There's a kind of beach in Brazil that doesn't appear on Google Maps. It's the one a fisherman pointed you toward, or a friend's cousin's pousada owner mentioned over breakfast, or you only found because you took the wrong turn off a sand road in Ceará. The country has 7,491 km of coastline, which means there are easily a thousand of these — and a lifetime isn't quite enough to find them all.
What follows is ten we keep coming back to. None of them are secret in the strict sense. But all of them require a bit of work — a buggy ride, a hike, a tide table consulted twice. That's exactly why they stay the way they are.
1. Lagoinha do Leste, Florianópolis
Forty-five minutes downhill through Atlantic forest, and suddenly you're on a perfect crescent of empty sand. There's no road, no kiosk, no signal. Bring water, bring a snack, and don't underestimate the hike back up.
2. Praia do Sancho, Fernando de Noronha
Yes, it's been voted the world's best beach more than once. No, that hasn't ruined it. You descend through a vertical crack in the volcanic rock on a metal ladder. At the bottom: emerald water, basking sea turtles, basalt headlands rising on either side.
3. Praia do Espelho, Bahia
South of Trancoso, low tide reveals the natural pools that give the beach its name — "mirror beach," because the water flattens into a sheet you can walk across. Eat at one of the half-dozen barracas, then nap under a coconut tree.
Brazilian beach time isn't measured in hours. It's measured in low tide, high tide, lunch, and the moment the sun stops being unreasonable.
4. Praia da Conceição, Atins
The dunes of Lençóis Maranhenses spill directly into the Atlantic here. You can walk for an hour and not pass another soul. Kite-surfers come for the wind; everyone else comes because it doesn't feel like anywhere else on the planet.
5. Praia de Carro Quebrado, Alagoas
The name means "broken-down car beach" — supposedly because that's the only way anyone could get here historically. Today: red cliffs, jangada sailboats, almost no infrastructure. Take a buggy from Barra de Santo Antônio.
6. Joatinga, Rio de Janeiro
Yes, in the city. Access is through a residential gate at the end of a street in the bairro of the same name. Check the tide tables — the beach disappears at high tide. Sunset only, with locals who clap when the sky turns orange.
7. Praia do Madeiro, Pipa
Dolphins come into the bay at low tide and you can swim alongside them. Stay at the top of the cliff for breakfast, walk down the wooden steps, spend the day.
8. Praia da Galheta, Florianópolis
Clothing-optional, walk-in only. The walk keeps the crowds away — the result is a wild arc of sand backed by dense Mata Atlântica. No vendors, no music, just you and the Atlantic.
9. Praia de Antunes, Maragogi
The "Brazilian Caribbean" gets its reputation here. At low tide, boats take you to the galés — natural reef pools two kilometers offshore where the water is glass-clear and waist-deep.
10. Praia do Felix, Ubatuba
Reached by a forest trail that opens onto a wide perfect bay. Surfable break on the right, calm pools on the left. There's one restaurant. Order the moqueca.
Before you go
A few things we wish someone had told us. Sunscreen sold near tourist beaches is often counterfeit — buy it in town. Tide tables (tábua de marés) matter; some of these beaches halve in size at high water. Carry small bills in Brazilian reais — most barracas don't take cards.
And — the obvious one — pack out what you bring in. The reason these beaches still look like this is the people who came before you cared.
Marina Costa is from Florianópolis. She writes about the South Atlantic coast and runs a small kite-surf school in Atins.
