About Us

We are your local connection in Curitiba and its surroundings!

Special Paraná is a tourism company directed by professionals with loads of experience in tourism in Brazil, Latin America and Europe. Our goal is to show you the best spots in our region, surprising you with nature and culture in this hidden gem. And the most important thing: we love where we live and work and are eager to show you the best of our region.

Due to our deep local knowledge and our service, we are reccommended by Rough Guides.

Our office is located downtown, so that when you are in Curitiba, you can drop by for a coffee and have a chat with us. We also run the portals for Ilha do Mel/Paranaguá, Morretes & Antonina and Superagüi & Guaraquecaba. Just contact us if you need further information.

Who we are

Bibiana was born in Curitiba and has her roots here. She lived in Caracas/Venezuela as an exchange student in 1993/1994, graduated in Tourism from the Universidade Federal do Paraná in 1997 and specialized in Tourism Management at ESADE in Barcelona/Spain.

While studying, she worked in an advertising agency as an events hostess, and afterwards in marketing in a local hotel chain. After her experiences in Spain, she married and lived in Germany for over 7 years, working in hotels, incoming agencies and for a specialized tour operator, organizing tours for individuals, groups and incentive trips. But she wanted to come back to Curitiba for a while. In the beginning of 2007 it was so far! Since then she has managed her company with Ulrich and enjoys being back in her hometown. For her, Paraná is a region with many faces to be discovered over and over again. She speaks Portuguese, English, German, Spanish and French.

Ulrich was born in Frankfurt am Main in Germany. He graduated in Business Administration in Dresden and Liverpool and first came to Brazil in 1996 on a placement for a German Company. He fell in love with Curitiba and since then he has visited the country many times. His passion for Brazil and Latin America in general increased with every trip. In Germany Ulrich worked for the automotive industry and also ran an event agency for many years.

He loves theatres, festivals and art in general. And, of course, travelling and showing the best of our region. He has lived and worked in Curitiba since the beginning of 2007. He loves Paraná and is delighted to show the best spots and give tips to the travellers who visit our region. Ulrich is very pleased to offer you the best service with a mixture of Brazilian creativity, but with German precision and organisation. He speaks German, Portuguese and English.

Guilherme was born in São José do Rio Preto, in the countryside of São Paulo State. Guilherme spent a year in the United States (St. Helena, CA) as a Rotary Exchange Student where, besides getting to improve his English knowledge, he had the chance to experience American culture and many other cultures from all over the world.

Guilherme is currently finishing his major in tourism at UFPR – Federal University of Paraná in Curitiba. He is our marketing assitant, in charge of SEO, our blogs, web-marketing, social media, information and communication technology. Guilherme speaks Portuguese, English and Spanish.

Lara moved to Curitiba to study tourism in the Federal University of Paraná in 2008, leaving the countryside town where she grew up. But it was not the first time she traveled far from her family. In 2007, she graduated from the English course and went to Vancouver, Canadá to improve her English skills. By living in a typical Canadian family house, she got the chance to experience another culture. She visits friend in the U.S. often, and travel a lot with her family. She is our newest team member and in charge of our bookings. Lara speaks Portuguese, English and Spanish.

Andressa was born in Curitiba and is currently finishing her major in tourism at UFPR. In 2009, she worked for 4 months in a ski resort in Vermont, EUA to improve her English. Andressa started to work with us in the beginning of the year to assist in the events department.

Rudimar is also from Curitiba and after starting to study graphic design, he changed his major to tourism, where he found his passion.  He also started to work with us this year and is in charge of  bookings, especially for national clients.

Fabiane was born in Mal. Candido Rondon, in the countryside of Paraná, and  has lived for many years in Iguassu-Falls, where she worked for several hotels in the recreational area. During this time, Fabiane finished a tourist guide course and then started to guide tours in Foz do Iguaçú. Searching for new challenges, she decided to move to Curitiba in  2010. Fabiane is very out-going, communicative and dedicated to our clients. She guides our Segway tours in Curitiba and works on promoting and marketing Segway tours and rentals. Fabiane speaks Portuguese and Spanish fluently.

How we work and what we do for our region

- We are concerned about offering quality services and want our visitors to experience the best in our region.

- We prefer to work with locally-owned hotels, inns and small chains.

- We recommend restaurants that serve local dishes.

- We leave enough time in the tours so that local handcrafts can be seen and other important aspects of the towns can be shown.

- We do not take more than 12 or 15 people on tours to nature spots (trekking, hiking, etc.).

- We choose responsible tour guides, willing to show our travellers good sights, not taking them on shopping tours. We only work with licensed guides.

- We know and support local organisations that help families improve their standard of living, taking them out of extreme poverty, helping them to get jobs and improve the education level of their children.

- We book boat rides from local fishermen and inns to motivate people to invest in their boats and safety equipment.

- Depending on the nationality of the visitors, we take them to visit settlers and their descendents that live close to the visited spots, to motivate people to keep their language and handcrafts alive.

- We pay reasonable rates and salaries, making local tourism an interesting job option and motivating people to improve themselves.

- We take part in courses and initiatives with other local incoming agencies in order to strengthen our region and to develop sustainable tourism in Paraná.

- We offer courses to our staff so that we keep improving ourselves and giving a better service to our clients.

We are very glad that you now know more about us and are looking forward to welcoming you here!

Contact us now!