Joao Pessoa holds a geographical superlative that nobody outside Brazil knows about: PONTA DO SEIXAS, on the southern edge of the city, is the EASTERNMOST POINT OF THE AMERICAS. Not of Brazil, of the whole double continent. The sun rises on the Americas here first, which the city has reasonably made into its identity, and it means you are standing at the end of a landmass that runs unbroken from here to Alaska.
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What Is Here
IT IS ALSO ONE OF THE OLDEST CITIES IN BRAZIL AND THE HISTORIC CENTRE IS UNDERVISITED. Founded in 1585, Joao Pessoa has a colonial core that most beach visitors never leave the seafront to see, and its centrepiece is the second image: the SAO FRANCISCO complex, a church, convent and courtyard that is among the finest baroque ensembles in the country, gilded, tiled and considerably better than its lack of fame suggests. Go in the morning, because the centre is a working downtown that empties in the evening.
THE SEAFRONT IS MODERN AND ITS LANDMARK IS A CIRCLE. The first image is the HOTEL TAMBAU from the air, a circular building put up in 1971 to a design by Sergio Bernardes, which is either a masterpiece of Brazilian modernism or a concrete doughnut on a beach depending on who you ask, and is in any case the thing that makes this coastline recognisable. The beachfront runs through Tambau, Cabo Branco and Manaira: a long, clean, well lit urban promenade with a cycle lane, which is where the city actually spends its evenings.
THE CITY IS GENUINELY GREEN AND THE REASON IS A FOREST INSIDE IT. Joao Pessoa is often described as one of the greenest cities in the world, a claim that gets repeated without a source and that this post will not make. What is verifiable is better: the MATA DO BURAQUINHO, around 470 hectares of Atlantic Forest with a botanical garden in it, sits in the middle of the urban area, which is one of the largest urban remnants of that forest anywhere. The Atlantic Forest has lost the great majority of its original extent, so a surviving block of it inside a capital city is a real thing rather than a slogan.
AND THE SUNSET AT JACARE IS A RITUAL, NOT A VIEW. On the Paraiba river at Jacare, a saxophonist plays Ravel's Bolero from a boat as the sun goes down, timed to finish as it touches the water, every evening, to a flotilla and a shoreline of people. It has been going for decades. It sounds like the most contrived thing imaginable and it is genuinely moving, and it is the single most distinctive hour in this city.
THE REEF POOLS AND THE WORKING BEACH. At low tide, boats run out to PICAOZINHO and AREIA VERMELHA, natural pools on the reef a kilometre or so offshore where you stand in clear warm water over coral with fish around your legs. Both are tide-dependent, so the schedule is set by the moon rather than by the operator. The third image is the other half of this coast: fishermen working nets off the sand, which is still an ordinary morning here.
When to Go
September to February is the dry season and the best window: hot, bright, with the reef pools at their clearest and the sea around 27 degrees.
MARCH TO JULY IS THE RAINY SEASON, WHICH IS THE INVERSE OF MOST OF BRAZIL and the single most common planning error for the north east coast. It is not a washout, but it is heavy intermittent rain, cloudier water and poorer visibility on the reef.
Temperatures barely move all year, sitting between about 24 and 31 degrees, because this is seven degrees south of the equator. There is no cold season and nothing to plan around except the rain and the tide.
Carnival and the June festas fill the city, and the June Sao Joao celebrations in the Paraiba interior, at Campina Grande, are among the largest in Brazil.
Getting There
Presidente Castro Pinto airport is about twenty minutes from the beachfront with domestic connections through Recife, Salvador, Sao Paulo and Rio, plus some seasonal international flights.
RECIFE IS TWO HOURS SOUTH BY ROAD and has far more flights, so arriving there and driving or taking a coach up is a common and sensible route. Natal is about three hours north, which makes a north eastern coastal trip straightforward.
The beachfront is walkable end to end and the historic centre is not within walking distance of it. Use taxis or a ride app between the two, which is also what the safety advice below recommends after dark. There is no passenger rail of use to a visitor.
The Joao Pessoa Packing List
Equatorial sun, constant heat and humidity, reef and rock in the water, and a rainy season that is not summer.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a lightweight long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is a better choice at this latitude than people assume, for two reasons that have nothing to do with warmth: it blocks sun on a boat or a long promenade walk, and it does not develop a smell in heat and humidity the way cotton does within hours, which matters on a trip where you will change more often than you planned.
A long sun hoodie is the most important item here. Seven degrees south means the sun is close to vertical at midday and the ultraviolet index is extreme for much of the year, and the reef trips put you in open water with no shade for hours. Sleeves are the only protection that works all day.
A wide brim sun hat and an insulated water bottle, because heat illness here is a dehydration problem first and the promenade offers more coconut sellers than water fountains.
A quick dry travel towel, which on a reef-pool morning is wet, packed and wanted again within the hour.
Walking shoes with grip for the historic centre, which is cobbled and steep in places, and for the Cabo Branco headland.
Insect repellent, and in Brazil this is a DAYTIME measure, which is the point most visitors get wrong: the mosquito that carries dengue, chikungunya and Zika bites by day.
Not linked and worth packing: WATER SHOES OR REEF SHOES, which matter more here than at any other destination in this batch because the pools are coral and rock and a cut on live reef in warm water infects readily, and we hold no footwear of that kind we are prepared to recommend; A DRY BAG for the boat; CASH IN REAIS for the beach kiosks, the boats and the centre; AND LIGHT LONG SLEEVES AND TROUSERS FOR THE EVENING, which help with both mosquitoes and the air conditioning.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Joao Pessoa
Emergency numbers: 190 for police, 192 for ambulance and 193 for fire, all free from any phone, with 193 also reaching the fire service for a water rescue. Paraiba has a tourist support structure through the state tourism police, and any insurance claim will need a police report.
THE FCDO HAS A SECTION ON NORTH-EAST BRAZIL AND THIS CITY IS IN IT, WHICH MAKES IT THE OPERATIVE ADVICE RATHER THAN BACKGROUND. It names THEFT FROM HOTEL AND MOTEL ROOMS and MUGGINGS, and it advises TAKING TAXIS AFTER SUNSET RATHER THAN WALKING and AVOIDING QUIET OR DESERTED AREAS. Applied to this city specifically, that means three habits. Use the hotel safe and do not leave a passport, cash or a laptop in a room, because the named risk is theft from inside the room rather than from the street. Move between the beachfront and the historic centre by taxi or ride app rather than on foot, particularly after dark, because the centre is a working downtown that empties completely in the evening and is the clearest example here of a quiet or deserted area. And keep to the lit, busy stretch of the promenade in the evening rather than the dark gaps between the beach districts. THIS IS NOT A WARNING AGAINST THE CITY. Joao Pessoa is widely regarded as one of the calmer north eastern capitals and the beachfront is genuinely pleasant at night; it is a warning that the FCDO wrote with this region in mind and that therefore deserves following rather than skimming.
ON SHARKS, THE GEOGRAPHY MATTERS AND THE WARNING DOES NOT REACH HERE. Brazil's well known shark attack problem is at RECIFE, about 120km south in Pernambuco, and especially Boa Viagem beach, where changes to the port and the local river mouths are implicated and where swimming is restricted and signposted. That is a different city on a different stretch of coast. There is no equivalent advisory for the Joao Pessoa beaches, and the reef offshore here breaks the swell rather than funnelling anything in. A reader who has read about Brazilian sharks should have the geography rather than a vague reassurance.
WHAT THE WATER DOES REQUIRE IS TIDE AND REEF SENSE. The reef pools exist only at low tide and the boats run to the tide table, so the schedule is not negotiable and a boatman waiting for you is a boatman watching water return. Live coral cuts easily and cuts in warm tropical water infect readily, so footwear and a hand off the reef are the whole of it. Rip currents form at the gaps in the reef line. AND THE SUN IS THE MOST RELIABLE CAUSE OF A RUINED TRIP HERE, at seven degrees south with no cloud for months.
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.
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.
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.
Main hospital: The Hospital de Emergencia e Trauma Senador Humberto Lucena is the state's main emergency and trauma hospital and is the place serious cases go, and the Hospital Universitario Lauro Wanderley is the federal university hospital in the city. Private hospitals in the beach districts will want payment or an insurance guarantee up front. Dial 192 for an ambulance. 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. Paraiba sits in a region with recurring dengue epidemics, so the daytime repellent habit above is the single most useful health measure on this trip.
Official health authority: the Brazilian Ministry of Health. covers the national health service and the current dengue situation, which varies sharply by state and season
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Brasilia.
Official tourism authority: Visit Brasil, the national tourism board. covers Brazil nationally, and the state and municipal tourism offices publish the Picaozinho and Areia Vermelha tide windows, which decide whether a reef trip is possible on a given day
Takeaways
Ponta do Seixas is the easternmost point of the Americas. The sun arrives here first.
The rainy season is March to July, which is the opposite of most of Brazil.
The FCDO's north east advice applies here: hotel safe, taxis after dark.
The shark problem is Recife, 120km south. It is not this coast.
Solo women safety assessment: Joao Pessoa is one of the calmer north eastern Brazilian capitals and it is a comfortable place to travel alone, with one set of habits that is not optional because the FCDO wrote its advice with this region specifically in mind. The beachfront through Tambau, Cabo Branco and Manaira is lit, busy with walkers, runners and families well into the evening, and eating alone there is completely ordinary. THE NORTH-EAST BRAZIL SECTION NAMES THEFT FROM HOTEL AND MOTEL ROOMS AND MUGGINGS, and advises taking taxis after sunset rather than walking and avoiding quiet or deserted areas. In practice that means using the hotel safe rather than leaving documents in the room, moving between the beach and the historic centre by taxi or ride app rather than on foot, and especially not walking the centre in the evening, when a working downtown empties out entirely. Nationally, the FCDO adds that robberies are common and particularly on buses, names the window between four and nine in the evening, says attackers may be armed and that the advice is NOT TO RESIST, and calls out beach theft including the arrastao, so take nothing to the sand you would mind losing and do not use the beach after dark. The shark warnings a reader may have encountered concern Recife, 120km south, and not this coast. THE PHYSICAL RISKS ARE SUN, TIDE AND REEF: ultraviolet at seven degrees south is extreme, the reef pools are governed by the tide table rather than by convenience, coral cuts infect readily in warm water, and currents run through the gaps in the reef. Dengue is carried by a day-biting mosquito, which makes repellent a daytime habit and the most useful health measure here. 190 REACHES POLICE, 192 AMBULANCE AND 193 FIRE AND WATER RESCUE, and the state trauma hospital is in the city.
Reading On
Joao Pessoa sits in the middle of a north eastern coast this library covers from both ends. The Recife packing list covers the capital two hours south, which is the usual gateway and the city whose swimming restrictions are discussed above, and the Praia da Pipa packing list covers the small beach town a couple of hours north that is the quiet alternative to a capital. Further up the coast, the Fortaleza packing list covers the big Ceara city and the Jericoacoara packing list the dune village beyond it, while the Fernando de Noronha packing list covers the archipelago off this coast with the best diving in Brazil. South, the Rio de Janeiro packing list and the Sao Paulo packing list cover the two cities most visitors connect through. For the country, the Brazil travel guide for women carries the regions, the transport and the seasons in full. For why wool suits equatorial heat better than people expect, 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.
