The BR-040 is one of Brazil's great longitudinal spines — the old Caminho Novo, the 18th-century mule path that linked the goldfields of Minas to the port at Rio de Janeiro, widened and paved and eventually renamed a federal highway, but still tracing much the same logic across the mountains. Today's drive follows it from beginning to end, descending from the mineração country of Minas Gerais through the Serra da Mantiqueira foothills, crossing the state line into Rio de Janeiro, and climbing again into the high serra above Petrópolis before a final push into Teresópolis. It is a long day — the better part of eight hours at the wheel — but the road is fast, the landscape changes in interesting ways, and there is a good lunch stop and a couple of worthy detours built in.
Along the BR-040
Departure from Ouro Preto at 9:00. The road drops quickly from the colonial heights into the industrial valley around Conselheiro Lafaiete, a working city with no particular claim on the traveller's attention, though the cluster of iron-ore infrastructure on its outskirts is a reminder of why this stretch of Minas matters economically. South of Lafaiete the BR-040 widens and settles into a comfortable dual carriageway rhythm through rolling hill country. Barbacena arrives mid-morning — known to Brazilians as the Cidade das Rosas for its large-scale rose cultivation, and a city of some political significance: in January 1822, its municipal chamber was the first in Minas Gerais to formally petition Dom Pedro I to remain in Brazil — the Fico — a gesture that helped tip the balance toward independence. The highway passes through without requiring a stop.