Are you planning a trip to Balneário Camboriú in the south of Brazil but is unsure what to visit and how to prepare for the trip?
On this post I will highlight the places we visited and what we did while visiting Balneário Camboriú in Santa Catarina, Brazil. These will give you some ideas of what is there to visit and if you want to include the town and attractions to your itinerary.
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My brother lives in the south of Brazil, in Pontal do Paraná and when we are in Brazil, we always go to visit.
Last April while in Paraná we went for a short trip of 5 days to Santa Catarina, another state further south of the state of Paraná. In this short time, we visited, Balneário Camboriú, Blumenau, Pomerode and Florianópolis.
We were travelling independently with a hired car as we are confident travellers and speak the language. However, if you prefer to be part of a tour and to have everything organised for you, I advise you to book a complete tour with Tourradar.
They have different kinds of tours that will fit your time and budget. If you book it via my links you can get a discount by using this code: RoseG50.
I will start on this post with our visit to Balneário Camboriú and the others will come in future posts.
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT BALNEÁRIO CAMBORIÚ
Balneário Camboriú is a coastal town in the north part of the state of Santa Catarina. It is famous in Brazil for the number of skyscrapers built on the beach edge and the reason for the nickname “Brazilian Dubai”.
It is not known for sure the meaning of its name, but some archives suggests that it means “River full of Sea bass” (Robalo in Portuguese). This fish is very common in this part of Brazil.
The indigenous Tupi-Guarani were the first ones to inhabit the area and the Europeans only came in 1758. It was later populated by a group of Germans from Itajai. The name of the town was Bom Sucesso and it was a district of Itajai becoming detached in 1884. It started being popular as a tourist destination in 1930, but the name of Balneário Camboriú was settled in 1979.
Real estate is a major economic activity, tourism the second, trade and services come after.
The town is very popular not only with Brazilians coming from São Paulo, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina itself, but also with tourists coming from Argentina, Uruguai, Paraguai and Chile.
Praia Central is the heart of Balneário Camboriú and the beach is great for swimming and sunbathing. At night it lights up with the many restaurants, bars and night clubs. It is perfect for a casual evening stroll.
In 2021“Praia Central” had its sand enlarged from 25 metres to 70 metres due to the effects of sea erosion advancing on the beach edge.
The town developed very quickly since the 1970’s and it received a large urbanization without much planning. Now the effects of erosion were taking place, and this enlargement of the beach was deemed necessary to protect the beach edge and to provide a better leisure area to its inhabitants and tourists alike.
This came with a lot of worry regarding the impact this would cause to the environment, however the project went ahead in 2021. One year after the project the impacts on the environment could already be seen. If you are interested in knowing more about this project, there is a complete explanation of the enlargement of the Balneário Camboriú beach that can be read at this SITE.
VISITING BALNEÁRIO CAMBORIÚ
We left Pontal do Paraná early in the morning and went the same way as we did when we went to Guaratuba. We passed Matinhos and took the ferry boat to cross the Bay of Guaratuba. Once on the other side we took the PR-412 passing through various little villages and joining the BR-101 near Garuva Town. We followed BR-101 until Balneário Camboriú. It took us about 3 hours to get there.
This part of the BR-101 is not as good as the one linking São Paulo to Curitiba. The motorway has only two lanes on each side, and it is not as well maintained as the other patch. There are lots of lorries using this motorway and you need to be extra careful as lorry drivers in Brazil are very daring and can’t be trusted on the roads.
Below is a map showing the places we visited in Balneário Camboriú:
We booked a two-bedroom flat on Central Beach with wonderful sea views on Booking.com for two nights. We went straight to the flat to check-in before going out and start exploring.
The flat was in an excellent location and the views were breathtaking, however it lacked on comfort and cleanness contradicting the photos showing on the site. We were very disappointed with the flat on that sense and we don’t recommend or will return to this property if back in Balneário Camboriú again. This flat is not advertised on Booking.com anymore.
After check-in we went out to walk in front of the beach and to find a place to have lunch. There are many restaurants fronting the beach, and we chose one called “Vó Jaques Cantina”. It is a buffet/kilo restaurant where you chose what you want to eat, put it on your plate and weight it. You pay by the weight of your plate. The food was very good, and we were all happy with our choices.
When lunch was over, we drove to Parque Unipraias at the end of the beach. At the bottom there is the “Barra Sul Station” where you get the cable car to go up to the park. From the cable car you already start seeing how beautiful the view of the beach is.
The first stop is “Mata Atlântica Station”, at the top of the hill at 240 metres. This station is in the middle of the forest and there is about 500 metres of walkways between the forest with signs indicating the native fauna and flora.
At the top there are two glazed platforms, one facing “Central Beach” and the other one facing the “Atlantic Ocean” and “Larangeiras Beach”. The views are incredible and offer a unique experience.
Besides the platforms there is also a Chocolate House, which is basically a café where you can enjoy some coffee , hot or cold chocolate drinks. There is also a miniature train ride that goes into the forest bringing the nature closer to you.
The park also offers hiking trails, zip-lining and a sled ride for the more adventurous adrenaline junkies. We explored the whole park and went everywhere except the trails, zip-lining and sledge ride mentioned above.
There is another station on the cable car, it is “Larangeiras Beach”. This is a beach on the other side of the hill that is considered to be one of the most beautiful of Santa Catarina.
People usually take the cable car to spend the day on this beach, coming back in the end of the afternoon after a day there. It is a calm beach with clear waters very popular with families or people looking for a quieter beach other than “Praia Central”.
We didn’t go to the next station as we didn’t have time to spend on the beach, but if you have time, it is worth spending the day there and to have lunch in one of the seafood restaurants in front of the beach.
We took the cable car back to “Barra Sul Station” and drove to “Cristo Luz”. Balneário Camboriú also has a Christ the Redeemer on top of another hill.
The monument is about 33 metres high and is located in a touristic complex of bar, restaurant, cultural space with live music and views of Balneário Camboriú from a different perspective. Here you will see the buildings with just a glimpse of the sea, but it is still an attractive view, and the attraction is worth visiting.
When it gets dark the Christ is illuminated and displays different colours every minute. We arrived just before dark, so we sat on the tables outside the restaurant and had some drinks before the lights switched on.
After some photos of the Christ and finishing our drinks, we went down and drove in the direction of the “Roda Gigante” (Giant Wheel). That is an attraction of Balneário Camboriú since 2020. This is another place where you can have beautiful views of the “Brazilian Dubai “as a frame.
We didn’t go up the wheel, we just walked on the “Deck do Pontal Norte” which is next to it. This is a walkway of about 800 metres and takes you to “Praia do Buraco” (Buraco Beach). We also didn’t get up to the beach as it was dark, we just admired the views from there and took some photos of the wheel. After that we drove to the flat as everybody was already tired of the afternoon explorations.
You can book a Panoramic city tour of Balneário Camboriú including tickets to the cable car that will take you to Unipraias Park, Larangeiras Beach, Avenida Atlântica and Cristo Rei. The tour lasts the whole day and covers all the attractions of the town.
If you are in Florianópolis and want to visit Balneário Camburiú for the day you can take this TOUR that will take you to Barra Sul and Avenida Atlântica, Unipraias Park and Larangeiras Beach.
Later in the evening, we walked on the promenade again and chose another restaurant for dinner. This time we chose “Porto Camarões” also on Avenida Atlântica in front of the beach. Another excellent dinner with fresh seafood.
After dinner we returned to the flat for an early evening as next day, we were planning to drive to Blumenau and Pomerode for the day.
I hope this post gives you some ideas of what to visit and what to do in Balneário Camboriú and helps you to plan your visit there.
HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR VISIT
Below you will find a list of what to visit, where to stay and where to eat in Balneário Camboriú. I classified each place as follows:
BOLD – Visited, tried and recommended
NOT BOLD – Not visited or tried, but planning to visit or try and heard very good reviews
RED – Visited and tried but do not recommend, avoid or be cautious
*** – Excellent
** – Good
* – OK
£££ – Expensive
££ – Fair and affordable
£ – Cheap
PLEASE NOTE: Every hotel, restaurants and attractions I mention on my blogs are not sponsored reviews and we always paid the full price when visiting. We give our own opinion of the place and detail our experience, good or bad.
WHAT TO SEE
ATTRACTIONS
1 – Parque Unipraias – ***
2 – Cristo Luz – ***
3 – The Giant Wheeel – ***
4 – Deck do Pontal Norte – ***
5 – Praia de Larangeiras
6 – The Aquarium
7 – The Pirate boat tour
8 – Praia do Buraco
9 – Classic Car show
10 – Morro do Careca
WHERE TO STAY
1 – Apartamento Pé na Areia – 4*
2 – Mercure Camboriú – 4*
3 – Hotel D-sintra – 4*
4 – Apto. Frente Mar – 4*
5 – Haus Stay – 4*
6 – Marambaia Hotel and Convenções – 4*
If you prefer to look for your own accommodation, search and book via the below widget:
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WHERE TO EAT
RESTAURANTS
1 – Vó Jaques Cantina – ££ – ***
2 – Porto Camarões – ££ – ***
3 – Kombina Felice – ££
4 – Restaurante Porto Cabral – ££
5 – Restaurante Mundo Selvagem Garden – ££
6 – Barolo Trattoria – ££
If you tried any of my recommendations above, please send me a message and tell me about your experience good or bad, so I can update the list accordingly. Thanks!
If you enjoyed reading this post you might also like to read:
On this trip to Brazil:
1 – Itu – São Paulo State
2 – Guaratuba – Paraná State
3 – Balneário Camboriú – Santa Catarina State
4 – Blumenau and Pomerode – Santa Catarina State – Coming Soon
5 – Florianópolis – Santa Catarina State – Coming Soon
6 – Caverna do Diabo – Eldorado – São Paulo State – Coming Soon
7 – Guarujá – São Paulo State – Coming Soon
8 – Aparecida do Norte – São Paulo State – Coming Soon
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