Getting to Paraiba
The rodoviária in João Pessoa is conveniently near the city centre. Any bus from the local bus station, opposite the rodoviária’s entrance, takes you to the city’s one unmistakeable, central landmark: the circular lake of the Parque Solon de Lucena, which everybody simply calls the Lagoa, spectacularly bordered by tall palms imported from Portugal. All bus routes converge on the circular Anel Viário skirting the lake, some en route to the beach districts, others heading further afield: to the northern beaches, the neighbouring town of Cabedelo and the village of Penha to the south of the city. Buses for the beach can also be caught directly from the rodoviária; look for the ones marked “Tambaú”.
The Presidente Castro Pinto airport lies just 11km west of the city centre and is connected to the rodoviária by regular buses; taxis into town cost around R$30.
Orientation
João Pessoa’s centre is just to the west of the Lagoa. To the east, Avenida Getúlio Vargas leads out of town towards the skyscrapers and beachside bairros of Cabo Branco and Tambaú. At the city’s core is Praça João Pessoa, which contains the state governor’s palace and the local parliament; most of the central hotels are clustered around here. The oldest part of the city is just to the north of Praça João Pessoa, where Rua Duque de Caxias ends in the Baroque splendour of the Igreja de São Francisco. The steep Ladeira de São Francisco, leading down from here to the lower city and the bus and train stations, offers a marvellous tree-framed view of the rest of the city spread out on the banks of the Rio Sanhauá.
The two sweeping bays of Cabo Branco and Tambaú are separated by the futuristic, luxury Hotel Tambaú – more commonly known as the Tropical Tambaú Center Hotel – and the nearby Centro Turístico Tambaú shopping centre. This area is also where the highest concentration of bars and clubs can be found. The southern boundary of the city is the lighthouse on Ponta de Seixas, the cape at the far end of Cabo Branco. Locals claim it as the most easterly point of Brazil, a title disputed with the city of Natal to the north – though the pessoenses have geography on their side.
Information
Official tourist information is available from the state tourist board, PB-Tur, at the rodoviária (daily 8am–6pm; t 83/3222-3537), the airport (daily 9am–4pm) and in the Centro de Turismo in Tambaú, opposite the Tropical Tambaú Center Hotel at Av. Almirante Tamandaré 100 (daily 8am–7pm; t 83/3247-0505). You can also find a post office and a posto telefônico here.
Accommodation in Paraiba
You can find good budget and medium-range hotels both in the centre and on the beaches, but five-star luxury is only available by the sea. Hotels in João Pessoa rarely seem to charge the full price displayed at the reception desk, and you can get some pretty hefty discounts if you ask.
João Pessoa’s beautiful campsite, on a promontory past the Ponta de Seixas, can be reached by taking the Penha bus from the Anel Viário or the local bus station: it passes near the campsite but only operates every couple of hours. Clean and well run, on a fine beach with a spectacular view of the city, the campsite is often full, especially from January to March, so it’s advisable to book beforehand in the centre at sala 18, Rua Almeida Barreto 159 (t 83/3221-4863).
Paraiba food and drink
As usual in a coastal capital, the centre tends to get deserted after dark, as people looking for a night out head for the beaches, particularly Tambaú. However, there are several restaurants and bars in the centre worth trying out. The more expensive restaurants (R$45–80 range) in the beach areas are in Cabo Branco. There are a few very good places on the seafront, some of which are listed below.
João Pessoa has a surprisingly rich but fluctuating music scene for a city of its size, concentrated at the beaches: the only nights it’s difficult to catch something are Monday and Sunday. Venues open and close with bewildering frequency, so it’s best to ask the tourist office for a current list, though they will direct you to the more expensive upmarket clubs unless you’re persistent. Alternatively, look in the entertainment guide of the local paper, O Norte.
The square in front of the Tropical Tambaú Center Hotel is a relaxed place for a drink and some live music. It’s surrounded by restaurants and bars, and on Friday and Saturday nights, tables and chairs are put out in the square, drink starts flowing and after about 9pm things start getting very lively. In the streets behind there are any number of small bars and clubs, which tend not to get going until 11pm at the earliest. There are a couple of fairly lively gay bars, too, in the streets behind Avenida Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes in Tambaú.
Inland to Campina Grande
The BR-230, a good-quality asphalt road, bisects Paraíba and leads directly into the sertão. The green coastal strip is quickly left behind as the road climbs into the hills and the second city of Paraíba, CAMPINA GRANDE, linked to João Pessoa by hourly bus (2hr). It’s a large town, similar in many ways to Caruaru in Pernambuco: even the slogan you see at the city limits – “Welcome to the Gateway of the Sertão” – is the same. Like Caruaru, Campina Grande owes its existence to a strategic position between the agreste and the sertão proper. It’s a market town and centre of light industry, where the products of the sertão are stockpiled and sent down to the coast, and where the people of the sertão come to buy what they can’t make – at a large Wednesday and Saturday market, you can see this process unfolding before your eyes.
Campina Grande’s festivals
In June, Campina Grande hosts a month-long festival that uses the São João holiday – the festas juninas – as an excuse for a general knees-up. Streets are filled with stalls selling food and drinks, and various events are scheduled. This makes June one of the best times to visit, and the wonderfully named forrodrómo in the centre of town, an enormous cross between a concert hall and a dancetaria, is where much of the action happens.
But Campina Grande is equally well known for its out-of-season Carnaval, the Micarande, an event in late April that attracts some 300,000 people over a period of four days and is the largest of its kind in Brazil. The music, best described as frenetic electric, reaches fever pitch as the trios elétricos (Carnaval trucks), with live frevo bands playing on top, work their way through the crowds with their followers in train, the music lasting until dawn. Accommodation during this period is particularly scarce and expensive even for the humblest of abodes, so it’s best to get in touch with one of the leading organizers, the state tourist authority (t 83/3310-6100), before setting out. A word of warning, however: although the event itself is very well policed, take care when making your way to it as the streets and buses are very crowded.