Recife / Olinda / Boa Viagem

The Great Brazilian Road Trip Continues!

Next up: Recife, Olinda, and Boa Viagem

Insta-ready in Recife

Our adventure takes us into the state of Pernambuco.

Recife

Depending on the source, Recife is either the fourth or fifth largest city in Brazil. This makes it a great place to catch a flight (international or domestic) or take care of “big city” business like visa extensions, iPhone repair, or god forbid, a hospital visit.

Cais Rooftop (top right), the Sertão Musuem (bottom left)

Aside from having the conveniences of a large city, Recife also has some historic and cultural value. If you have time to spare, we recommend spending an afternoon in Recife Antigo (Historic Recife). Here you’ll find museums for Frevo (a colorful carnival dance) and the Sertão (a drought-prone interior region), the latter of which was our favorite. For the Instagrammers among us, the “RECIFE” sign is a “must see.” We recommend watching the sun set with a glass of wine and/or tasty snack at the Cais Rooftop Lounge Bar which overlooks the historic neighborhood on one side and the weird-and-wonderful water sculpture garden on the other.

Most of Recife Antigo's "Must See" Places are in the red rectangle

Recife Antigo is home to many buildings of historical significance but we were sad to see that many of them were run-down. The streets are not very well kept and, even in broad daylight, we felt uncomfortable spending too much time in one place. Luckily, the historic area is relatively small with almost all of the “must see” places packed within in a few blocks. Depending on the timing of your visit, you should have no trouble parking and walking to see everything in a single afternoon. Note that several of the museums are only open Thursday thru Sunday, and many close at 4pm.

Apparently, outside of pandemic times, Recife Antigo is host to some spectacular Carnival Celebrations which start around December and last until late February.

Olinda

Legend has it that “Olinda” got its name from one of the first Portuguese explorers to visit. He climbed a hill overlooking the bay and, when he got to the top, he exclaimed “Oh, linda” (“Oh, beautiful!”). Centuries later, we’d have to agree with his assessment.

Vitor and Philippa posing in Olinda

Olinda sits directly across the bay from Recife Antigo. The two towns are roughly 20 minutes’ drive apart, and they’ve been in close competition for hundreds of years. Although Recife eventually gained economic dominance, Olinda is winning on the historic tourism front. Unlike Recife Antigo, Olinda is well-loved and it shows. It’s the sort of place we could have easily spent the whole day, taking pictures and exploring one historic building after the next. Olinda is also known for its artisans who provide many examples of local talent for those looking to buy or just browse.

The historic section of Olinda essentially has one entry and one exit point by car. As we pulled into the entry point, our car was waved down by a group of local guides. It seems this is not an uncommon practice in Brazil. We decided to hire one of the guys brave enough to jump in front of our moving vehicle and didn’t regret it. He was incredibly knowledgeable about the area and it made our time in Olinda much more enjoyable than our free-form exploration in Recife Antigo. We ended up spending 3 hours together before we ran out of daylight.

Due to pandemic restrictions, all restaurants in Olinda must close by 6:00pm. Since we got a late start on the day, we were unable to have dinner after our tour but decided to come back the following day for a bite to eat with an incredible view. The food was surprisingly good and we highly recommend it, if you have time.

Also worth noting that, outside of pandemic times, Olinda also hosts Carnival Celebrations. During our travels elsewhere, we ran into some Pernambuco locals who proudly told us that Carnival in Olinda is the best in Brazil because it's the most egalitarian; there are no sponsors and no tickets to buy... just thousands of people celebrating together in the streets. Sadly, Olinda has cancelled Carnival for 2021 but, if you visit in 2022 (or later), it sounds like a party that can't be missed.

Boa Viagem

With plenty of bars, restaurants, and high-rises right up to the beach, Boa Viagem is definitely the trendy part of town. Although we rented an apartment in this sub-city/ neighborhood of Recife, we didn’t explore as much of it as we originally planned.

Boa Viagem Beach - the reef is visible over my shoulder

Boa Viagem’s main claim to fame is the beach creatively called “Praia de Boa Viagem.” Many of our Brazilian friends and family warned us that Recife in general, but Boa Viagem specifically, is the shark attack capital of Brazil. The blogs suggested we would be fine as long as we stayed “inside the reef.” In my mind, I imagined that the reef must be out to sea, or, at the very least, swimming distance away from the shore. As it turns out, the reef is barely off shore and was clearly visible when we visited during low tide. This made me uneasy.

Boa Viagem Reef in green (Best Guess)

We visited Praia de Boa Viagem around 4:30 in the afternoon. By then, the sun was already behind the high-rises along the beach which created an early evening atmosphere. Many folks had already gone home for the day, although a few were lingering with others walking the beach with their dogs. There were two men just to the left of the reef, standing in water up to their waists. About 10 minutes after we arrived, a woman sprinted down the beach from the lifeguard station to the edge of the water. Waving her arms at the men she shouted: “Tuburão!” and made the sign of a fin above her head. The men didn’t waste any time exiting the water. This made me certain I would never venture into the water myself.

For reference, in the image to the left, we are the blue dot. The men were directly in front of us, and I've drawn a green line where I think the reef is.

Overall:

If we had to do it over again, we would spend 1 full day in the Recife/Olinda/ Boa Viagem area. We’d spend the morning and early afternoon in Olinda before heading to the Sertão Museum and then catching the sunset in Recife Antigo. Unless we were staying there, we’d skip Boa Viagem entirely. Although the beach was nice for an “urban beach,” there are much better beaches further up and down the coast with far fewer sharks.

Recife Antigo, Olinda, and Boa Viagem