Are you planning a trip to “Baixada Santista”? Not sure where to stay and which towns you should include on your visit? Thinking about Guarujá?
You should read this full post to learn about the upmarket town of Guarujá. I affectionately call it “The rich cousin” of all towns in the “Baixada Santista”. This is because of the wealthy “Paulistas” that attend this town regularly. Rich “Paulistas” bought property there and brought it to a more elevated status than the other towns nearby.
Subscribe to my blog, so you will not miss any of my posts published every week.
We returned to São Vicente after about 10 days travelling in Paraná and Santa Catarina.
We had a great time staying with my brother in Pontal do Paraná. While there, we visited Balneário Camboriú, Blumenau, Pomerode and Florianópolis. Check out these posts on the site.
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.
We had about a week left in São Vicente when we met and visited friends and relatives but also spent some time re-visiting a few places in the area.
We took a day trip to Guarujá that is about an hour including the ferry crossing (if there are no queues).
The best route to Guarujá from São Vicente is via Santos up to Ponta da Praia where the ferry boat is. You can go via Cubatão and the BR-101, but the journey is not as nice, and you only save a few minutes and the ferry fee.
In the high season it might be worth going via the BR-101 as it is likely there will be a long queue to cross on the ferry. It is just a case of checking Google on the day of your trip to see what the best route on that day is.
If you are going from São Paulo capital the best route is via the BR-101 and it will take around an hour and a half.
Below is a map of the places we visited while in Guarujá:
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT GUARUJÁ
Guarujá is a beach resort on the coast of the state of São Paulo and part of a group of towns that form the “Baixada Santista”. It is also known as “The Pearl of the Atlantic”.
The name Guarujá comes from the Tupi language and means “narrow path”.
It is a favourite for the wealthy “Paulistas” that flood the town in the summer and weekends due to the proximity from the capital.
Tourism started growing in the 70’s and 80’s and with that the construction of high-rise buildings at the edge of the beaches to accommodate the flux of tourists visiting the town. Most of these apartments are holiday apartments that are only used on weekends or during the summer holidays.
The main attraction are the beaches. Some are more central and urbanised, others are more secluded and in picturesque settings. There are 27 beaches in total and each one of them provides a unique and enjoyable experience.
VISITING GUARUJÁ
When I lived in Brazil, I used to go to Guarujá fairly often with friends to enjoy the beaches. The beaches I used to go was Prainha Branca, Praia de Pernambuco and Praia do Perequê.
This time, the main purpose of the trip was to do a tour of the beaches and take various photos for the blog as well as enjoy a nice lunch in a beach restaurant.
So, as soon as we crossed to Guarujá we drove first to Praia do Tombo. This beach is very popular with surfers as the waves are very high and ideal for the sport.
It was a nice, sunny day and the beach was quite busy, full of people under parasols and on beach chairs. After parking the car in a suitable place, we walked on the promenade admiring the beach.
Following on we drove to “Mirante das Galhetas”. This is a look-out point where you have impressive views of the Atlantic Ocean, Tombo Beach to the right and Astúrias Beach to the left.
It is a very popular touristic point that should not be missed when visiting Guarujá. There is a glass platform that extends above the cliffs providing a unique experience from above.
The access is via Rua Dr. Roberto Vinhas next to “Mercado de Peixes Astúrias” (Fish Market). There is parking at the top for a few cars and as people don’t spend a long time there, there will always be a space available soon.
We didn’t have to wait for a space, we parked very easily as soon as we arrived. We enjoyed the different views from the top of the glass platform and were able to take very nice photos from there.
We followed from there by driving to” Praia das Astúrias”. This beach is smaller than “Pitangueiras Beach” next to it, therefore calmer and less crowded. It is a smaller version of “Pitangueiras and “Enseada” beaches.
Following on the next stop was “Pitangueiras Beach”. It was very difficult to find a space to park the car as the beach was very crowded, but we were lucky and found a space after some time.
This is the most popular beach in Guarujá and where most of the tourists head to. This beach is also very popular with surfers.
From there we drove to “Morro do Maluf” at the end of “Pitangueiras Beach”.
“Morro do Maluf” is another place where you have panoramic views of the ocean and the beaches. On the right you have views of “Pitangueiras Beach and on the left “Enseada Beach”.
We continued and headed to “Praia da Enseada”. Also, very popular and the largest of the urban beaches, but not as busy as “Pitangueiras”. We stopped for photos and then drove all the way to the end, called “Turtle Corner”.
The next stop was “Pernambuco Beach”, where the rich and famous have their summer houses, some facing the beach others in closed gated condominiums.
Another place very difficult to park and the beach was very busy too. We managed to park and walked on the beach for a while.
I found it to be a million miles different from the time I used to go there with my friends when I lived in Brazil. The beach was still beautiful, and the waters calm and clean as it used to be.
It was lunch time, and we headed to the next beach “Praia do Perequê”.
When I used to go there, it was just a small fisherman’s village with little infrastructure and only shacks in front of the beach selling fresh fish and seafood.
Little small restaurants prepared a very nice dish called “Casquinha de Siri”, crab cooked with various ingredients and served on the crab shell.
To eat there used to be cheap and cheerful and where we always headed to after a long day on the beach.
Nowadays, “Praia do Perequê” lost the atmosphere it had from years ago.
Now it is very developed and full of shops, restaurants etc in front of the beach. It is not as nice as before, but we found a restaurant at the start of the beach called “O Farol” (The Lighthouse), that enticed us to have lunch there.
It is on the edge of the beach and the tables are facing directly to the beach. The simplicity and location of the restaurant still gives the impression that we are in the old “Perequê Beach”.
We sat on a table facing the sea and ordered some “Casquinhas de Siri” and their “Moqueca de Frutos do Mar” (Seafood Stew) accompanied by a very cold beer.
The food was delicious, and I was able to bring back memories from years ago.
When lunch was over it was time to start driving back to the ferry boat to return to São Vicente. We did just that and in no time we were boarding the ferry to cross back to Santos.
There are many other beaches to visit in Guarujá, but on that day we concentrated on the ones near the town. There are beautiful, natural beaches that are a bit secluded, and we didn’t have time to visit.
There are other viewpoints and attractions such as “The Aquarium” to visit, especially if you have children. For us, our visit came to an end.
Overall, it was an excellent day out visiting Guarujá. The sun was shining, and although it was difficult to park in some places and some of the beaches were very crowded, we still enjoyed all we’ve done during the day.
A great day out if you are staying in another town nearby.
If you are based in São Paulo and fancy spending a day in Baixada Santista, this tour will take you from São Paulo to Santos, São Vicente and Guarujá for the day.
I hope this post will give you some idea of what can be done in a day in Guarujá and will help you plan your own visit there.
HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TRIP
Below you will find a list of what to visit, where to stay and where to eat in Guarujá. 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 – The Beaches (see below) – ***
2 – Praia do Tombo – ***
3 – Praia das Astúrias – ***
4 – Praia das Pitangueiras – ***
5 – Praia da Enseada – ***
6 – Praia de Pernambuco – ***
7 – Praia de Perequê – ***
8 – Mirante das Galhetas – ***
WHERE TO STAY
ACCOMMODATION
1 – Casa Grande Hotel Resort & Spa – 5* – £££
2 – Sal di Mare Hotel Boutique – 4* – £££
3 – Hotel Vicino al Mare – 3* – ££
4 – Apto Luxuoso Praia da Enseada – 3* – £££
5 – Apto Pé na areia Praia do Tombo – 3* – £££
6 – Enseada Village Guarujá – 3* – ££
If you prefer to look for your own accommodation, search and book via the below widget:
I use affiliate links such as the links above for Booking.com, Get your Guide, Viator and others. It means that if you use any of my links to make a booking, I will get a small commission from the partners I’m affiliated with without any additional cost to you. Please, use the links provided when making a booking, this is a way of supporting blogs like this so we can continue writing informative and interesting posts. I’m very thankful for that.
WHERE TO EAT
RESTAURANTS
1 – O Farol – Praia do Perequê – *** – ££
2 – Disan Bistro – ££
3 – Rufino’s – £££
4 – Restaurante Dalmo Bárbaro – £££
5 – Avelino’s Restaurant – ££
6 – Alcide’s Restaurant – ££
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
5 – Florianópolis – Santa Catarina State
6 – Caverna do Diabo – Eldorado – São Paulo State
7 – Guarujá – São Paulo State
8 – Aparecida do Norte – São Paulo State – Coming Soon
Leave a Reply