Located at the end of Capitão Pedro Werlang Street, in Higienópolis district, approximately a 6-minute drive from downtown Santa Cruz do Sul, Gruta’s Park covers an area of 17.4 hectares and is an environmental park, rich in diverse fauna and flora. It also has caves, trails  through native forest, known as the Green Belt, waterfalls, and a complete infrastructure with barbecue grills, restrooms, playground, and a restaurant to serve tourists and the local community, as well as offering space for extreme sports like rappel and climbing.

According to records, Gruta’s Park opened its doors in December 1969. In 1968, indigenous artifacts were found in the park premises, possibly belonging to nomadic tribes. For this reason, the place was known as “Gruta dos Índios” which means Indigenous’ cave. However, in 2012 researchers from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) discovered that the Indigenous’ cave, is actually a paleoburrow, an underground shelter dug by giant sloths of the so-called megafauna. This discovery was made after analyses of the cave walls, photographic surveys and an evaluation of the local fauna.

Gruta’s Park also houses the city’s first two water reservoirs. In February 1907, work began on the reservoirs, which resemble the architecture of mausoleums. In May 1908, the city’s first potable water connections were made.

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