Traveling Brazil’s Northern Coast Part I: From Recife to Jericoacoara

When I told people I was going to Recife, most of them didn’t have a clue where that was, despite being one of the biggest cities in Brazil. The North of Latin America’s giant still remains vastly unknown to the majority of travellers. Admittedly, it’s almost impossible to see the entire country, covering 47% of the whole continent, unless you’ve got lots of time at your hands. So most people opt for seeing exciting Rio de Janeiro, discovering São Paulo’s vibrant restaurant and bar scene, and soak up the unique Afro-Brazilian atmosphere of Salvador. Fair enough, bu there is a lot to discover in the North as well. To put it in the words of the latest Lonely Planet edition: “Those looking for the soul of Brazil would do well to focus on the Northeast.” The region offers a unique mixture of culture, music and history as well as spectacular natural landscapes and beautiful, near empty, tropical beaches.

What I liked most about it: You hardly meet other tourists. Most travellers are either from Brazil or live in Brazil. The fact that we travelled the North in December, when it’s nice and warm in the more popular South of the country and the rain season is about to start in the North, may have added to our experience being mostly the only foreigners on buses as well as hostels and even tourist jaunts. In the end, we only had one afternoon of rain in three weeks, which was a wonderful, refreshing relief from the heat. 

Recife and Olinda – The big bustling city and its tranquil artsy neighbour

Our first stop in Brazil’s Northeast was the region's biggest city Recife, located at the river mouth of Rio Capibaribe and Rio Beberibe on the Atlantic coast. Its name is an allusion to the many reefs that lay by the city's shore calming its waters and forming natural swimming pools. According to Lonely Planet it is "the Northeast’s most exciting city after Salvador, with a vibrant cultural, entertainment and restaurant scene, an intriguing historic centre, an impressive coastal setting, and a fabulous Carnaval."

The city center is a jumble of glassy high rises, colonial churches and crowded market places located on several islands and peninsulas with many bridges crisscrossing the waterways. Apparently, more than 50 bridges can be found in Recife, which is why it has been nicknamed “Venice of Brazil”. 

As for me, it certainly wasn't love at first sight. I felt lost between the uncountable skyscrapers, the busy traffic was absolutely annoying, it really didn't smell too great in many corners, and the heat was close to unbearable.

Luckily, things were meant to change soon. Whilst Recife certainly won't nominate as one of my favourite Latin American cities, I still had a great time there and there are some nice places to discover in the city.

First of all, try to stay in Boa Viagem instead of the city center. We were lucky enough to find a host through Couchsurfing in this lively middle class suburb south of the center. There are way too many skyscrapers for my taste as well, but it has a nice beach that stretches 5km along Recife’s southern coast. It’s a palm-lined, fine sand beach with lots of reefs offshore that tranquil the waters and form natural swimming pools. Unfortunately, swimming is kind of limited here due to the high risk of shark attack. Swimming outside the protection of the reefs is not recommended.

At night the beach is the place to meet. I was intrigued by the lively activities taking place on and around the beach. Numerous joggers run along the seafront, people practice various kinds of sport on the beach, play music, have picnic with friends. The countless little huts along the seafront sell aqua de coco, delicious well-chilled coconut water that comes with the whole coconut, and other snacks. A fresh breeze coming from the Atlantic gives some release from the strenous heat prevailing the city most of the time.

The main districts of interest in the center are Santo Antonio and the historic Recife Antigo. The former one is a busy commercial area with uncountable shops and stalls lining its streets. Apart from this, it boasts imposing 19th century governmental buildings and colonial churches. After dark and on Sunday afternoon, however, its streets are near empty. I really liked Recife Antigo at the ocean front. It's probably the second best place to stay after Boa Viagem. The district has been beautifully revitalised in recent years. It has a European tinge to it with narrow streets, beautiful historic buildings, cobble stones, and historic tram rails. There is an amazing atmosphere at night, too. A great number of restaurants and bars fill the street with yellow plastic chairs, which get packed with people. Numerous bands playing a variety of rhythyms are competing for your eardrums at the venues and on the street.

Recife Antigo at night

Having a drink with our couchsurfing host Valdeis in Recife Antigo

Recife Antigo

TIP: Try to go to a traditional restaurant in one of the residential areas. You won't find them advertised in any travel guide, but it's well worth asking locals for advise. We went to an amazing traditional restaurant in Recife´s East thanks to our Couchsurfing host and it was a very special experience. The place served typical Northeastern food, that was three times cheaper than in Boa Viagem or the City Center, but way more delicious. It was not only the food, but also the atmosphere. The place was packed with locals, with a long queue waiting outside for the next available table. Luckily, the restaurant manager was so excited about international visitors that they quickly arranged a small table for us, so we didn't have to wait. They also gave us some samples of typical food for free as well as two beautiful pieces of handcraft as a gift. I don't remember ever having experienced so much hospitality and warmth in a restaurant!
Since this place really is a little treasure, rarely frequented by tourists, I don't just wanna give the name and location away here. However, if you're really interested in going to this restaurant, just leave a comment and I will let you know where to find it :-)

If you’re in Recife, a day trip to its cute, artsy, tree covered neighbour Olinda is absolutely obligatory. Olinda means literally “Oh, beautiful” and totally lives up to its name. It’s one of the prettiest places we saw during our trip along the Northern coast. The beautiful well-preserved colonial town is set on a tree covered hill about 6km north of the big city. Olinda consists of beautiful twisting streets with colourful houses and gorgeous colonial churches. It’s full of creative types, galleries, artisan’s workshops as well as street art are plenty. On the hill you get amazing vistas over Olinda’s red tile roofs, church towers and countless trees as well as the ocean and Recife’s skyscrapers that stand towering in the distance. Olinda has a few cute beaches, but they have shark warning signs, too.

Praia da Pipa – Pristine beaches, tall cliffs, ecological vibe, and lots of dolphins

The next stop during our trip was Praia da Pipa, located in the small state of Rio Grande do Norte, approximately 250km north of Recife. It's a three hour bus ride from Recife to Goianinha, followed by 45min on a minibus along a very beautiful coastal setting. 

Once a small fishing village without paved roads, it was discovered by surfers only 30 years ago, and has since turned into a popular destination for surfers as well as day and weekend trippers from the region. Pipa also receives some international visitors year round, but they are the minority. Despite the touristic appearance of its main street, with lots of restaurants, bars, surf and souvenir shops, Pipa hasn’t entirely lost its original independent, laid-back character. 

The main beach tends to be a bit crowded. However, several nice, long, near empty beaches can be found along the coast. They’re backed by tall cliffs and therefore only accessible from the main beach. Baía dos Golfinhos, west of the main beach, is a great place to spot dolphins. The adorable creatures are abundant here and come really close to the beach. It's virtually impossible to not see them here. It is also a very nice, quite empty beach with locals selling cold drinks, coconuts, and caipirinhas. Due to the tide, the beach is only accessible in the morning and late afternoon.
Further west lies Praia do Madeiro which is even more secluded and harder to reach than Baía dos Golfinhos. Walking into the other direction from the main beach, you’ll find Praia do Amor which is home to a great amount of sea turtles.

What I liked a lot about this place is the environmental conscious attitude of many locals trying to preserve the natural beauty of Pipa and the region. At the entrance to the main beach and along the beaches you can find creative collages made of trash collected at Pipa’s beaches trying to raise people’s awareness about not leaving trash behind. Restaurants try to reduce food waste by charging an extra fee if you leave left-overs on your plate. This is due to the self-service character of many restaurants, where buffets are offered and people tend to overfill their plates and don’t finish the food. However, the ecological attitude also seems to work as a marketing strategy for some people since there are some tour operators and shops in Pipa that call themselves “ecological” without any apparent hint to environmental conscious behaviour.

Best place to eat in Pipa

When in Pipa, and you’re like us more the low-budget kind of traveller, there is one place you definitely have to eat at: Dona Branca at the far end of the main street can’t be beat for its great value food. It has an absolutely amazing buffet with 18 different choices that are virtually all vegan: some typical local treats like macacheira, mandioca, and cuscuz de milho as well as various kinds of veggies in delicious sauces, pasta, rice, beans, a variety of salads and fresh fruits. Carnivores get two different kinds of meat with it. The whole menu is only 10 Reais, a little over 3 Euro, and you can refill your plate as many times as you want. It’s delicious, good quality food and one of the best places I have eaten at during this trip. It’s a family run restaurant with a great atmosphere and an ocean view! They will charge a 3 Reais fine if you leave food on your plate, but that’s very unlikely to happen!

A short stop in Fortaleza

Fortaleza, the state capital of Ceará, is a surprisingly big city without any specific attractions of note. The centre is full of busy streets with many small stores. The good thing about Fortaleza is that it has lots of good value accommodations. Due to high competition prices are very low. We found a very nice, beautifully decorated hostel with great rates for double rooms, so we stayed two nights instead of one, as originally planned.

Furthermore, the hostel is located very close to the best (and only?) attraction in Fortaleza: the Centro Dragão do Mar de Arte e Cultura. It’s kind of a cultural centre and Fortaleza’s social focus that houses cinemas, performance spaces, a good café, a planetarium, and two museums that are both free: the contemporary art museum and an exhibition on the region’s traditional way of life and culture. It’s a great place to hang out during the heat of the day, meet people, have a coffee, and learn about the region’s culture and social life. It has an interesting architecture with elevated walkways that join the different parts of the complex, plus it’s constructed in a way that most rooms stay cool and get a nice breeze which is a very important feature in this awkwardly hot city. Apart from this, it’s surrounded by some pleasantly restored old buildings hosting restaurants and bars as well as some unusual kinds of palm trees and interesting pieces of street art. So if you can only visit one place in Fortaleza, no doubt this is the one you need to see.  

View from the Cultural Complex

Basically, Fortaleza makes a great stop over on the way from Pipa to Jericoacoara, which was our next stop. It’s already an overnight bus trip from Pipa to Fortaleza (approx. 10 hours), plus 5-6 hours to get to Jericoacoara from there. So it’s a good idea to pause here for one or two days and have a glance at one of Brazil’s biggest cities.

Jericoacoara – The mystical, hard-to-reach backpacker’s magnet

Jericoacoara is a myth. We first heard about this tongue-twisting town when we were still in Spain, hitching a ride from Sevilla towards Portugal with a German couple. The guy grew up in Brazil and when he heard about our plans to go there, he told us immediately we had to go see Jericoacoara. It took me quite some time to get the name and write it in my little note book, so I didn’t forget about it again. He talked about it enthusiastically describing it as a remote place with a Hippie atmosphere, amazing beaches, and unpaved sandy roads. 

Jeri's broad beach at low tide

Even though “Jeri”, as many of its admirers refer to it, is not as remote and “hippie” anymore as it might have been some 20 or 30 years ago, it’s still a very special place. Its isolated position inside a far-flung national park at the top-edge of the country is special. It’s surrounded by beautiful sand dunes, lagoons with crystal clear water (especially after the rain season from June to August) and gorgeous remote beaches. The only way to get there is by camionete, a 4WD passenger truck from the closest town with paved roads.

There are no paved roads in the town, either. The village’s sandy roads are wedged between a broad beach, a series of grassy hills and a majestic sand dune, which is called Pôr do Sol (sunset) dune. Every evening a crowd gathers on the dune, cold drinks in their hands, to watch what is supposed to be one of South America’s most stunning sunsets. 

Gathering on the sunset dune 

As illumination of the streets is forbidden by local law, you walk barefoot along the dark sandy roads at night, the only lights coming from the numerous bars, cafés, restaurants, ice cream parlors, and other shops. This makes it a very special, cozy place at night and adds to its otherworldly allure.

Even though it seems a rather quiet place at first sight, nightlife in Jeri is legendary. A wild mix of traditional music like samba and forró, (typical Northeastern country music), as well as rock, reggae and electronic music can be found here. The party usually starts at the end of Rua Principal, right at the entrance to the beach, where dozens of local entrepreneurs mix a broad variety of caipirinhas and other cocktails in their little cocktail carts. Sometimes a DJ a plays music and people dance in the sand. Later at night, people move on to the various venues, where the party typically only really starts around 2am and lasts into the early morning hours. There are bakeries in town that only open from 2am to 7am to serve freshly baked goods and coffee to party-goers on their way home.

However, it’s still not the annoying kind of nightlife and if you’re not into it, it can totally be avoided. 

In case you manage not to doze the whole day away in your hammock after an exciting night out, there are lots of things to do during the day as well. First of all, Jeri is a mecca for wind- and kitesurfers due to its steady winds between June and February. Simply watching the world-class kite surfers is absolutely amazing.

Jeris surroundings are typically explored by buggy (four-wheel, five-seat contraptions) that roar along the beaches and up and down the dunes to take you to beautiful lagoons, small fishing villages, and remote beaches. A more ecological way to explore the area is by horseback-riding or simply by foot, but you might not get to the distant, remote places.  

A beautiful walk makes a visit to Pedra Furada, an arched rock 3 km east of town, the symbol of Jericoacoara and a popular post card motive. The walk leads along a stunning coastal setting, either up on the hill or during low tide along the beach with lots of rocky patches.

Walk along the coast

Pedra Furada

There are capoeira classes at the beach in the morning and afternoon, the latter are followed by an open capoeira performance that always attracts a crowd.

Jeri is definitely that kind of destination where most people end up staying longer than originally planned. We planned for two days and stayed five. Note that there is no ATM in town that accepts international credit cards, so take enough cash as you might want to stay some extra nights.

In case you run out anyway, there is regular transport to Jijoca which has international ATMs. The 45min ride in an open 4WD costs 10 Reais each way. The supermarket “Tem de tudo” in Jeri gives cash advances on credit cards but charges a 15% fee for it. They also change US Dollar at a fair rate, so does the Hostel Tirol. 

General Travel Info

(Prices in local currency: 1 Euro = 3 Reais)

Accomodation: We mainly stayed in so-called pousadas, which in Brazil are simple, inexpensive guest houses, or hostels. Double rooms with private bathroom usually cost between 60-80 Reais per room and often include breakfast. With some cut backs on comfort and cleanliness we also found double rooms with shared bathrooms for 30-40 Reais including (!) a small breakfast. (Single rooms typically cost 5-10 Reais less than the doubles)

Dorms cost between 20-30 Reais, so if you’re at least 2ppl you can’t really save a lot here

Some hostels and camping grounds have designated areas for stringing up hammocks. We paid between 10-25 Reais for that. Try to bargain here. I wouldn’t have expected it, but I totally loved sleeping in a hammock, especially being outside, breathing fresh air and listening the sound of the ocean, river, jungle, or wherever you end up! Hammocks can be purchased nearly everywhere in Northern Brazil. We bought the simplest, cheapest version for 20 Reais, that also had the advantage of being super light, but was still really comfy to sleep in. You can also buy mosquito nets which are particularly designed to use with hammocks. In some places this is indispensable!

We also couchsurfed three times in Brazil: in Recife, Belém and later in Manaus. All experiences were great and it seemed relatively easy to find a host in the big cities.

Transportation: We used long-distance busses all along the way from Recife to Belém (with exception for some unpaved stretches along the coast that were travelled by 4WD Jeep). Buses are rather expensive in comparison to other Latin American countries, costing between 10-15 Reais per hour of travelling. Distances are huge in Brazil, so travelling 10-12 hours to the next destination is nothing unusual.

We met quite a few people who were hitchhiking along the coast and their experiences were really good and encouraging. It’s a great way to get to know locals and practice your Portuguese! Try to do it together with someone else though, usually male/female pairs work really well.

Food: We mainly ate at simple, inexpensive restaurants and usually paid 15 Reais for a meal and a drink (almost always freshly prepared fruit juice). Since we’re vegetarians we often asked for an additional discount since they usually don’t have any vegetarian plates and just leave out the meat on their usual plates. Many times we got a discount along with an extra portion of fresh salad.

Breakfast is included in most pousadas, but can also be cheaply purchased in cafés (usually no more than 10 Reais per person, including coffee, fresh fruit juice, and food). Tapioca is a very typical North Eastern dish and makes a great and inexpensive breakfast. It’s kind of a pancake made from the native mandioca root. It can be filled with a variety of sweet or salty fillings. Costs between 2-6 Reais depending on the filling.

Activities: We didn’t do many organized tours. Whenever possible we try to self-organize our trips and visit places independently. The only time we booked tours was in the Lençois Maranhenses National Park because there was no option of visiting the park otherwise. We paid 60 Reais per person for a half-day trip (4h) to the dunes including guide and transportation and 70 Reais for a full-day boat trip (7h) including guide and transportation.

In most beach destinations excursions by buggy that can take up to 5 people are really popular in order to explore the surroundings. Usually those trips are paid per vehicle and not per person, so if you’re group you can get a good price. I talked to people who paid 20 Reais per person for a full-day trip in the Jericoacoara National Park.

In many cities admission to museums was free or extremely inexpensive (1-2 Reais).

Guide book: During our trip we used the latest Lonely Planet edition and found it really helpful to get a general overview, some background info, and above all to find good value food options and pousadas. It’s generally easy to find something cheap if you’re looking for it, but it’s not always easy to find quality food and atmospheric hostels for a good price. The information (like prices, directions, opening hours etc.) was very accurate, probably owned to the fact that the edition came out in November 2013 and we went to Brazil the following month. It probably saved us a lot of time, hassle, and money, so it was definitely worth the investment.

We travelled with the ebook and printed the chapters we really needed in copy shops. On the road every gram counts!

From the "South America on a shoe string" ebook single chapters can be purchased for 2,95€ each. Purchasing the Brazil chapter instead of the whole guide book could be an option to save some money.