AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Rio Coxá is a crystal-clear river threading through the northern Minas Gerais municipality of Montalvânia, where it creates a landscape of rapids, waterfalls, and natural swimming spots prized by locals and increasingly attracting adventurous travelers. Its waters are so transparent and its rocky stretches so scenic that the municipal government lists the river as a primary tourism attraction, ideal for adventure sports.↗↗
At nearly 160 kilometers long, the Coxá drains a basin of over 3,100 square kilometers before joining the Carinhanha River — itself a tributary of the mighty São Francisco. Along its course through the Cerrado biome, the river has carved pools, falls, and banks that serve as the social and recreational heart of the communities it passes through, from Montalvânia to Juvenília.↗↗
A River That Shapes a Town
Montalvânia, the main municipality along the Coxá, has grown right alongside the river. The municipal government describes it as a waterway that bathes the entire city with its crystal-clear waters and has beautiful rapids and waterfalls, noting it is ideal for the practice of adventure sports. For a town of roughly 10,000 people in the remote Norte de Minas region, this river is the defining natural feature and a source of genuine local pride.
