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Brazil
beaches are year round useable
[except for the southern part of the country] with 4,578 miles of
coastline packed with foot-friendly sand. Beware travelling Brazil
in the summer holiday Dec-Feb [school holidays and Carnival time],
when domestic transportation and accommodation can be expensive
and difficult to find.
In summer, December-February, temperatures can reach 40C, a bit too hot to trot, even if you are on a beach. Thus the best time to lounge like a Brazilian lizard would be
March-May and September-November.
Generally sand is white and fine, the sun shines, prices are low
and people are pleasant.
The water, however, is the Atlantic Ocean, so will often be rough,
with strong currents, a steep drop off and not very warm, unless
protected by a reef. Careless tourists drown regularly!
Around
Rio de Janeiro:
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro
This is the world's best city beach with 4km of surprisingly spotless wide
white sand. Copacabana is relatively cheap, with friendly, lively locals. Plenty
of accommodation, restaurants and outrageous night clubs. A great
place for volley ball, and is the home of 'futevolei' [foot volley
ball], too. Fun for people watching especially if you favour huge
bottoms.
The down side is that you have to be cautious about thieves : use
common sense - no watches, jewellery, or cameras.
If you like a little more sophistication go next door to Ipanema.
Ipanema
and Leblon, Rio de Janeiro
Home of the bikini and tangas- tiny bikinis- Ipanema and Leblon
are adjacent and slightly more chic and relaxed than nearby Copacabana.
There is a family-friendly ambience and even a meeting area for
mothers and babies. Soft white sand and cool blue water.
Buzios,
100 miles [160kms] NE of Rio
Originally a fishing village, Armação dos Búzios is now a small and still unspoilt
town on a peninsula crowded with 22 fine beaches and not a lot of
people top use them. Buzios came to fame when France's famous beauty,
Brigitte Bardot, hung out there in the 60's.
Angra
dos Reis, Costa Verde [between Rio and Sao Paulo]
If you want to escape from Rio, Costa Verde is a good destination.
Costa Verde [Green Coast], is one of the most scenic stretches along
the 175-mile coastline between Rio and Sao Paulo, where tropical
forest spread down to the ocean, with broad bays, golden sandy beaches
and small fishing villages. There are some good resort hotels, villas,
trendy restaurants and clubs. Angra dos Reis [Kings' Cove] is the
best beach of the area and one of the most untouched beauty spots
in the country.
Santos
Beach Gardens, south
of Sao Paulo
The town of Santos, 45 miles from Sao Paulo, has a beautiful 4 mile
beach garden, reckoned by locals to be the largest garden in the
world. It stretchs from Ponta da Praia, ferryport from another well-known
beach resort called Guaruja, to Sao Vicente, the oldest town in
Brazil.
Far
north of Rio de Janeiro, north east Brazil:
Salvador, Bahia state
A beautiful, vibrant colonial city with excellent beaches on both
sides.
Ilha
de Tinharé
The seashore on this little island off the coast of Salvador is
one of the prettiest in Brazil.
Neighbouring beaches, Ondina and Rio Vermelho, host Salvador's most
expensive resort hotels, while Rio Vermelho has some of the city's
best bars and music.
Going north along the Orla Marítima are many restaurants,
clean white sand, and in the north, the Lagoa de Abaeté,
a black freshwater lagoon.
Praia
do Forte resort
Praia
do Forte, to
the north of Salvador, is an old fishing village reconfigered as
a laidback, downmarket resort. It has more than 8 miles of superb
sandy beaches and natural pools and is surrounded by thousands of
square miles of wild nature. Among the many cheap and cheerful little
hotels is Brazil's first eco-resort, Praia do Forte EcoResort -
delux but low key - lurking by the best sandy bit in the area, and
offering various eco tourist programmes such as bird-watching, and
rainforest walking. 1.5 hours from Salvador.
Natal,
Rio Grande Norte state
Natal, inelegant, but 'the city of the sun' sees more than 300 days
of sunshine a year and has some of the best stretches of sand in
South America, including good lively city beaches - but beware the
surf.
Just out of town the seaside get better with the prettiest area
being Ponta Negra bay[ 10km away], and Pipa beach [80km away] -
so lovely that dolphins visit regularly to admire it.
In addition Rio Grande do Norte has a more than 40 other great beaches,
in particular Pirangi, Jacuma, Maracajaú, Galinhos. And by
the way, wild buggy rides over the huge dunes seem to be a big attraction
in this area.
Fortaleza,
Ceara state
Fortaleza has a modest, mediocre city beach but hundreds of miles of superb wild coast
either side of it, with dunes, palms, wild water and not much else.
Jericoacoara,
Ceará state
[300km west of Fortaleza]
Jericoacoara, or Jeri as it's known to the cognoscenti, is increasingly fashionable with both local people and with hard-travelling, neo-hippies for its absolutely massive lengths of totally natural beaches, sand-dunes, cliffs, spectacular
sunsets and relaxed but reasonably developed support system [e.g. cold beers and bug-free beds].
Jericoacoara beaches are also known for windsurfing, horse-riding and dune buggy excursions, though the town is hell to reach - 5 hours by road from Fortaleza airport followed by an hour of lumpy sand track in a 4WD. Poor access is, of course, what has protected Jericoacoara from the curse of concrete.
South
Brazil:
Praia do Rosa, 90km south of
Florianopolis
A small fishing village popular with no more than a few surfers
until recently, Rosa is a beautiful beach with great surf, but developing
rapidly. Get there before it's too late.
Guardo
do Embau, near Florianopolis
Between Florianopolis and Garopaba this is a beautiful beach with
an excellent slope for sandboarding, a small beach, good surf and
friendly locals.
Brazil
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