivals take cards and Pix, the instant transfer system.
There is no advance ticket to claim, which is the practical difference from some free Brazilian festivals. You simply turn up.
Getting there from Florianópolis
The drive from central Florianópolis takes about half an hour outside peak times. You cross to the mainland and head south on the BR-101.
Ride-hailing works from the island, though the return leg late on a Saturday is worth thinking about before you set out.
There is parking in the district, which is one advantage of a purpose-built neighbourhood over the island’s older streets.
Winter, southern-style
August is the tail of winter in Santa Catarina, and evenings on the coast are genuinely cool. A jacket is not optional for a 10pm finish outdoors.
That is the point of a winter beer festival here. The heavier, darker styles that get ignored in January make sense at this time of year.
Daytime is mild and the lake setting is the draw before dark. The two-day format means Sunday afternoon is the calmer option.
Two beer festivals, one weekend
The same Saturday brings a separate free beer festival in Belo Horizonte, more than a thousand kilometres north. The two are unrelated.
If you are choosing, Palhoça is the smaller and quieter of the pair, and it runs across two days rather than one.
Both are free at the gate and both pour local beer. The difference is scale, and a thousand kilometres.
If you are staying on the island
Palhoça is an easy detour rather than a destination in itself for most visitors. Pair it with the beaches south of the bridge if you have the day.
The festival closes at 10pm on the Sunday, so it does not eat into a Monday.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the Festival Cervejas de Inverno at Pedra Branca?
Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 August 2026, at Parque dos Lagos in the Pedra Branca district of Palhoça, Santa Catarina. The Sunday session closes at 10pm.
How much does it cost to get in?
Entry is free on both days. Beer, food and drinks are paid for at the stalls inside the park.
How do I get to Pedra Branca from Florianópolis?
Pedra Branca is in Palhoça, about 20 kilometres south of central Florianópolis on the mainland. The drive takes roughly half an hour outside peak traffic.
What is chope?
Chope is the Brazilian term for draft beer, poured from the tap and served very cold in small glasses. It is what most Brazilians order in a bar.
Is Pedra Branca worth visiting outside the festival?
Pedra Branca is a planned district built around a lake, a university and a walkable street grid, which is unusual in Brazil. It is a short drive from Florianópolis and works as a half-day trip.
Sources
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