Serra de São José, Protected mountain range in Campo das Vertentes, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Serra de São José is a quartzite and metapelite massif running northeast–southwest between the Rio das Mortes and Rio Carandaí basins, reaching about 1,300 to 1,430 metres. Its steep escarpments and large rock blocks, called pontões, mark the landscape across São João del-Rei, Tiradentes, Santa Cruz de Minas, Coronel Xavier Chaves and Prados. The range holds the APA São José and the Libélulas wildlife refuge.

The range was a key landmark during the 18th-century settlement of the region, when gold extraction and subsistence farming developed on its slopes. Stone-paved stretches known as the "Calçada dos Escravos" crossed the serra, carrying goods and troops between the gold towns. At the Fazenda da Ponta do Morro ruins in Prados, Colonel Francisco Antônio de Oliveira Lopes and Hipólita Jacinta Teixeira de Melo hosted Inconfidência Mineira meetings.

The range's name refers to Saint Joseph, and its slopes hold the stone-paved Calçada dos Escravos, laid by enslaved workers so troops and goods could cross between the gold towns. Near Prados stand the ruins of Fazenda da Ponta do Morro, a meeting place of the Inconfidência Mineira conspirators.

Access to the range runs through Estrada Parque via Prados, where the Casa da Serra support house stands; near Tiradentes, the Casa das Águas sits by the Balneário de Águas Santas. Trails such as the Trilha da Biquinha start close to the town, while the Trilha do Carteiro and Trilha do Mangue cross denser vegetation. The IEF monitors visitation, and erosion and forest fires are common in the dry season.

The Refúgio de Vida Silvestre Libélulas da Serra de São José, created by state decree 43.908 on 5 November 2004, covers about 3,700 hectares. Roughly 50% of the dragonfly species known in Minas Gerais and about 18% of those recorded in Brazil occur here, their larvae depending on the range's clean springs and streams.