t Summer crowds enjoying the beach at Ubatuba
t Summer crowds enjoying the beach at Ubatuba
Lying at the northern extreme of São Paulo state and sitting at the feet of the Serra do Mar mountain range, Ubatuba is a little beach resort with a small colonial center lined with terraced houses. Glorious beaches surround the resort.
The most popular beaches, especially Praia Grande, have excellent infrastructure, including play areas for children. Even in high season it is easy to find a quiet stretch of sand or lonely cove tucked away along the coast to the south of Ubatuba.
The Aquário de Ubatuba in the town center contains some of the largest tanks and most diverse range of tropical marine life in all of Brazil. The office of the Projeto Tamar, a Brazil-wide organization that monitors and preserves turtle nesting beaches, is also located in town. Visitors are permitted to witness supervised turtle hatchings.
The Serra do Mar rises in a vertiginous green wall a short distance north of Ubatuba and an easy drive away from the town. Carpeted in thick primary forest, it is home to many endangered endemic species and prolific birdlife.
The twin beaches of Domingas Dias and Lázaro, whose white sands curve gently on either side of a forest-clad promontory, are located 11 miles (18 km) south of Ubatuba.
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⌂ Rua Guaraní 859 § (12) 3834 1382 # 10am–8pm Sun–Thu, 10am–10pm Fri & Sat
⌂ Rua A Atanázio 273 § (12) 3832 6202 # 10am–6pm Mon–Thu & Sun, 10am–8pm Fri–Sat ¢ Wed in low season
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eat Dine on delicious seafood dishes at these charming restaurants. Manacá ⌂ Rua Manacá 102, São Sebastião ¢ Mon, Tue, Wed ∑ restaurantemanaca.com.br \\\ Solar das Águas Cantantes ⌂ Estrada do Saco da Ribeira 951, Ubatuba ∑ solardasaguascantantes.com.br \\\ |
São Sebastião is the oldest town on the northern coast of São Paulo state. It was first occupied by the Tupinambá people in the north and the Tupiniquins in the south, separated by the Serra de Boiçucanga mountain range, located 18.6 miles (30 km) south of the city center.
This region became the northernmost Portuguese outpost for the indigenous slave trade. As it grew, it became one of the country’s first sugar-growing centers and the thirst for slave labor became unquenchable. It was among the first cities to receive enslaved African people.
The region was founded in the early 17th century, when Brazil’s coastline was cloaked in a forest larger than the Amazon. The city’s colonial streets lie in the few blocks between the shoreline and central Praça Major João Fernandes, easily recognizable by the 17th-century church, Igreja Matriz. This is largely a 19th-century reconstruction devoid of much of its original church art. However, the refurbished Museu de Arte Sacra, housed in the nearby 17th-century chapel of São Gonçalo, preserves a number of beautiful, delicate images of Christ. Dating from the 16th century, they were found within wall cavities of the Igreja Matriz during its restoration in 2003.
There are also a few streets lined with houses and civic buildings, the most impressive of which is the Casa Esperança on the waterfront. Built from stone, wattle and daub, and congealed with whale oil, the exterior is whitewashed with lime made from crushed shells.
⌂ Praça Major João Fernandes § (12) 3892 1110 # 1–6pm Mon, 8am–6pm Tue–Fri
⌂ Rua Sebastião Silvestre Neves 90 § (12) 3892 4286 # 8am–noon, 2–5pm Mon–Fri
⌂ Av Altino Arantes 144 # 9am–5pm Mon–Fri, 7–10am Sat & Sun
South of São Sebastião lie a number of beautiful beach resorts. Maresias, the liveliest of the lot, is busy with young, hip Paulistanos at weekends and holidays. Praia de Maresias is famous for its powerful surf, which has been the site of many international surfing competitions. Toque Toque Grande and Toque Toque Pequeno, 6 miles (9 km) southeast, are smaller, quieter beaches, sheltered by rainforest-covered spurs. They are separated by the pretty Praia das Calhetas, known for its marvelous snorkeling.
São Paulo’s state park, Ilha Ancieta, once housed a prison. Many inmates escaped from it in 1952.
t One of Guarujá’s many pretty beaches, beautifully illuminated at night
Situated close to São Paulo, and on the way to Santos, this beach town is a popular weekend and day-trip destination for São Paulo residents. It is known as the “Pearl of the Atlantic” and has about 14 miles (23 km) of white beaches that stretch along the coastline. The longest of these, Enseada Beach, is popular with surfers, and its shores are lined with hotels and kiosks. The town center is a pleasant place to stroll, but the water’s edge is Guarujá’s biggest drawcard, especially for fishing, swimming, and sunbathing.
The pleasant, laid-back port town of São Vicente is known more for its historical significance than the usual tourist attractions.
In 1532, Portugese explorer Martim Afonso de Sousa established a small settlement on the eastern shores of South America, eventually leading to the colonization of Brazil. Only a handful of relics belonging to that time in history can be found in São Vicente today.
The 18th-century Baroque parish church, the Igreja Matriz de São Vicente Mártir, is one of the few historical buildings in the city to have survived the ravages of time. The current building is named in honor of the Spanish saint who is patron of the city. Also in the city center are the remains of Martim Afonso’s former home, and the first brick building in Brazil. These are housed inside the impressive late 19th-century Casa Martim Afonso, along with other colonial pieces.
⌂ Praça João Pessoa s/n, Centro § (13) 3468 2658 # 8am–7pm Mon–Sat, 8–11:30am & 5–7:30pm Sun
⌂ Praça 22 de Janeiro 469, Centro § (13) 3568 8948 # 9am–5pm Tue–Fri, 10am–6pm Sat & Sun
t Groups of surfers and jagandas (traditional fishing boats) on the Iguape coastline
This pretty little colonial town sits in a pocket of the Brazilian coastal rainforest, the Complexo Estuarino Lagunar de Iguape-Cananéia biosphere reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The verdant Serra do Mar mountains rise up behind the town, which is surrounded by pristine mangrove wetlands and lowland subtropical forest on all sides. The Mirante do Morro do Espio has a lovely view of the port and surrounding area. Iguape was founded in 1538 by the Portuguese. No buildings remain from that time but the city center preserves the largest and oldest heritage-listed collection of post-17th-century colonial architecture in the state. Most are civic buildings and townhouses painted in primary colors and clustered around Praça São Benedito.
The Museu Histórico e Arqueológico is housed in a 17th-century building that was once the first gold foundry in Brazil. It showcases a mixed bag of historical material. The Museu de Arte Sacra in the Basílica do Bom Jesus houses some 100 ecclesiastical objects, most dating from the 18th and 19th centuries.
Just across the Rio Ribeira do Iguape estuary, east of the town center, are stretches of fine white-sand beaches that make up Ilha Comprida. They are accessible by road, or a 5-mile (8-km) walk.
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⌂ Rua das Neves 45 § (13) 3841 3012 # 9am–5:30pm daily
⌂ Basílica do Bom Jesus de Iguape, Praça da Basílica ¢ For restoration
t An array of colorful local fishing boats bobbing in Cananéia’s calm bay
Cananéia is the farthest south of São Paulo’s colonial seaside towns, and like the others lies nestled at the feet of the Serra do Mar mountains. Outside of the high season few visitors make it here and the town’s crumbling colonial streets and central square often have a sleepy feel.
The most compelling reason to come to Cananéia is to take a boat trip out to the beaches and islands that are heritage-listed by UNESCO as part of the Lagamar estuary. Fishing boats and launches can be chartered from the docks to Ilha do Cardoso, while car and passenger rafts ferry across the estuary in front of the town to the southern reaches of the Ilha Comprida. The beaches here lie a short distance beyond the island’s ferry port.
While in Cananéia, it is worth visiting the tiny town museum, Museu Municipal, which preserves bits of nautical miscellany. Pride of place goes to what is reputed to be the second-largest great white shark ever, weighing a hefty 7,716 lb (3,500 kg), now stuffed and hanging safely from the museum ceiling.
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⌂ Rua Tristão Lobo 78 § (13) 3851 1753 # 9am–1.30pm Tue–Sun
Just a 30-minute boat ride south of Cananéia, Ilha do Cardoso, a rugged 58 sq-mile- (150 sq-km-) island, rises dramatically out of the Atlantic Ocean. The island is primarily an ecological reserve, which also has beautiful deserted beaches and walking trails.
Several species of turtle nest on the island, caimans live in the rivers and estuaries, and jaguars and pumas still hunt in the forests that cover the upper reaches. The island is also rich in birdlife. Seven traditional caiçara fishing communities live on Ilha do Cardoso, preserving a semi-indigenous way of life. Today, many of these local caiçaras also act as tour guides and boatmen.
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Festa do Mar
Annual food festival in June, attracting more than 35,000 visitors with live bands, dance performances, and plenty of regional seafood dishes.
Festas de Agosto
Taking place in mid-August, this week-long festival consists of canoe racing, religious processions, live music, beach volleyball tournaments, and more.
Festa da Tainha
Annual mullet festival held in July on Ilha do Cardoso, a short boat ride from Cananéia, honoring the ray-finned fish. Regional mullet dishes are the main focus.
When Santos was founded in 1535, it was one of Portugal’s first settlements in the Americas. As a port, it first dealt with sugar, then grew rich on coffee, which was brought out of the mountains on Brazil’s first trains, built by the British in the late 19th century.
Unlike São Vicente, Santos has preserved vestiges of its historical legacy, and, under recent enlightened municipal governance, is reinventing and refurbishing itself. Once very run down, the city center is undergoing a spruce-up and is now very attractive. Scottish trams in British racing green run through its streets, taking visitors on a whistle-stop tour of the various attractions.
The jewel in the city’s crown is the Art Nouveau Museu do Café. Its modest Victorian exterior hides an opulent marble-floored turn-of-the-19th-century stock exchange and museum, together with a café serving excellent coffee. When it was built, coffee was the most important and coveted commodity in Brazil. The museum’s auction room is crowned by a magnificent stained-glass skylight, which has an arresting representation of Brazil, the Mãe Douro. This and the beautiful Neo-Renaissance painting of Santos that adorns the walls of the stock exchange are by Brazil’s most celebrated mid-19th-century artist, Benedito Calixto.
A number of Calixto’s paintings are also displayed in the Pinacoteca Benedito Calixto, which is housed in one of the few remaining coffee-baron mansions. The landscapes shown here give an idea of the city’s once breathtaking natural beauty.
Santos has a handful of interesting churches, but the only one open to the public is the Santuário Santo Antônio do Valongo, which has a mock-Baroque interior that dates from the 1930s. The fine orig-inal 17th-century altarpiece remains preserved in the Fran-ciscan chapel to the left of the main entrance; the statue of Christ is particularly striking.
The beaches here were once very dirty, but they are now much cleaner and lively with bustling bazaars, and people playing volleyball and soccer.
Santos also houses the small but very popular Aquário de Santos, which displays, in addition to a stunning range of tropical marine life, three of the five species of sea turtles found in Brazil.
For all its history, it is for soccer that Santos is most famous outside Brazil. Pelé (Edson Arantes do Nascimento) played here for almost all his professional life. The Santos Football Club has an excellent museum, the Memorial das Conquistas, devoted to the club’s illustrious history (advance booking is required).
t The exterior of the Museo do Café in Santos, formerly the Coffee Stock Exchange Building
experience São Paulo State
t Its elegant interior
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⌂ Rua 15 de Novembro 95 # 9am–5pm Tue–Sat, 10am–5pm Sun ∑ museudocafe.org.br
⌂ Av Bartolomeu de Gusmão 15 # 9am–6pm Tue–Sun ∑ pinacotecadesantos.org.br
⌂ Largo Marquês de Monte Alegre 13 § (13) 3219 1481 # 10am–7pm Tue–Sun
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⌂ Av Bartolomeu de Gusmão, Ponta da Praia § (13) 3278 7830 # 9am–6pm Tue–Fri, 9am–8pm Sat & Sun
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⌂ Rua Princesa Isabel 77, Vila Belmiro # Mar–Nov: 9am–6pm Tue–Sun; Dec–Feb: 9am–6pm daily (book in advance) ∑ memorialdasconquistas.com.br
experience São Paulo State
Pelé, still regarded as the world’s most famous sportsman, was born in Tres Corações, Minas Gerais, in 1940. He started his soccer career in Santos in 1956 and was soon after offered a place in the Brazilian national team; he went on to play in three of Brazil’s five World Cup-winning teams.
t Mosaico Juréia-Itatins’s lush green rainforest, blanketing the coast of São Paulo State
Brazil’s coastal rainforest stretches along the coast of São Paulo State in a series of rippling mountains and lowland forests divided by broad rivers, mangrove wetlands, and pristine beaches, as well as by traditional fishing and farming communities. The Mosaico Juréia-Itatins encompasses six protected rainforest areas, four of which are open to visitors. Peruíbe is a good base for information. This region protects Atlantic rainforest and its associated ecosystems. It is one of the most important breeding grounds for marine species in the southern Atlantic and the myriad forest types growing here protect one of the world’s greatest diversities of vascular plant, vertebrate, and invertebrate species. There is a unique range of butterflies, birds, and mammals. Larger animals, such as jaguars and tapirs, which have all but disappeared from coastal Brazil, live in healthy numbers here.
Juréia itself protects many habitats; as a result the scenery is magnificent. The extensive forest swathes the high slopes of the Serra do Itatins in the eastern part of the park and continues to the lowland coastal areas, mixing with mangrove wetlands and perfuming the park’s beaches. These beautiful stretches of fine sand, many cut by clear rivers or washed by waterfalls, are so deserted that caimans can occasionally be seen basking in the sun at dawn.
The jaguar is the largest of all the big cats found in the Americas.