Maceió
Capital Of Alagoas, A Beach City Of Turquoise Water And Reef Pools, Gateway To The Costa Dos Corais · Maceió, Alagoas
Maceió is the capital of Alagoas, a city strung along a coast where offshore reefs turn the sea a clear green and turquoise. In the urban beaches of Pajuçara and Ponta Verde the water is usually calm behind the reef, and at low tide traditional sailing rafts called jangadas take visitors about two kilometres out to natural pools on the reef to swim among fish. The city is a base for day trips along the coast: Praia do Francês and the old town of Marechal Deodoro to the south, the Gunga beach and its coloured cliffs, Barra de São Miguel, and to the north the long Costa dos Corais towards Maragogi. Behind the city lies the Mundaú lagoon, home to the sururu mussel and to the lacemakers of Pontal da Barra, known for filé lace. The city also has a serious problem: decades of rock-salt mining by the company Braskem under the Pinheiro district and neighbouring areas caused the ground to sink and crack, and thousands of residents had to leave their homes. Most visitors stay on the seafront, far from those areas.
Pajuçara and Ponta Verde, Maceió, AL, Maceió, Alagoas, Brazil
Beaches are open at all times, but the tide, not the clock, runs a visit here. The trips to the Pajuçara natural pools only work at low tide, so jangada departures change every day and some days have no good low tide at a convenient hour; check the tide table and ask the jangadeiros or your hotel the day before. Buggy and van tours to the south and north coast leave in the morning and return late afternoon, and are also timed to the tides for beaches such as Gunga and the Maragogi pools, where boat trips may be limited by a daily visitor cap - book ahead in high season. Beach kiosks and barracas mostly open from mid-morning to late afternoon, with fewer open on weekdays out of season. The craft market at Pajuçara runs daily, busiest in the evening. The city's small museums keep short weekday hours and may close on Mondays. The rainy months, roughly April to July, can cancel boat trips after heavy rain muddies the water.