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The North Coast of Pernambuco has one of the most important historical sites in the region.

The North Coast of Pernambuco is more densely populated than the south coast, almost completely urbanised from the Metropolitan Region of Recife to the Paraíba border.

The North Coast of Pernambuco has one of the historic sites most important in the region northeast, such as the municipalities of Olinda, Itamaracá and Goiana, which began to be populated in 1508.

Buildings from the colonial period, such as Fort Orange, are much visited by tourists passing through the region.

In addition to the beaches on the north coast of Pernambuco, it is also known for having the Veneza Water Park, one of the largest water parks in Brazil, located on Marinha Farinha beach, a neighbourhood in the city of Paulista, in the metropolitan region of Recife.

The main beaches of the North Coast of Pernambuco are those of the municipalities of: Paulista (beaches of: Maria Farinha, Conceição, Pau Amarelo and Janga), Goiana (beaches of: Pontas de Pedra, Carne de Vaca, Catuama, Barra de Catuama and Atapuz), Itamaracá (beaches of: Itamaracá and Gavoa), Olinda (beaches of: Rio Doce and Casa Caiada).

View the map of Pernambuco

Tourist and historical sites of the north coast of Pernambuco

1. Igarassu
2. Goiana
3. Ilha de Itamaracá
4. Olinda

1. IGARASSU

The small town of Igarassu on the north coast of Pernambuco, listed as a historical heritage site, was founded in 1535 by Duarte Coelho’s troops.

Located about 30 kilometres north of Recife on the BR-101, the town has well-preserved houses from the 18th and 19th centuries. Among the highlights is the pinacoteca of the Franciscan convent Santo Antônio de Igarassu, built in the 18th century.

Despite the lack of care in the structure, the place offers a collection of artistic and historical value: 24 wooden panels, painted in oil in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, depicting sacred figures and historical passages, such as the ills of yellow fever that raged in 1685 in the region.

According to tradition, Igarassu survived the outbreak unscathed thanks to the protection of São Cosme and São Damião, in whose honour Duarte Coelho had a church built in 1535 (Rua Barbosa Lima, s/n).

Built of rammed earth, the church of São Cosme and São Damião was plundered by the Dutch in 1634, rebuilt in 1654 and underwent changes in the 18th century that gave it baroque features.

The paintings on the walls are almost gone. From the side, there is a touching view of the roofs of the houses of Igarassu (Rua Frei Caneca, s/n, Centre).

The church of St Anthony, inside the Franciscan convent, is the best preserved in the city.

Built with stones in 1588, it underwent renovations in the following century, as it was plundered in disputes between the Dutch and the Portuguese.

The high altar is made of cedar and has gilded paintings from the Joanine stage of the Baroque. Tile panels on the sides depict miracles and visions of the saint. The sacristy preserves an 18th-century wooden chest of drawers and a stone washbasin.

1.1. Sobrado do Imperador de Igarassu

Built between the 17th and 18th centuries, the property is one of the most notable buildings in the city’s historic centre. The sobrado was built with funds from the meat tax in the then settlement of Igarassu.

The first uses were diverse, but converged in housing institutions of official power, such as a retirement home, jail and town hall. In 1972, the Igarassu Architectural and Landscape Complex was inscribed in the Institute’s Book of Archaeological, Ethnographic and Landscape Tombs.

In the 19th century, the building underwent intense transformations.

Neoclassical ornamentation was added to the building, a style that arrived in Brazil under the influence of the French Mission in 1816 and remained dominant throughout that century.

Even with the alterations, the essence of 17th-century architecture was maintained.

These traits can be seen in the spaces permeated by games of full and empty and the conformation of the elements in stonework, which consists of blocks of rough rock carved to form geometric solids.

The name Sobrado do Imperador refers to the visit of Dom Pedro II, who was in the building on 5 December 1859, when he was travelling through the Northeast region.

The event helped to consolidate stories that the building was built in the 19th century, which is not historically accurate.

In that year, the building was only prepared to receive the monarch.

1.2. History of Igarassu

Some scholars consider Igarassu to be the first settlement centre in the country. More consensual is the title of second village to be created in Brazil, after São Vicente, in the current state of São Paulo.

The city was founded on 27 September 1535, after the Portuguese victory over the Caetés Indians.

On that occasion, Captain Afonso Gonçalves had a chapel built on the site, dedicated to Saints Cosme and Damião, which is now the oldest in Brazil.

A model of settlement that materialised Portuguese colonial administrative and religious power began to emerge on the hilltop.

The establishment of a square and a square bordered by a church, town hall, jail and other buildings with prominent properties and functions was the initial settlement structure that would be repeated in Olinda and other Brazilian cities.

There are two explanations for the origin of the name, both of which are of indigenous tradition. According to the first, the source is the Tupi terms Igara and Assu, which mean ‘canoe’ and ‘large’ respectively. Historians believe that the name came from the Indians’ exclamation of surprise at the sight of the huge Portuguese caravels.

The other possibility is that it refers to three indigenous words: Ig = water or river; Guara = aquatic bird; and Açu = big. Thus, Igarassu would mean Rio dos Grandes Pássaros (River of the Big Birds), also alluding to the boats that appeared on the coast during the early years of colonisation.

2. GOIANA

Prosperous in the sugarcane cycle, the city of Goiania on the north coast of Pernambuco is a medium-sized town, about 60 kilometres from Recife and located on the edge of the BR-101 highway, in the Zona da Mata of Pernambuco.

The city was born in the middle of the 16th century, was taken by the Dutch, served as the seat of the captaincy of Itamaracá and was the scene of the Epic of the Heroines of Tejucupapo, in which women took up arms to defend themselves against the Flemish invaders.

It is also remembered for being the first place where slavery was abolished, even before the Golden Law. The historical landmarks are in need of repair, as are the churches, which today operate at irregular hours.

The church of Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Homens Pretos is the most important, as it houses a Museum of Sacred Art with rich imagery from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Originally built in the mid-16th century, it took on Baroque features in the 17th century. Noteworthy are the images of Our Lady of Amparo and Our Lady of Milk, long repudiated by the Church for showing the breast (Rua do Rosário, s/n, Centre).

3. ITAMARACÁ ISLAND

The island of Itamaracá on the north coast of Pernambuco offers varied attractions and can complement the tour to neighbouring Iguarassu.

Itamaracá Island is about 50 kilometres from Recife (via BR-101, towards Paraíba and PE-35), Itamaracá Island is home to the restored Fort Orange, a four-pointed fortress (two overlooking the sea and two towards the island) erected by the Dutch in 1631 and later taken by the Portuguese, who renamed it the Fortress of Santa Cruz de Itamaracá and modified it, resulting in the sturdy construction you see today.

Plates in the sand explain what each corner represents – such as the place where a well built by the Dutch was found. The fort also has a 16th-century chapel and a small museum with weapons, cannonballs and porcelain (sítio Orange, s/n, Forte Orange).

At Ecoparque Peixe-Boi & Cia. there is an oceanarium with nine manatees (Trichechus manatus), open to visitors, and a rehabilitation unit of the lbama Manatee Project, closed to the public, which takes care of pups rescued from strandings and returns them to the wild.

Students of biology or oceanography give explanations about the animal. There is a screening room with documentaries, a souvenir shop and a snack bar (Estrada do Forte Orange, s/n, Forte Orange).

It is worth taking a small boat trip to Coroa do Avião, a tiny island with several bars, just to see Forte Orange from the sea – the same view that explorers had in the 16th century (Forte Orange beach).

The island of Itamaracá is also home to the cultural space Estrela de Lia, created by the cirandeira Lia de Itamaracá.

On the platform built in an open hall facing the sea, on Jaguaribe beach, there are nightly performances of ciranda led by her, as well as by guests such as Selma do Coco and Mestre Salustiano. The place has a bar where you can have a delicious lemon juice with capim-santo.

In Vila Velha, a town that arose in the 16th century and was the administrative seat of the captaincy of Itamaracá, you can see a cluster of simple masonry houses built near the old church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição (Rua João Paulo II, s/n), and ruins of what would have been the church of Nossa Senhora dos Pretos. As the site is elevated, you can see the sea, the Santa Cruz canal and the Coroa do Avião.

In colonial times, this also guaranteed a strategic view against enemy attacks – the village was invaded by Flemish troops in 1631, who would have baptised it Cidade Schoppe (entrance between km 9 and 10 of the Recife-Itamaracá road).

4. OLINDA

The historical centre of Olinda, next to the city of Recife, capital of the State of Pernambuco, dates back to the beginning of Portuguese colonisation in Brazil, in the 16th century, when it was consolidated as the seat of the Captaincy of Pernambuco, in the golden age of the sugar cane economy. The architectural, urban and landscape ensemble was listed by Iphan in 1968.

The city was recognised as a World Cultural Heritage Site by Unesco in 1982 and covers an area of 1.2 km2 and around 1,500 buildings, which bear witness to different architectural styles: colonial buildings from the 16th century harmonise with tiled façades from the 18th and 19th centuries and neoclassical and eclectic works from the early 20th century.

The exuberant vegetation of the streets, gardens, alleys, convents, with leafy fruit trees, mango trees, breadfruit, jackfruit, sapodilla and coconut trees give the site the dominant value of an urban centre framed by a green mass, under tropical light and with the beach and ocean at its feet.

The town retains its relationship with the local landscape and the sea, with the characteristics of its vernacular architecture, a cultural manifestation inherited from Portugal and adapted to the environment, and assimilated to the point of acquiring its own personality and maintaining it over time.

Travel Guide to Igarassu, Goiana, Olinda and Itamaracá Island on the North Coast of Pernambuco.