Brazil Dropdown content has some of the sexiest, swoon-inducing, stretches of sand in the world. We’ve all heard of Copacabana and Ipanema, but the country has thousands of miles of unspoilt coral coves, balmy bays and coconut palm-shaded coast beyond Rio. Glorious beaches fringe much of the country’s 7500 km-long coastline, from the steamy tropical coast in the north to the sweeping strands of silvery sand near the southern Argentinean border. And they offer far more than beautiful people in tiny swimwear and sultry sunbathing. Brazil is one of the world’s hottest beach destinations, with chic low-key resorts, miles of empty white sand, coral reefs and superb wind- and kite-surfing. Here, we pick six of the best beaches in Brazil.
Nestled between a bottle-green ocean, a heart-shaped lagoon and the towering, forest-covered boulder-mountains of the Serra do Mar, no city beach has a setting that can match Ipanema’s in
Ipanema, Brazil's most well known beach © Alex Robinson
Fernando de Noronha island is a pinnacle of crumbling granite fringed with pristine coral reef and set in deep ocean an hour’s flight off Brazil’s northeastern coast. The entire island is ringed with fabulous beaches – many of them protected as turtle-nesting sites – but Cacimba do Padre is the most spectacular, a kilometre long broad stretch of downy soft sand, set between craggy headlands and pounded by powerful, tubing surf.
Cacimba do Padre on Fernando de Noronha © Alex Robinson
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Not all Brazil’s beaches are salt-water. Pesqueiro sits on Marajó island – a sandbank the size of Denmark in the mouth of the Amazon river. It’s mind-numbingly vast – running the length of a European country to the north, broken by tiny fishing villages with stilt houses, caiman-filled mangrove swamps and towering Amazon rainforest. And it’s washed by a gentle, fresh-water river-sea which flows broad and deep into the Atlantic and a distant horizon, turning the ocean mineral-water sweet for almost a hundred kilometres offshore.
The mountains of southeastern Brazil’s Atlantic forest drop into an emerald green ocean in a run of verdant ridges, rising again offshore as a ripple of islands. The most beautiful of these is
Lopes Mendes beach on Ilha Grande © Alex Robinson
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Trancoso, Bahia © otorongo / Shutterstock
Strong prevailing Atlantic winds have swept sand off the broad pink-and-white beaches into towering dunes, which roll far inland, enclosing shallow salt water lagoons and marshes. The views from the dune crests are stunning, with golden sunsets fading over the sands into shades of brilliant red and pink. And the reliable winds, placid sea and myriad lagoons have made Jericoacoara a favourite spot among kite- and wind-surfers weary of the crowded Mediterranean. Surfing here is easy – the town has a string of board rental shops, almost all of which offer classes for kite- and wind-surfers of all levels.
Jericoacoara in Ceará © Alex Robinson
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