Ubatuba is a municipality of about 92,000 people on the northern coast of Sao Paulo state, and its claim is quantity: somewhere around a hundred beaches along roughly a hundred kilometres of coast, from long surf strands to coves you reach on foot through forest. The first image is one of the latter, seen from inside a sea cave. Behind all of it the SERRA DO MAR rises almost straight out of the sea, covered in Atlantic Forest, which is what makes this coast beautiful and also what makes it wet.
AND IT IS VERY WET, WHICH IS THE ONE THING TO KNOW BEFORE BOOKING. The escarpment forces moist Atlantic air straight up, and Ubatuba receives something in the order of two to three metres of rain a year, among the highest in inhabited Brazil. BRAZILIANS CALL IT UBACHUVA, chuva meaning rain, and they are not being unkind. A week here in January will include rain. Plan for it rather than being surprised by it.
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What Is Here
THE BEACHES DIVIDE INTO THREE KINDS AND CHOOSING WRONG IS THE USUAL MISTAKE. The big surf beaches in the south, Itamambuca, Vermelha do Norte and Maranduba among them, have waves, kiosks and crowds. The town beaches are convenient and unremarkable. And the ones people actually come for are the small northern coves toward the Rio de Janeiro border, PRAIA DA FORTALEZA, PICINGUABA and the walk-in beaches beyond, which take effort and reward it. Decide which kind you want before choosing where to stay, because the coast is a hundred kilometres long and the road is slow.
THE ATLANTIC FOREST HERE IS THE REAL THING AND IT IS PROTECTED. The Serra do Mar state park is the largest remnant of Atlantic Forest in Brazil, and in Ubatuba it comes down to the beach: waterfalls a few minutes from the sand, trails through genuine rainforest, and wildlife including howler monkeys and toucans. The NUCLEO PICINGUABA section in the north is the best access point.
THE SECOND IMAGE IS THE TOWN AND IT IS THE ONLY BUILT FRAME IN THIS LIBRARY'S SET. Said plainly. Ubatuba town is a working Brazilian coastal town rather than a colonial jewel, with a small historic core around the square, and the honest reason to be in it is supermarkets, restaurants and the bus station.
PROJETO TAMAR IS WORTH AN HOUR AND IS NOT AN AQUARIUM. The national sea turtle conservation programme has a base here with tanks, a small museum and genuine research behind it, and the turtles in it are mostly recovering rather than displayed. On some beaches there are marked nesting areas in season, which is the reason for the rules below about lights and vehicles.
THE THIRD IMAGE IS THE ROCK AND THE SWELL, which is the other half of this coast: headlands between the beaches, waves on granite, and the surf that makes Itamambuca a Brazilian championship beach.
When to Go
April to September is the drier half and the better visit, with less rain, clearer water, cooler air in the low to mid twenties and far fewer people.
December to March is the Brazilian summer, the wettest period and the busiest, hot and humid with heavy afternoon rain, the beaches full and the Rio-Santos road slow. It is also when the sea is warmest.
The coast empties on weekdays outside the holidays and fills every weekend, because Sao Paulo is close enough for a two-day trip. A midweek visit is a different and much quieter destination.
Temperatures stay between about 18 and 30 degrees all year. There is no cold season, only a wet one and a less wet one.
Getting There
There is no airport and no train, and the road is the whole story. Sao Paulo is about three and a half to four hours by road, Rio de Janeiro around four and a half, and Sao Jose dos Campos two. Coaches run from Sao Paulo's Tiete terminal.
THE RIO-SANTOS HIGHWAY IS THE ONLY ROAD AND IT IS PRONE TO LANDSLIDES, which is covered in the safety section: it runs along the base of a wet, steep, forested escarpment, and in heavy summer rain sections close. Allow for that rather than planning a tight connection on a rainy day.
Once here you need a car or you will see very little. The beaches are strung over a hundred kilometres, local buses are infrequent, and the coves in the north are a long way from the town.
The Ubatuba Packing List
Very heavy rain, high humidity, strong sun between the showers, and forest trails to the beaches.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a lightweight long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is unusually well matched to this destination, and the reason is the wet: in two to three metres of annual rainfall you will be damp repeatedly, and wool keeps working while damp where cotton goes cold and stays cold and begins to smell within a day in this humidity. On a forest trail to a cove in the rain that is the difference between comfortable and miserable.
A Marmot PreCip Eco rain jacket is the single most important item on this list and is not a contingency item here. Pack it first.
A long sun hoodie for the hours between the showers, which at this latitude are fierce, and for the open surf beaches where there is no shade.
An insulated water bottle and a quick dry travel towel, the second of which earns its name here more than anywhere else in this batch: nothing cotton dries.
Walking shoes with grip are essential rather than optional, because the walk-in beaches are reached by forest trails that are rooty, muddy and steep, and the rock between beaches is slick.
Insect repellent, applied by DAY as well as at dusk for the reason in the health note below, and heavily, because wet Atlantic Forest is the most mosquito-rich environment in this batch.
Not linked and worth packing: DRY BAGS, plural, for anything that must stay dry, which in this climate is a real planning item rather than a nicety; A SECOND PAIR OF SHOES, because the first pair will be wet; REEF OR WATER SHOES for the rocky entries; AND CASH IN REAIS for the beach kiosks and the park entries.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Ubatuba
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 and for the beach lifeguards, the GUARDA-VIDAS, who are part of the Sao Paulo fire service here.
THE SEA ON THIS COAST DROWNS PEOPLE AND THE BEACHES ARE NOT EQUIVALENT. The open southern surf beaches carry strong rip currents and a heavy shore break, and the sheltered northern coves largely do not, which is a distinction worth asking about rather than guessing: a beach with waves at Itamambuca is a different proposition from Praia da Fortaleza on the same afternoon. Swim where the lifeguards are and between their flags, and if you are caught in a current swim PARALLEL to the beach until the pull releases rather than fighting straight in. THE RAIN IS THE OTHER HAZARD AND IT IS A GEOLOGICAL ONE. This is a steep, wet, forested escarpment, and heavy rain brings LANDSLIDES AND ROCKFALL onto the Rio-Santos highway and onto forest trails, with sections of road closing in the summer. Do not walk forest trails during or immediately after very heavy rain, do not drive the coast road at night in a storm, and treat a road closure as the end of the day's plan rather than something to find a way around. RIVERS AND WATERFALLS RISE FAST for the same reason, so a pool at the bottom of a waterfall is a poor place to be when it is raining upstream. ON TURTLES, nesting beaches are marked in season and the rules are not decorative: no lights on the sand at night, no vehicles, and keep clear of marked nests. ON CRIME, Ubatuba is a Sao Paulo coastal town and the FCDO's named city sections do not include it; the national advice below applies, and its realistic application is the beach, where taking nothing you would mind losing is the whole of it, and the coach journey in and out.
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: Ubatuba has a municipal hospital with an emergency department, and the larger hospitals are in CARAGUATATUBA about an hour south and SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS about two hours inland over the mountains, with the mountain road the complication rather than the distance. 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. This coast sits in a region with recurring dengue epidemics and the wet forest makes it worse, 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 municipal tourism office publishes the beach and trail information and the Serra do Mar park access points, which close in heavy rain
Takeaways
Two to three metres of rain a year. Locals call it Ubachuva. Pack the shell first.
A hundred beaches over a hundred kilometres. You need a car.
Heavy rain closes the only road and loosens the trails. Change the plan.
Surf beaches south, sheltered coves north. Choose before you book.
Solo women safety assessment: Ubatuba is a straightforward place to travel alone with ordinary Brazilian care. It is a Sao Paulo coastal town whose visitors are overwhelmingly Brazilian families and surfers, the town and the main beaches are busy and lit, and eating alone at a beach kiosk or in town is entirely ordinary. The FCDO's named city sections do not include this coast, so the national advice is the operative guidance: theft is the realistic risk, robberies are common and particularly on buses, the named window is between four and nine in the evening, attackers may be armed and THE ADVICE IS NOT TO RESIST, and beach theft including the arrastao is called out, so take nothing to the sand you would mind losing and do not use the beach after dark. THE REAL RISKS HERE ARE WATER AND RAIN. The open surf beaches in the south carry strong rip currents and a heavy shore break while the northern coves largely do not, so ask rather than assume, swim between the lifeguards' flags, and if caught swim parallel to the shore. The rain is a geological hazard and not just an inconvenience: this is a steep wet forested escarpment, heavy rain brings landslides and rockfall onto the single coast road and onto the forest trails, and rivers and waterfalls rise fast, so do not walk trails during or straight after heavy rain and treat a road closure as the end of the plan. If you reach a walk-in cove, you may be alone there, so tell somebody where you are going. Dengue is carried by a day-biting mosquito and the wet forest makes it worse. 190 REACHES POLICE, 192 AMBULANCE AND 193 FIRE, WATER RESCUE AND THE LIFEGUARDS.
Reading On
Ubatuba sits on the Costa Verde and this library covers the coast either side of it. The Paraty packing list covers the colonial port about two hours north east on the same forested coast, which is the obvious pairing and a completely different kind of place, and the Rio de Janeiro packing list covers the city at the far end of it. Inland, the Sao Paulo packing list covers the city four hours away that fills these beaches every weekend, and the Campos do Jordao packing list the mountain town in the same state where winter is the high season. Further up the coast, the Arraial do Cabo packing list covers water that is clear because it is cold, and the Cabo Frio packing list the larger resort town beside it. South, the Florianopolis packing list covers the island city of Santa Catarina. For the country, the Brazil travel guide for women carries the regions, the transport and the seasons in full. For why wool is the right layer in two metres of annual rain, 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.
