This post is also on: Português English
Tourist destinations in the Northeast of Brazil are renowned for their natural and cultural diversity, offering a perfect combination of paradisiacal beaches, lush landscapes, and rich historical heritage.
The culture of the Northeast is one of the richest and most diverse in Brazil, with a vibrant mix of indigenous, African, and European traditions.
The Northeast is renowned for its folklore, cuisine, music, and popular festivals, which reflect the history and resilience of its people. Cultural manifestations such as forró, frevo, maracatu, and xaxado have become national symbols, while festivals such as São João and the Olinda Carnival attract crowds of tourists every year.
In addition to its vibrant culture, the Northeast is one of Brazil’s most important tourist destinations. Its natural beauty includes paradisiacal beaches such as Fernando de Noronha, Porto de Galinhas, and Jericoacoara, as well as spectacular rock formations and waterfalls such as Chapada Diamantina.
The north-eastern hinterland, with its semi-arid climate, also has its charms, offering unique landscapes and traditions rooted in rural life.
With historic cities such as Olinda, São Luís, and Salvador, the Northeast has a vast architectural, artistic, and religious heritage that tells the story of Brazil since colonization. The churches, mansions, and cobbled streets of these places, combined with the hospitality of the Northeastern people, make the region an unmissable destination where history, culture, and nature intertwine in a fascinating way.
Video – Main Tourist Destinations in the Northeast
Tourist Destinations in Northeast of Brazil
The most popular beaches are:
- Arraial d’Ajuda and Morro de São Paulo in Bahia
- Atalaia and Pirambu in Sergipe
- Pajuçara and Maragogi in Alagoas
- Porto de Galinhas and Itamaracá in Pernambuco
- Cabedelo and Tambaba in Paraíba
- Genipabu and Pipa in Rio Grande do Norte
- Jericoacoara and Canoa Quebrada in Ceará
- Coqueiro and Pedra do Sal in Piauí
- Curupu and Atins in Maranhão
- Tambaba on the coast of Paraíba was the first official naturist beach in the northeast.
Tourist Attractions in the Northeast
Culture in the northeast is also a major attraction for tourists, as all the states have different folklore and traditions.
Olinda, São Luís and the Pelourinho (Salvador), are the region’s major cultural attractions and are considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
The Carnival in the Northeast is one of the great attractions of the Northeast, especially in the city of Salvador and Recife.
The Salvador Carnival is the biggest popular festival on the planet and breaks records with more than 2,700,000 (two million seven hundred thousand) revellers over six days of partying.
During the Salvador carnival, dozens of Brazil’s most famous singers parade in the trios elétricos, such as Ivete Sangalo, Daniela Mercury, Cláudia Leite, Eliana and many others.
The Recife Carnival is considered the most culturally diverse in the country with its giant dolls, frevo and maracatu, as well as having the largest carnival block in the world, the Galo da Madrugada.
It is also considered the most democratic carnival in the world, as revellers don’t have to pay to play.
The archipelago of Fernando de Noronha is gaining national and world prominence. The islands are home to jumping dolphins.
Another outstanding place is the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, a complex of dunes, rivers, lagoons and mangroves.
In Bahia, you’ll find the Costa do Sauípe, Brazil’s largest tourist complex, and the Archipelago dos Abrolhos, which has an excellent area for scuba diving and free diving, as well as attractions such as the season of the humpback whales, which begins in July.
In Piauí, there are the national parks Sete Cidades, Serra das Confusões and Serra da Capivara with its rock formation and cave paintings; and its coastline is home to the Delta do Parnaíba.
Other highlights are the largest cajueiro in the world and the Forte dos Reis Magos, both in Rio Grande do Norte.
The ecotourism in the northeast is still little explored in the Northeast, but has great potential.
Even so, among the top ten ecotourism destinations in Brazil, there are four landscapes located in the region Northeast Brazil, where you can choose between islands (Archipelago of Fernando de Noronha in Pernambuco), dunes (Lençóis Maranhenses in Maranhão), high-altitude Atlantic forest (Chapada Diamantina in Bahia) and archaeology in the caatinga (Parque Nacional da Serra da Capivara in Piauí).
The culture of the northeastern region is also an attraction for tourists;
Every state in the northeast has different folklore and traditions
- Olinda, in Pernambuco, with traces of the Dutch Brazil.
- São Luís, in Maranhão, with those of Equinoctial France.
- São Cristóvão, in Sergipe, and its Praça de São Francisco, surrounded by imposing historic buildings.
- Salvador, in Bahia, with those of the political-administrative seat of Colonial Brazil.
- Porto Seguro and Santa Cruz de Cabrália, also in Bahia, with the historical marks of the arrival of the squadrons of the discovery of Brazil.
These are some of the region’s main historical and cultural attractions, the first four of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
In the bairro da Barra in Salvador, (BA), is located the Farol da Barra, one of the most famous postcards in Brazil and the most famous postcard in the Northeast.
The Barra Lighthouse in Salvador has a unique geographical location on the planet, where you can see both the sunrise and the sunset over the sea, as it occupies the apex of the peninsula on which the city stands.
The Gastronomy and Cuisine is one of the region’s great attractions
The cuisine of Bahia, the best known in Brazil (although not the most consumed) is that produced in the Recôncavo and all along the coast of Bahia.
It is based on spices with strong seasoning based on palm oil, coconut milk, ginger, pepper of various qualities and many others that are not used in the other states of Brazil.
Some of the main dishes in Bahian cuisine are Acarajé, Abará, Caruru and Vatapá.
Another cuisine with a lot of recognition is Paraíba cuisine.
Most Paraiba dishes are based on manioc and sugar cane such as tapioca, rice pudding and sweet chorizo.
Bahia has the largest percentage of the Brazilian coastline with 932 km, 12.4% of the total.
Coast of Bahia
The Bahian coastline is marked by the Baia de Todos os Santos, the largest Brazilian bay, with 1. 052 km² in size, with a depth of up to 42 meters and diving visibility of between 10 and 20 meters. Aratu Bay is an immense inlet that is home to the Port of Aratu, a shipyard, two of the ten most luxurious marinas in Latin America (Aratu Yacht Club and Marina Aratu) and the Aratu Naval Base, which is the favorite resting place of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Also notable is the Baia de Camamu, Brazil’s third largest bay. It has historical and tourist sites such as Barra Grande, Camamu and Maraú.
The Toca do Marlin hotel, the first in Latin America with a six-star rating, is located in Santa Cruz Cabrália, (BA), at a strategic and exuberant point in the nature of this region, considered one of the most beautiful on the Brazilian and American coasts.
The Costa do Sauípe, located on the coast of Bahia, is the largest tourist complex in Brazil and one of the largest in Latin America.
See more in the menu above at “Bahia Guia de Turismo” and “Nordeste Guia de Turismo”
Tourism in the Northeast – Cities and Tourist Regions