Best time to visit Recife and OLINDA
Recife city is the capital of the state of Pernambuco, in the northeast coast of Brazil, 1700 miles/2800 Km from Rio de Janeiro, 1900 miles/3100 Kms from Sao Paulo, 500 miles/800 Km from Fortaleza and 1000 miles/1600 Km from Belem (at the mouth of the Amazon).
Olinda - an Unesco cultural heritage site - is an ancient colonial town located 6 Kms away from Recife.
Best time to visit Recife and Olinda
The end of December, January, the Carnival week and July are busy periods in Recife – which doesn’t mean that they are the best time to visit Recife.
From a weather standpoint, the best time to visit Recife goes from September to February, when it rains less and the humidity is lower.
Sea water temperatures remain stable all over the year: 80F/26.5º minimum (August) to 84ºF/29ºC maximum (April-May). And the same goes for air temperatures: they vary little throughout the year (see graphs below), and a difference of one or two degrees aren’t really important. The most important – from a climate perspective – is the rain (it can affect significantly your holidays) and humidity.
If you are looking for a quieter time, with lower prices, September, October or November are good options (besides being a good time from a weather perspective).
The high season – involving more entertainment and fun, but also more crowds and more expensive prices - goes from December to March.
The Carnival (in Olinda, but also in Recife) are major tourist events, calling hundreds of thousands of people to the region.
For more clues on monthly weather variations, see graphs below.
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Average air temperatures (Celsius): Recife and Olinda
Source: INMET.gov.br, Gráficos climatológicos (1961-1990)
Humidity levels: Recife
Recife monthly rainfall levels (mm)
Recife - Olinda & Google Maps
More information
Airport
Recife (REC), which is 6 miles/10 km away from the city; there are taxis and buses every few minutes.
Tours:
For detailed information about Recife and Olinda, see:
Recife, Olinda
Recife, Fortaleza, Maceio, Fernando Noronha and around
Carnival in Bahia and Recife
