BEACHES IN BRAZIL:
Fortaleza & Recife
The best tropical brazilian beaches are in the Northeast coast, namely around
three big beach hubs: Recife, Fortaleza and Salvador da Bahia. You will not find elsewhere in the world the variety and the excellence of so many beaches as in that coast.
South America great resorts and beaches are here.
Fortaleza (Fortress, in English), at the extreme northeast of Brazil, capital of the Brazilian state of Ceara, is not a nice and attractive city, either monumentally or in its landscape. But it has excellent beaches, and is a great gateway to some of the earth’s most amazing and untouched beach places.
Meireles and Iparema are Fortaleza’s central beaches. They are very good beaches, but Praia do Futuro, a more peripheral beach is wider and less crowded.
Any of those beaches offer good restaurants, animation, music, or nightlife (Praia do Futuro is the city’s nightlife center at Thursdays; the others are permanently animated.
Two fine places to stay in Fortaleza are Porto das Dunas, at Praia do Futuro - a sophisticated resort, just outside the urban perimeter – and Aquiraz, 17 miles from Porto das Dunas, a place with good beaches and excellent hotel resorts. For those who privilege privacy and safety, these are two good options in Fortaleza outskirts.
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Eating, Shopping, Nightlife and Entertainment in Recife
Eating, Shopping, Nightlife and Entertainment in Fortaleza
TOURS AND RESORTS AROUND FORTALEZA
Fortaleza, or Porto das Dunas, Aquiraz and other resorts nearby, may be excellent for some relaxing beach days and for shopping and entertainment at night. But there are other options.
For many visitors, Fortaleza is mostly an opportunity for visiting some amazing untouched beach places, largely cut off from the outside world. In fact, some miles, or dozen miles from Fortaleza, you can encounter tiny fishing villages with stunning beaches, some of them without electricity or running water, lost in the past. Palm trees, dunes, sandy beaches are their welcome postcard. Very high dunes are common, and local people, namely the kids, use to ski down these dunes on planks of wood. Jangadas are also very common, at the sea: they are flat rafts with sails, used by fishermen – and, more recently, rented to tourists for local trips.
If you are interested in this type of beaches - Jericoacoara, Canoa Quebrada, Morro Branco, Lagoinha, Iguape, Prainha – look for local tours, through your hotel or a Fortaleza tour agency. The organized tours are normally preferable to regular buses. The distances and the time involved are considerable, and if you opt for local buses, you will risk staying overnight at an unexpected place.
Jericoacoara, an Environmental Preserved Area seven hours drive from Fortaleza, is the most fashionable of the eco-beaches of Ceara. But it’s a long haul to get to it, and you can visit almost similar places at a much shorter distance: Cumbuco and Iparana, less than an hour drive from Fortaleza, are tranquil villages, with calm seas and impressive dunes, not very different from Jericoacoara; Prainha, Iguape, Morro Branco, are also beautiful isolated places, very preserved. Lagoinha, 100 Kms from Fortaleza has an amazing lagoon near the sand dunes and is one of the best beaches of the state, well away from the crowds. Also very interesting, is Canoa Quebrada, a major eco-destination, or Majorlândia, very near Aracati,
or Canoa Quebrada, a major eco-destination (for specific information about Canoa Quebrada, see the site
Canoa Quebrada).
Beach Park (with facilities and features such as surfboards and buggies, or an Aqua Park), Paracuru, 100 km from Fortaleza, emulating Rio de Janeiro's Buzios, are also top attractions.
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BRAZILIAN BEACHES NEAR RECIFE / OLINDA
Recife is a major hub of the high Northeast coast. Its gigantic urban beach – Boa Viagem - is excellent. But Recife is also a busy and turbulent town. If you want a more touristic and peaceful place, Olinda, just 4 miles/6 Kms north Recife, is an excellent option. Olinda is an ancient Portuguese colonial settlement and a Unesco cultural heritage place, with old monuments and churches, and narrow cobbled streets of colourful colonial style houses. Besides, Olinda is also an excellent beach destination.
Other major references in region are Joao Pessoa and Porto Galinhas,
two excellent places for beach and sea sports.
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BRAZILIAN BEACHES NEAR MACEIO
Though outside Recife state-region (Pernambuco), but not very far, there are other major references in north-eastern Brazilian coast.
One of them is Maceio. Maceio is a small town but a fast growing tourism destination. Beaches as Paçajura, a huge gigantic natural swimming pool, with its waters trapped between the very coast and the sand bars, are great. Maceio is also internationally known by its spa hotels.
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FERNANDO DE NORONHA ISLANDS AND BEACHES: MORE THAN A MARINE PARADISE
The brazilian Islands of Ferrnando de Noronha are not exactly a beach destination, or a resort. Fernando Noronha islands (21) are a Unesco World Heritage place, 550 kilometres from Recife (an hour and a half by plane), home of an incredible marine life, preserved under ecological law. At Fernando de Noronha you will find the larger concentration of tropical seabirds in the Western Atlantic and an unparalleled oasis of marine life: populations of resident dolphins, scores of turtles, rays, sharks, billfish, cetaceans, and a great variety of reef fishes. Fernando de Noronha is also a paradise for surfers and those who love sea life, sailing, aquatic activities as snorkelling, and, most of all, diving. The amazing abundance of ocean life and the visibility and temperature of the sea water confer to Fernando Noronha a top place at a world scale.
Lodging in Fernando de Noronha
As there are limits on the number of visits to the island, it is important to reserve accommodation well in advance (5 months or more is highly recommended, and the best way to get a small hotel or a good local family guesthouse). Lodging is scarce and modest, with hotel construction highly restricted by environmental law.
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Best Time of Year
Fernando Noronha is an all year round destination. High season runs from December through February, when Brazilians, on holidays, most demand the place. So, the others months could be a better option, for lodging availability.
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