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Ubatuba has more than a hundred beaches along a single coastal road, and the names get recommended to visitors without any explanation of what they mean. This page gives each well-known one its structural facts: open sea or sheltered, road or trail, big or small.
Someone always gives you a name. A friend who went last summer says Lázaro, a hotel receptionist says Itamambuca, a comment under a photo says Sununga. None of them tells you that one is a sheltered cove for swimming with small children, one is an open-ocean surf beach, and one is a short strip of sand with a sea cave at the end.
The coast runs roughly a hundred kilometres along a single road, and the beaches are strung along it. Two of them can be forty minutes apart. Choosing by name without knowing which part of the coast it sits on is how people end up driving the length of the municipality twice in one day.
What follows is each well-known beach with the facts that do not change: which way it faces, how you get to it, and what kind of day it suits. For current sea conditions, ask locally on the morning — that is the one thing no page can tell you.
South of the centre, the coast is broken into coves protected by forested headlands. The sea here is usually the calmest in the municipality, which is why this stretch is where families with small children end up and why it fills first in high season.
The name most often given to first-time visitors, and the recommendation is sound: a sheltered cove with calm water, road access and the most developed strip of beachfront on this part of the coast.
That popularity is also the catch. In high season it is busy and parking is the problem of the morning. Arriving early is the whole strategy.
A small cove next to Lázaro, backed by forest and noticeably quieter. The water is calm and clear and the sand is short, which is exactly why it does not absorb a crowd.
Access is by road but parking is limited by design rather than by accident. It suits a quiet day rather than a day with a lot of gear.
Short, framed by rock, and known for the sea cave at one end — the Gruta que Chora, where water runs down the rock face. It is the beach people photograph rather than the one they spend a whole day on.
The sea can be livelier here than at the neighbouring coves because of how the rock channels it. Worth a stop; worth checking the water before letting children in.
A long beach at the southern end of the municipality with a village behind it — shops, places to eat, and the practical infrastructure the smaller coves do not have.
It suits a base rather than a day trip, particularly for anyone staying a week and wanting somewhere that works without driving every morning.
A wide, open bay close to the centre, with a long strip of sand and hotels along the back. The sea is more open than the coves further south, with enough movement for a swim to feel like the sea rather than a pool.
The combination of space, road access and accommodation makes it one of the easier beaches to use without a plan.
A broad, sheltered bay on the southern coast, calm enough for easy swimming and large enough not to feel crowded on a normal weekend.
It is also one of the departure points for boats to the islands, which makes it useful as a starting point rather than only as a destination.
North of the centre the coast faces more directly into the Atlantic, the beaches get longer, and the swell arrives with nothing in its way. This is the surf half of Ubatuba, and the half where swimming becomes a judgement rather than a default.
The best-known surf beach on this coast and a fixture of the Brazilian competition calendar. A long stretch of open sand with a river mouth at one end and consistent waves.
For a non-surfer it is a beach to walk rather than to swim at. The same conditions that make it good also make the water work hard against you.
An open beach on the northern coast with a headland at the end, and the starting point of the short walk to Praia das Conchas — one of the better short coastal trails in the municipality.
Open sea, so conditions vary. The walk is the reason to come even on a day when the water is not cooperating.
Named for the colour of the sand, which is genuinely different from the beaches around it. Compact, backed by rock and forest, and busier than its size suggests because of the name.
Not to be confused with Praia Vermelha do Centro, which is a different beach on the other side of town — a mix-up that costs people forty minutes.
Near the northern boundary of the municipality, with a traditional community behind it and a trail through the forest that is part of the reason to go.
Far from the centre, so it is a day rather than an afternoon. The reward is a stretch of coast that never feels like the rest of the summer.
Inside the Picinguaba section of the state park, at the far north of the municipality, where a river meets the sea and the forest comes down to the sand.
Access and conditions are decided by the park administration, not by an operator. Confirm before setting out, because it is an hour and a half from the centre.
An open beach on the northern road with an island offshore and a waterfall a short distance inland — the combination is why it gets recommended as a half-day rather than a swim.
Boats to the island leave from here, which makes it one of the easier starting points on this half of the coast.
Several of the beaches people describe as the best in Ubatuba have no road to them. Reaching them means a forest trail, a boat, or both, and that is precisely why they are empty on a day when the roadside beaches are not.
Trail conditions change with rain and with the park administration’s decisions. A trail that was open last season may not be open on your dates, and the place to confirm that is locally, on the morning.
Pick the half of the coast first, then the beach. The road runs north to south through the centre, and crossing from one end to the other is a serious part of a day — particularly in high season, when the same road carries everyone else’s holiday traffic.
If you are staying several days, give each half its own day rather than zigzagging. If you are staying two, choose the half that matches what you want from the sea and stay in it.
| South of the centre | North of the centre | |
|---|---|---|
| Sea | Sheltered coves, usually calm | Open ocean, swell arrives directly |
| Swimming with children | The reason people stay here | Depends entirely on the day |
| Surf | Limited | The defining feature |
| Beach size | Smaller coves | Long open stretches |
| Crowds in high season | Heaviest; parking decides the day | Spread over more sand |
| Distance from the centre | Short to moderate | Moderate to long; the far north is a day |
There is no single answer, and that is not evasion — the beaches differ structurally rather than in quality. For calm water with children, the southern coves around Lázaro and Domingas Dias. For surf, Itamambuca. For somewhere empty, one of the beaches reached on foot. The question to answer first is which of those you want.
The sheltered coves on the southern coast: Lázaro, Domingas Dias and Lagoinha are the ones most often used by families, because headlands break the swell before it reaches the sand. Conditions still vary with the day, so look at the water before deciding.
Mainly on the northern coast, where the beaches face open ocean. Itamambuca is the best known and hosts competitions, and the open beaches around it work on the same swell. The southern coves are sheltered, which is exactly why they do not.
Municipal buses run the coastal road north and south of the centre, with less frequency outside the summer, and they reach most of the roadside beaches. The ones behind trails or with no road need a walk or a boat regardless of how you got to Ubatuba.
More than a hundred, depending on how you count the small coves between headlands. The practical number is much smaller: a few dozen have road access, and most visitors use the same ten or fifteen.
Ubatuba is a long stretch of the São Paulo north coast where the Atlantic rainforest reaches the sand. It has more beaches than any trip can cover, and where yo
Ubatuba has dozens of beaches along a long, indented coast. They are not interchangeable, and choosing by photograph is how people end up driving an hour to the
Ubatuba sits on a coast where several beaches and islands have no road to them. A boat here is transport as often as it is a day out, and which trip makes sense