Jericoacoara is a village of sand streets inside a national park on the Ceara coast, about 300 kilometres northwest of Fortaleza. It was a fishing settlement with no road, no electricity and no name on most maps until the 1980s, and getting there still involves driving over dunes.
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THE ACCESS IS THE FIRST THING AND IT IS NOT A FORMALITY. The last stretch into the village crosses the dunes of the national park and is PASSABLE ONLY BY 4X4, usually in a shared JARDINEIRA, an open-sided truck, or a private transfer. ORDINARY CARS ARE LEFT IN JIJOCA, about twenty minutes out, and there is no road into the village in the normal sense. There is now an airport at Cruz, roughly an hour away, which has made the place far easier to reach and has changed it. Our Brazil travel guide for women covers the country.
THE SECOND THING, AND THE BEST THING ABOUT JERI, IS THAT THERE IS NO STREET LIGHTING AND THAT IS DELIBERATE. The village sits in a protected area and lighting is kept off to avoid disorienting nesting turtles and to protect the dark sky. The streets are sand, there are almost no cars in the village, and after dark you walk by torchlight between lit doorways with the Milky Way overhead. A HEAD TORCH IS NOT OPTIONAL HERE, which is the single most practical sentence in this post.
THE THIRD IS THE WIND, which made the place. From roughly JULY TO JANUARY the trade winds blow hard and steadily, and Jeri and the lagoons behind it became one of the world's major kitesurfing and windsurfing destinations as a result. In the other half of the year the wind drops, the village is calmer and hotter, and the kite schools are quiet. WHICH HALF YOU WANT DEPENDS ENTIRELY ON WHY YOU ARE COMING.
The Dunes, the Lagoons and the Arch
A sunset dune the whole village climbs, freshwater lagoons with hammocks in them, and a rock arch you reach at low tide.
THE DUNA DO POR DO SOL is the ritual: a large dune at the western edge of the village that everyone walks up for sunset, with drinks sold at the top and applause when the sun goes. It sounds like a cliche and it is genuinely good, and it is five minutes from anywhere in the village.
PEDRA FURADA, the pierced rock, is a natural arch on the shore about forty minutes' walk east along the beach and over the rocks. IT IS REACHABLE ONLY AT LOW TIDE and the walk back is cut off by the water if you misjudge it, so check the tide table before setting out. In June and July the sun sets through the arch.
THE LAGOONS ARE THE OTHER HALF OF A JERI TRIP and most people do them as a buggy or jeep day. LAGOA DO PARAISO and LAGOA AZUL are freshwater lagoons inland behind the dunes, warm, shallow and startlingly blue, with bars that put hammocks and chairs in the water. It is as relaxed as Brazil gets. The drive out crosses the dune fields and is half the pleasure.
TATAJUBA, further west, is a longer excursion to a village with a huge lagoon and dunes you sandboard down. THE MANGUE SECO mangrove and the crossing by raft are the other direction.
IN THE VILLAGE: the main sand street fills in the evening with restaurants, caipirinha carts and street food, there is CAPOEIRA on the beach at dusk and FORRO dancing later, and the whole place is walkable in fifteen minutes end to end. A JANGADA, the traditional wooden sailing raft, can be taken out from the beach for an hour with a local sailor, which is the quietest good thing to do here.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Ceara, the Coast and the Northeast
Five hours to a city of four million, and a coast of dunes in between.
FORTALEZA is the state capital, about five to six hours by road or an hour's flight into Jericoacoara airport at Cruz. It is a large, hot, lively coastal city and most Jeri trips pass through it.
THE COAST BETWEEN is the under-rated part: a string of dune-and-lagoon villages including CANOA QUEBRADA east of Fortaleza and ICARAIZINHO and PRAIA DO PRESIDIO west, all of them quieter than Jeri and several of them better for kitesurfing. Serious kiters often do a downwind trip along this coast rather than staying in one place.
LENCOIS MARANHENSES, the dune desert with thousands of seasonal lagoons, is further west in Maranhao and is the natural pairing with Jeri on a longer trip, usually via Parnaiba and the Delta do Parnaiba.
FOR THE REST OF THE NORTHEAST: the Recife packing list and the Salvador packing list cover the two great cities down the coast, and the Brasilia packing list covers the capital inland.
Getting around: inside the village, on foot. Outside it, a buggy with a driver, a jeep tour or a shared transfer. There is nothing to drive yourself in and no reason to want to. NOTE THAT THE NATIONAL PARK CHARGES A VEHICLE ENTRY FEE and that the village itself levies a visitor contribution, both small.
When to Go
July to December. The wind decides, not the temperature.
A hot tropical climate with essentially no seasonal temperature change: 25 to 32C in every month, with a rainy season from roughly February to May and a dry one from June to January.
JULY TO DECEMBER is the main season and the best: dry, windy, every business open, and the lagoons still full from the rains. August to October is the peak of the wind and therefore the peak of the kitesurfing.
DECEMBER AND JANUARY bring Brazilian holidays on top of the wind season, and the village is at its fullest and most expensive, with New Year particularly busy.
FEBRUARY TO MAY is the rainy season, and the nuance matters: it does not rain all day, the landscape is greenest, the lagoons are at their fullest and bluest, the wind drops, and prices fall. If you are not kitesurfing, MARCH AND APRIL ARE A GENUINELY GOOD AND VERY QUIET TIME, with the caveat of rain and of some businesses closing.
JUNE IS THE SWEET SPOT FOR THE ARCH, because this is when the sun sets through Pedra Furada, and the wind is building while the crowds have not arrived.
AND THE LAGOONS CAN DRY OUT at the end of a long dry season, particularly by December and January in a poor rainfall year, which is worth checking if they are the reason you are going.
Is Jericoacoara Safe for Women Travelers
Safe and relaxed. The sea, the dark and the sun are the risks.
US State Department travel advisory: the Brazil advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/brazil, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
UK FCDO: there are no advised-against areas in mainland Brazilian cities, and the one place the FCDO advises against all but essential travel is RIVER TRAVEL ON SPECIFIC AMAZON STRETCHES: along the Amazon west of Codajas and east of Belem do Solimoes in Amazonas State, along any part of the Itaquai or Japura rivers, and along the Rio Negro north or west of Barcelos, because of criminal activity in the border country Brazil shares with Colombia, Peru and Venezuela. NOTE THAT BELEM DO SOLIMOES IS A TOWN IN AMAZONAS AND NOT THE CITY OF BELEM IN PARA, which is 1,500km east and is not named. Four areas have their own sections covering ordinary crime rather than advice against travel: RIO DE JANEIRO, SAO PAULO, BRASILIA, where the FCDO names the central bus station area for theft, and NORTH-EAST BRAZIL, where it names theft from hotel and motel rooms and muggings, and advises using taxis after sunset rather than walking and avoiding quiet or deserted areas.
JERI IS A SMALL VILLAGE AND IS MUCH SAFER THAN URBAN BRAZIL. It is inside a national park, has no through traffic, and depends entirely on tourism, which gives everyone an interest in visitors being fine. A woman alone is ordinary here and the backpacker and kitesurf community is mixed and sociable.
THE FCDO'S NORTH-EAST BRAZIL ADVICE STILL APPLIES AND NEEDS TRANSLATING RATHER THAN REPEATING. It names THEFT FROM HOTEL AND MOTEL ROOMS as the most common incident affecting British nationals in the northeast, which here means using the safe in your pousada and not leaving a passport in a beach bag. It also advises using taxis after sunset rather than walking and avoiding quiet or deserted areas. THERE ARE NO TAXIS IN JERICOACOARA AND NO LIT STREETS, so what that advice means in practice is to walk the main sand street rather than the unlit back lanes or the beach after dark, and to walk with other people rather than alone late.
Theft is the realistic risk in Brazil and the FCDO is specific enough to be useful. Robberies are common in many cities and particularly on buses, thieves target mobile phones and the FCDO names the window BETWEEN 4PM AND 9PM, and attackers may be armed. THE ADVICE IS NOT TO RESIST: hand over valuables rather than arguing with someone who may be armed and under the influence. Thefts are especially common on public beaches, including ARRASTOES, where a large group runs through a stretch of beach grabbing everything, so take nothing to the beach you would mind losing and DO NOT GO ON TO CITY BEACHES AFTER DARK. And the FCDO is unambiguous about FAVELAS: avoid all of them, including favela tours marketed to tourists and any accommodation, restaurant or bar advertised as being inside one, and check that a GPS route is not taking you through one, because tourists have been shot after entering by accident.
THE SEA IS THE LARGEST PHYSICAL RISK. The main beach is an open Atlantic shore with currents and shore break, and in the wind season it is choppy and busy with kite lines. LIFEGUARD COVER IS MINIMAL. Kite equipment moving at speed across a crowded beach is its own hazard, so watch where the lines are. And PEDRA FURADA IS TIDE-DEPENDENT: people get caught by the returning water on the rocks, which is the one way to get into real trouble on a walk here.
THE DARK IS A GENUINE PRACTICAL RISK rather than a safety one in the criminal sense. Sand streets with no lighting, uneven ground, the occasional buggy, and nothing to orient by once you are off the main street. A head torch or a phone with charge solves it entirely.
THE SUN at three degrees south, on pale sand, with constant wind removing any sensation of heat, is the thing most likely to spoil a day.
Brazil has no reciprocal health agreement with the UK or the United States, so insurance with medical cover and repatriation is essential. Private hospitals in the big cities are genuinely good and expensive and will want payment or an insurance guarantee before treating you; the public SUS system will treat an emergency and is slower and more variable. A farmacia handles minor problems. TAP WATER IS TREATED AND GENERALLY SAFE IN THE MAJOR CITIES including Brasilia, Porto Alegre and Fortaleza, though most Brazilians drink filtered and bottled is universal. DENGUE IS THE REAL HEALTH RISK and Brazil has large annual epidemics, with chikungunya and Zika also present; the mosquito that carries all three bites BY DAY, so repellent is a daytime measure. YELLOW FEVER VACCINATION is recommended for much of the country and some onward countries require a certificate if you have been here, so check before you travel rather than at the border.
Socially this is very relaxed, young and international in season, with Portuguese, Spanish, English, Italian and a good deal of French and German heard on the main street. English is spoken by kite schools and most pousadas.
The Jericoacoara Packing List
A head torch, which is genuinely the first item
A rechargeable headlamp. There is no street lighting anywhere in the village by design, the streets are sand and uneven, and this is the single piece of kit that changes your evenings here. A phone torch works and drains the battery you also need for the walk home.
Sun protection for sand, water and wind
A wide brim sun hat with a chin cord, which the trade wind makes necessary, and a long sleeve sun hoodie, which is the right answer on a beach with no shade and a wind that hides the burn. High factor sunscreen; our registry holds none, so that is advice rather than a recommendation.
A rash top, for sun and for kitesurfing
A long sleeved rash top does double duty here: sun cover that does not wash off, and what you will want under a harness if you take a kite lesson.
Light layers, because the wind cools the evenings
32C by day drops to the mid-twenties with a strong wind after dark, which is more noticeable than it sounds. Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a merino wool base layer for women is the sensible choice in a village with sand, salt and unreliable laundry, because it keeps working rather than holding smell.
Shoes you can lose to sand, and the acceptance of bare feet
Everything here is sand and most people are barefoot in the village. Flip-flops for the street, and trainers for the walk to Pedra Furada over rock. Nothing you mind filling with sand, because everything will.
A dry bag and sand-proof storage
A dry bag for buggy days, the jangada and the lagoons, all of which involve water and spray. Sand gets into everything, and a sealed bag for a camera or phone is worth the space.
The small things
A quick dry travel towel. Insect repellent for the lagoons and the evenings, since dengue is a real and recurring Brazilian risk and the mosquito bites by day. CASH IN REAIS, because card acceptance is good at pousadas and restaurants and poor at beach kiosks, buggy drivers and the jardineira, and the village cash machines are unreliable. Check the tide table before walking to the arch.
Essential Resources for Women in Jericoacoara
Emergency numbers: 190 police, 192 ambulance, 193 fire. 180 is the national women's helpline, the Central de Atendimento a Mulher. Mobile coverage in the village is adequate and patchy across the dunes and lagoons, which is worth knowing on a buggy day.
Tourist police: Brazil operates tourist police in the main destinations. Jericoacoara has a small local police post and the municipality is Jijoca de Jericoacoara; for anything involving an operator or a buggy driver, the Ceara state tourism body Setur-CE is the right route.
Main hospital or clinic: Jericoacoara has a basic health post for minor problems only. THE NEAREST HOSPITAL IS IN JIJOCA, about twenty minutes out across the dunes, and anything serious goes to SOBRAL or FORTALEZA, which is five to six hours by road. THAT DISTANCE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEDICAL FACT HERE and the reason insurance with evacuation cover matters, particularly if you are taking a kite lesson. A farmacia in the village covers basics.
Official health authority: the Brazilian Ministry of Health. Insurance with medical cover and evacuation is essential and should cover kitesurfing, which many policies exclude. The village has a health post only, the nearest hospital is in Jijoca and anything serious goes to Sobral or Fortaleza
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Brasilia.
Official tourism authority: Visit Brasil, the national tourism board. And with ICMBio, which administers the Jericoacoara national park and sets the vehicle entry rules for the dunes, plus Setur-CE for operator complaints
There is no street lighting in the village, by design, to protect nesting turtles and the dark sky. A head torch is the first item in the bag.
The last stretch in is 4x4 only. Ordinary cars stop at Jijoca, twenty minutes out. There is no road into the village in the normal sense.
Pedra Furada is reachable only at low tide, and the walk back is cut off by the returning water. Check the tide table.
The wind season runs July to January and decides what Jeri is: a kitesurfing capital in those months and a quiet hot village in the others.
Solo women safety assessment: Jericoacoara is safe and relaxed for a woman travelling alone and is considerably easier than urban Brazil. It sits inside a national park with no through traffic and depends entirely on tourism, the kitesurf and backpacker community is mixed and sociable, English is spoken by the kite schools and most pousadas, and a woman by herself is entirely ordinary. THE FCDO'S NORTH-EAST BRAZIL ADVICE APPLIES AND NEEDS TRANSLATING RATHER THAN REPEATING: it names theft from hotel and motel rooms as the commonest incident affecting British nationals in the region, which here means using the pousada safe and not leaving a passport in a beach bag, and it advises taking taxis after sunset rather than walking and avoiding quiet or deserted areas, but THERE ARE NO TAXIS AND NO LIT STREETS IN JERI, so in practice that means staying on the main sand street rather than the unlit back lanes or the beach after dark, and walking with others rather than alone late. Nationally the FCDO advises not resisting a robbery and avoiding favelas entirely, neither of which describes this village. THE REAL RISKS ARE ENVIRONMENTAL. The sea is first, an open Atlantic shore with currents and shore break, minimal lifeguard cover, and kite lines moving at speed across a crowded beach in season. PEDRA FURADA IS TIDE-DEPENDENT and people do get caught by the returning water on the rocks. The dark is a genuine practical hazard on unlit sand streets with uneven ground and the occasional buggy, solved entirely by a head torch. The sun at three degrees south on pale sand with constant wind hiding the burn is the likeliest thing to spoil a day. And the medical position matters: a health post in the village, the nearest hospital twenty minutes out at Jijoca, and anything serious five to six hours away in Fortaleza. 180 is the national women's helpline.
Reading On
For the country-level picture, start with the Brazil travel guide for women. For the great cities of the northeast, read the Recife packing list and the Salvador packing list. For the capital inland, the Brasilia packing list, and for the south the Florianopolis packing list. For why merino rather than cotton where there is sand, salt and no laundry, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
