The North Littoral of Sao Paulo State in Brazil is composed by the cities of Ubatuba, Caraguatatuba, Sao Sebatiao, Ilhabela e Bertioga. But as for people living in Santos - I used to be one of them - "ir pro Litoral" tranlates as "go to the littoral" (as we weren't there already... go figure). That phrase means "Litoral Norte" that is mostly the beaches along Bertioga and Sao Sebastiao. Ilhabela only if one stretches a bit this very "santista" (how people born in Santos is called) concept.
On the way to Ilhabela
On our way to Ilhabela (see
previous post), we passed by loads of beautiful beaches. Some of them I've never been to, so we narrowed the choices to those ones. We decided to chose one to stay later, after Ilhabela.
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| Guaeca Beach |
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| Toque Toque Grande Beach |
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| Toque Toque Grande Beach |
Small, rustic... Perfect! We liked it a lot and agreed to put in our long "Places To Go Back" list.
Yankee: Maybe we'll put this list on the site -- so many places to see...
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| Toque Toque Grande Beach |
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| Barequecaba Beach |
We ended up choosing Camburi Beach to stay as a central point to explore the area. Perhaps, because I have always been a little bewitched by this name. Or just because we found a lovely pousada (guesthouse) over there to compensate for the rustic lodging we experienced in Ilhabela.
We loved Camburi so much that there is a
post entirely for it.
Baleia Beach
While in Camburi, we went to visit Baleia Beach, 1.6 miles away. We got quite disappointed. The beach itself is pretty, but the whole thing is lined with ridiculously big houses in big, gated communities.
Yankee: I saw big signs for 5 and 6 bedroom places. Maybe people bring their extended family there each weekend for sun?
Even though there is no way to park the car as it is not allowed at the side of the road, we stopped for a couple of minutes just to be able to check the looks of the beach.
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| Baleia Beach - probably the best entrance, where you can have an idea about the beach, assuming you manage to park the car.. |
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| Baleia Beach - the weather wasn't that great, but it is a pretty beach. |
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| Baleia Beach - the way we like, almost empty, but yeahhh, no sun as well... and we have to go back to the car irregularly parked. |
Barra do Sahy
Leaving Baleia Beach we headed to Barra do Sahy, a really stunning beach. The weather by that time was slightly better, and it managed to add some colours in that stubborn grey...
Yankee: The spell checker keeps highlighting the British spellings of "color" and "flavor", etc, but I'm not editing BritBra's use of the Queen's English.
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| Barra do Sahy |
There is this big sandy bank on the left side where the river encounters the sea, forming an interesting natural feature.
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| Barra do Sahy's interesting sand bank |
No need to say, that for the kids, that little pool created by the sand bank was a blast. In my opinion, this is the way that kids can enjoy the beach, as this beach is pretty much like the other ones around: good for very experienced swimmers and surfer dudes.
Yankee: Yeah, you don't want to get too far out in the bigger waves, but there is plenty of room to enjoy knee to waist-high water.
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| Barra do Sahy |
After chilling out in this lovely scenery, we went for a walking along the shore towards the right side of the beach. Our goal was to find the path to reach the Natural Pool.
It wasn't the easiest walking, but after feeling that we were into the jungle (again!) we reached a place with the most amazing view.
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| Barra do Sahy Natural Pool |
Not long after we had arrived we spotted a turtle. Apparently this place is very appreciated by turtles. I can understand why...
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| Barra do Sahy Natural Pool - turtle viewing |
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| Barra do Sahy Natural Pool |
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| Barra do Sahy - coming back from the Natural Pool |
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| Splash! Being in the right place at the right time. |
Maresias
Probably Maresias is the beach with the best infrastructure around. Nice bars, condos, lively night life, very sought after mainly by people living in Sao Paulo city.
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| Maresias Beach |
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| Maresias Beach |
We stopped in Maresias for lunch both on our way to and from Ilhabela. The first time was on a Monday, and it was very quiet. The place we have been advised to eat was closed so we decided to try the
Kanaloa Restaurant. Just a few tables occupied, a lot of space between them, well, perfect in pandemic times!
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| Kanaloa Restaurant - Yankee could enjoy a cold beer (Oh-Oh, my time to drive) |
Yankee: The beer glass was small, but the bottle was large. Nothing like a cold beer by the beach.
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| BritBra: Salmon & Mushroom Risotto |
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| Yankee: Seafood Risotto |
Perfect place! The food was amazing, very attentive staff and this stunning view!! Good way to start a mini holiday!!
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| Kanaloa Restaurant |
Our second time in Maresias was the Friday just after. A little busier, more traffic. Apparently people decided to do home office in a more idyllic place. Fair enough.
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| Maresias Beach |
This time we managed to find the
Bar Os Alemao open. Nice open space, beautiful view and with more people eating.
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Bar Os Alemao
 | | Bar entrance |
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| Bar Os Alemao |
Our food, Oriental Sauce Squid and Ceviche took a lot while to arrive. (The Caprese salad was the last one to arrive, go figure.) The service was not good at all, confused waiters, long wait for drinks and food. I had better experience ages (put ages on that) ago and was quite expecting to find that again.
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| Bar Os Alemao - Delicious Ceviche |
Yankee: There was a lot of food, and it was overall quite good. The leftover squid was great that evening with pasta.
Next time here, we may go somewhere else. But, maybe they'll get the service issues fixed, and well, the view is always amazing!!
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| Maresias Beach |
We always want to be amazed by the force of the nature. So, this littoral is the place. There is so much more to see, enjoy and taste... we will definitely come back.
Yankee: We spent four days in this area, most of it in Camburi. Read about that here.
Bye and see you soon!
