Cross the state line from Rio into Sao Paulo along the Costa Verde and the coast changes character. Paraty keeps its colonial stone and its quiet, island-studded bay; Ubatuba, an hour and a half south, opens up into surf. This is Sao Paulo's north coast at its wildest — a long, green municipality with somewhere around a hundred beaches, most of them still backed by the mountains of the Serra do Mar, and the ocean here has real muscle to it. If you are staying with us in the hills above Paraty and want a day or two of open Atlantic, boards in the water, and a coastline that runs from packed-out town beaches to hidden coves you reach on foot, Ubatuba is the answer.
- Where
- Sao Paulo state, north coast (Litoral Norte)
- Beaches
- around 100, from town beaches to hidden coves
- From Paraty
- roughly 1.5 hours by car south on the BR-101
- Known for
- surf, sea turtles, Ilha Anchieta, waterfalls
- Season
- warm and wet Dec–Mar; drier, cooler Jun–Aug
We are naturalists first, and Ubatuba sits inside the same forest we do — the Mata Atlantica of the Serra do Mar, one of the planet's great and most threatened biodiversity hotspots. So this guide is written from that angle: what the coast actually is, how it works, which beaches suit which kind of day, and how it compares to the calmer bay you'll come home to. It is not a ranked list of the "best" ten beaches, because Ubatuba doesn't work that way. The whole point is the range.
Where Ubatuba sits, and why it rains so much
Ubatuba is the northernmost coastal municipality in Sao Paulo state, pressed up against the Rio de Janeiro border. To reach it from Paraty you drive south and west on the BR-101, the coast road, and you'll know you've crossed into Sao Paulo well before you see any sign — the road starts to climb and dip more sharply, and the sea appears and disappears between headlands. It is a beautiful drive and a slow one; don't plan it as a quick hop. Give yourself the better part of a day and treat the road itself as part of the trip.
The town has a reputation, locally, for rain. There's a running joke that Ubatuba is spelled with a silent "chuva" (rain). It isn't really wetter than the rest of this coast by some freak of nature — it's just that the Serra do Mar rises steeply straight off the water here, and moist ocean air is forced up the slope, cools, and dumps its water. That same geography is exactly what makes the surf good and the waterfalls plentiful. The mountains that catch the rain also shelter the coves, feed the rivers, and hold the forest that makes the whole region green. You take the rain as the price of everything else that's here. Pack a light rain layer even in summer and don't let a grey morning cancel your plans — it often burns off, and the beaches are quieter when the sky is undecided.
Administratively, Ubatuba is enormous and mostly vertical. The town center is small; the municipality stretches for tens of kilometers along the coast and back up into the mountains, and a very large share of its land is protected inside the Serra do Mar State Park. That protection is the reason so many beaches still have forest behind them instead of condos. It's the same conservation logic we live by up at the reserve — protect the land, and the good things follow.
The surf capital: how the beaches break
Ubatuba is, without much argument, the surf capital of Sao Paulo's north coast. It has hosted national and international competitions for decades, and on any given weekend with a decent swell you'll see the lineups fill from teenagers on foam boards to serious longtime locals. But "surf capital" doesn't mean the whole coast is one big wave. Ubatuba's gift is that the beaches face different directions and sit behind different bathymetry, so on the same day one beach can be flat and glassy while another, twenty minutes away, is firing. Learning to read that is the local skill.
Itamambuca
If Ubatuba has a signature beach, it's Itamambuca. It sits a little north of town, a long crescent of clean sand with a river mouth at one end and forest running right down to the back of the beach. It is the classic Ubatuba surf beach — consistent, well-shaped waves, room to spread out, and a laid-back scene that has been the heart of the town's surf culture for a long time. It works for good surfers and it works for beginners taking a first lesson on the inside. Even if you don't surf at all, it's a fine beach to simply walk the length of, watch the water, and understand what draws people here. The river that comes out at the north end is worth a look in its own right — it's a reminder that every one of these beaches is really the meeting point of a mountain river and the sea.
Praia do Felix
Felix is north of Itamambuca, one of the more scenic beaches on this stretch, framed by green headlands. It's a good surf beach and also a good family beach depending on where you sit and what the sea is doing. From Felix, walking trails lead over the headland to smaller, wilder beaches — Praia do Puruba and beyond — where you trade easy access for near-solitude. This is a recurring pattern in Ubatuba: the named, drivable beach is the trailhead for something quieter a short walk away. If you have decent legs and a bit of curiosity, always ask what's over the next point.
Prumirim
Prumirim, further north again, is a relaxed beach with a well-known waterfall nearby (more on that later) and boat access out to Ilha do Prumirim just offshore. It has a gentler, more family-friendly feel than some of the harder surf beaches, and the combination of beach, waterfall, and island in one small area makes it an easy place to spend a whole day without a plan. The water around the island is clear and good for a snorkel when the sea is calm.
Praia Vermelha do Norte
Ubatuba, confusingly, has more than one "Praia Vermelha" — a red beach — because the name refers to reddish sand and rock and there's more than one such spot along the coast. Vermelha do Norte, on the northern side, is a small, pretty cove with warm-toned sand, calmer than the big surf beaches and good for a swim and a quiet afternoon. It's the kind of place that rewards people who don't need a wide beach and a beach bar every fifty meters. Come here when you want the cove experience rather than the surf-scene experience.
Praia Grande
Praia Grande lives up to its name — it's one of the longest and most central beaches, close to town, wide, and busy in season. This is the practical, everyday beach: easy to reach, plenty of room, the full range of kiosks and services, and enough surf to be interesting without being intimidating. If you're traveling with a mix of people who want different things — one who wants to surf, one who wants to sit, one who wants a cold drink within walking distance — Praia Grande absorbs all of it. It is not the wild, hidden Ubatuba, but it's a genuinely good beach and an easy default.
One coast, a hundred beaches
The "hundred beaches" figure is roughly true and worth understanding rather than just repeating. Ubatuba's coastline is not one smooth arc; it's a long series of headlands and bays, so the sand comes in dozens of separate pockets. Some are city beaches with a road and kiosks; many are small coves reached only by trail or by boat. The southern beaches, the central town beaches, and the far-northern beaches each have their own feel, and part of the fun is realizing you could visit Ubatuba a dozen times and still not have set foot on most of its sand.
A few practical ways to think about the spread. The central beaches near town — Praia Grande, Praia do Tenorio, Praia do Itagua — are the convenient ones, with services and easy parking, best for a low-effort beach day or a first visit. The northern beaches — Itamambuca, Felix, Prumirim, Puruba, and the coves beyond — are where the surf culture and the wilder scenery concentrate. The southern beaches, toward the Rio border, include some of the prettiest and least developed, and this is also where the boats leave for Ilha Anchieta. Wherever you go, the rule holds: the harder a beach is to reach, the more likely you'll have it close to yourself.
If you want a fuller breakdown of the coves and which suits which mood, we've written a companion piece on Ubatuba's hundred beaches. For this guide, the thing to hold onto is that Ubatuba is a coast to explore, not a single beach to check off.
Reading the surf without a forecast
You don't need an app to pick a beach. If the wind is blowing hard onshore and the central beaches are messy and brown at the river mouths after rain, drive north and look for a beach tucked behind a headland facing a different way — it'll often be cleaner and calmer. Ask anyone with a board where's working; surfers here are generally happy to point you somewhere. And a river mouth that's running muddy after heavy rain is a sign to swim elsewhere that day.
Sea turtles and the aquarium
Projeto Tamar
One of the reasons to bring anyone — and especially families — to Ubatuba is Projeto Tamar. Tamar is Brazil's national sea-turtle conservation program, running since 1980, with bases up and down the coast; the Ubatuba base is one of its main visitor centers and a genuinely good one. The name is a contraction of "tartarugas marinhas," sea turtles. The program's work is serious conservation science: protecting nesting beaches, reducing the deaths of turtles caught in fishing gear, and rehabilitating injured animals. The visitor center exists partly to fund that work and partly to explain it, and it does both well.
What you'll actually see are large tanks and pools holding the several sea-turtle species found off the Brazilian coast — greens, loggerheads, hawksbills, and others — along with rays, fish, and displays that walk you through the turtles' life cycle and the threats they face. It's the rare place that manages to be a good outing for kids and genuinely informative for adults. For us, it's a natural fit: Tamar is doing on the coast what we try to do in the mountains — using a small, well-run visitor operation to pay for the protection of wild animals and wild places. If you're traveling with children, this is one of the surest hits on the whole coast; see our notes on visiting with kids for how it fits into a family trip.
The Aquario de Ubatuba
Not to be confused with Tamar, the Aquario de Ubatuba is a separate, privately run aquarium in the town center, and it's one of the better-known aquariums in Brazil. It's compact but well done, with tanks representing coastal and reef environments, a mangrove display, sharks and rays, and — a highlight for many visitors — a walk-through tunnel. It's an easy, weatherproof activity, which matters on this rainy coast; if the sky opens up and the beach is off the table, the aquarium and Tamar together can fill a good half-day in town.
A word from the conservation side of the house: aquariums are a real subject of debate, and we'd rather be honest than glib about it. The best of them do meaningful education and, in some cases, rescue and research; the value of any individual animal on display is a fair thing to weigh for yourself. What we'd gently steer you toward, if the goal is connecting kids to the ocean, is a mix — the aquarium and Tamar for a close look and the science, and then real time in tide pools, on a snorkel over a rocky point, or watching a river meet the sea. The living coast is the best exhibit there is, and it's free.
Ilha Anchieta: the prison island turned state park
Off the southern coast of Ubatuba lies Ilha Anchieta, the largest island in the municipality and one of the most interesting day trips on the whole north coast. It's a state park now — Parque Estadual da Ilha Anchieta — protected forest ringed by good beaches and clear water. But its history is what makes it unforgettable. For much of the twentieth century the island held a prison, and in 1952 that prison was the site of a large and violent uprising. The penal colony was eventually deactivated, and the ruins of the prison buildings still stand on the island, slowly being reclaimed by the forest.
Visiting today, you take a boat across from the mainland — the crossing is short — and you land on an island that is half nature reserve, half open-air ruin. There are marked trails to the old prison ruins and across to several beaches, including Praia do Sul and the calm, clear waters of the Enseada das Palmas, which is one of the best snorkeling spots in the area. Wildlife has done well in the decades since the prison closed; the island's isolation and protection have made it a small stronghold for animals, and there have been reintroduction efforts for native species over the years. Bring water, sun protection, and shoes you can walk trails in, because the island rewards the people who move around it rather than staying on the landing beach.
The combination — swimming and snorkeling in clear protected water, then walking through the crumbling remains of a prison colony with the forest growing up through the cell blocks — is genuinely moving. It's a reminder of how quickly the Mata Atlantica takes land back when we let it, which is a lesson we watch play out in slow motion on our own protected acres above Paraty. If you make one boat trip in Ubatuba, this is a strong candidate.
The forest grows up through the old cell blocks — proof of how fast the Atlantic Forest takes its land back when we let it.
Waterfalls: the mountains behind the beaches
Because the Serra do Mar rises so steeply here, Ubatuba is nearly as good for waterfalls as it is for surf, and the falls are the part visitors most often miss. Rivers coming down off the mountains drop over rock ledges before they reach the sea, and many of these falls are an easy walk from the coast road. They're the perfect complement to a beach day — a cool freshwater swim after the salt, in shade, usually with far fewer people.
Cachoeira do Prumirim
The most accessible and popular is the Prumirim waterfall, near the beach of the same name in the north of the municipality. It's right by the road, with a series of pools and small drops good for swimming and for the natural rock slides that kids and adults line up for. Because it's so easy to reach, it gets busy on hot weekends; go early or on a weekday and you'll have a much better time. It's a good first waterfall for anyone who isn't up for a hike.
Falls in the Serra
Beyond Prumirim there are many more falls scattered through the municipality — some roadside, some at the end of forest trails, several inside or bordering the Serra do Mar State Park. The pattern is the same one you find on our side of the mountains: the deeper into the forest you're willing to walk, the wilder and quieter the water gets. If waterfalls are your thing, you're in exactly the right stretch of coast for them, and it's one of the clearest links between Ubatuba and the mountains above Paraty, where our own seven waterfalls run below the reserve.
The forest behind it all: the Mata Atlantica
It's easy to come to Ubatuba for the beaches and never really register that you're standing at the edge of one of the most important forests on Earth. The Mata Atlantica once ran nearly unbroken along most of Brazil's coast; today only a fraction of the original forest survives, in fragments, and the largest and best-connected of those fragments are here in the Serra do Mar and the neighboring Serra da Bocaina. Ubatuba's mountains are part of that stronghold, which is why the surf town also happens to be a place where you can see genuinely wild forest.
This forest is a biodiversity hotspot in the technical sense — extraordinarily rich in species, extraordinarily threatened, and full of plants and animals found nowhere else. Behind the beaches and up the river valleys live southern muriquis and other primates, wild cats, hundreds of bird species, and an overwhelming variety of frogs, orchids, and bromeliads. The same biome wraps our reserve above Paraty, where 100 acres of privately owned protected forest join an adjoining 400 acres of protected parkland to make 500 acres of continuous, unbroken Mata Atlantica. When you look up from an Ubatuba beach at the green wall of the Serra, you're looking at the coastal face of the same living system.
Understanding that changes how you see the coast. A hidden cove backed by intact forest isn't just pretty; it's rare, and it's rare because most of this forest is already gone. The protected land — the state park, Ilha Anchieta, the reserves — is the reason any of it is still here to visit. It's the argument at the center of everything we do: a coast and a mountain range are worth protecting for their own sake, and a small amount of careful, low-impact human presence can help pay for that protection instead of destroying it.
Ubatuba compared to Paraty
People often ask us whether they should base in Ubatuba or Paraty, and the honest answer is that they're different animals and the "better" one depends entirely on what you're after. They're close — an hour and a half apart by road — and many visitors see both. But their characters are almost opposites, and it helps to be clear about that before you decide.
Sea and shape
Paraty's coastline is a sheltered bay, protected by Ilha Grande and hundreds of small islands, so the water is calm, warm, and flat — ideal for boat trips, swimming, kayaking, and children. Ubatuba faces the open Atlantic. Its water has swell and current; it's a surfer's coast, not a flat-calm bay. If you want to float in still turquoise water off a schooner, that's Paraty and the Angra and Ilha Grande island world. If you want waves, boards, and a big open horizon, that's Ubatuba.
Town and culture
Paraty is a UNESCO-listed colonial town, one of the best-preserved in Brazil, with cobbled streets, whitewashed houses, churches, and a cultural life built around history, food, and festivals. Ubatuba's town is a working Brazilian beach city — pleasant and useful, but not a historic showpiece. Its culture is surf culture and beach culture, not colonial heritage. If wandering a stone-built historic center at night matters to you, Paraty wins that one comfortably; if you'd rather be near a great surf beach than a great church, Ubatuba does.
Pace and crowds
Both fill up in Brazilian summer (December to February) and around Carnival and long weekends. Ubatuba, being closer to the city of Sao Paulo and its enormous population, can get very busy on summer weekends as paulistanos pour down the mountain. Paraty draws a slightly different, often more international crowd. Off-season, both quiet down beautifully. If your dates are flexible, the shoulder months reward you at either place.
Our honest take
We're based above Paraty, so treat this with a grain of salt, but here's how we'd frame it. For a first trip to this coast, Paraty and its bay make an easier, gentler, more varied base — history, calm water, islands, and the mountains all within reach. Ubatuba is the day trip (or the two- or three-day add-on) you make from there when you specifically want the open ocean, the surf, Tamar, and Ilha Anchieta. Plenty of people do it the other way around, basing in Ubatuba and driving north to Paraty for a day of history and calm water. There's no wrong answer. What we'd gently discourage is trying to "do" both in a single rushed day — the road is too good and too slow for that, and you'll spend the trip in the car.
Getting there, getting around, and when to come
The drive and the wheels
From the reserve above Paraty, Ubatuba is a drive of roughly an hour and a half south on the coast road, traffic and weather permitting. There's no passenger rail on this coast and no major airport at Ubatuba itself, so a car is by far the most flexible way to explore — the whole appeal is being able to stop at whichever beach or waterfall looks good. Buses do connect the coastal towns and can get you between Paraty and Ubatuba if you'd rather not drive, but once you're there, a coast with a hundred spread-out beaches really wants wheels.
A few practical notes. The BR-101 (the Rio-Santos highway) is the spine of the whole coast; it's scenic and winding, and it can slow to a crawl on summer weekends and around holidays, so travel early. Fuel up before you set off, because stations thin out on the quieter stretches. Parking near the popular central beaches gets tight in season; the northern and southern beaches are generally easier. And keep some cash on hand — the smaller kiosks, boat operators, and beach vendors don't all take cards, especially on the more remote beaches.
If you're staying with us and want help shaping an Ubatuba day around the tides, the surf, and the weather, just ask when you plan a stay — we live in this region and we're happy to point you at the right beach for the day you've got.
When to come
The coast has two broad moods. Summer (December through March) is hot, green, and lively, with the warmest sea and the biggest crowds — and, on this rain-catching coast, the heaviest downpours, usually in short afternoon bursts. It's the classic beach season and the most fun if you don't mind sharing the sand. Winter (June through August) is cooler and drier, the sea less warm but the air clearer, the crowds thinner, and the whole coast calmer and cheaper. Surf can be excellent in the cooler months when the right swells arrive.
For most travelers, the shoulder seasons — roughly April-May and September-October — are the sweet spot: warm enough to swim, quiet enough to enjoy, and less prone to the summer crush. Whatever the season, remember the local truth about the rain, keep a light waterproof in the bag, and stay flexible. A morning of drizzle in Ubatuba is often a gift: the waterfalls run fuller and the beaches empty out.
Planning an Ubatuba trip from the reserve
A realistic plan by how much time you have
Here's how we'd actually suggest fitting Ubatuba into a stay with us, depending on how much time you have. None of this is prescriptive — it's just what tends to work.
- One day, first taste: Drive down mid-morning, head straight for one good northern beach — Itamambuca for surf and scene, or Prumirim if you've got kids and want the beach-plus-waterfall combo — swim, eat, and add the Prumirim waterfall before you turn around. Home for dinner in the mountains.
- One day, town and turtles: Aim for the town center. Do Projeto Tamar and, if you like, the aquarium, then finish on Praia Grande or a nearby central beach. This is the rainy-day-proof version, and the family-friendly one.
- Two days: Give a full day to Ilha Anchieta — boat across, snorkel the clear water, walk to the prison ruins — and a second day to the northern surf beaches and a waterfall. This is the version that actually shows you what Ubatuba is.
- Three days or more: Add the hidden coves. Walk the trails from Felix and Prumirim to the emptier beaches beyond, chase a couple of the lesser-known waterfalls, and let yourself have a slow beach day with no plan. This is where Ubatuba stops being a checklist and starts being a place.
However you slice it, we'd hold to one piece of advice: don't try to see all hundred beaches. You can't, and trying will ruin the coast for you. Pick a stretch, get to know it, walk over a headland or two, and let the rest wait for next time. That's how the locals do it, and it's the right way to meet a coast this big.
Bringing it home to the mountains
The nicest way to experience Ubatuba, we'd argue, is as the ocean half of a mountain-and-sea trip — the open Atlantic and the surf by day, and the cool, quiet forest of the Serra to come home to. From our reserve above Paraty, the coast is close enough for a day trip and far enough that the contrast means something. You spend the afternoon watching waves stack up under a big horizon, and by evening you're back up in the mountains with three streams and four springs running, the seven waterfalls below you, and the same great forest that backs those Ubatuba beaches wrapped all the way around your chalet.
That contrast is really the argument for basing up here and treating the coast as an excursion. The reserve is not a resort and not a crowd; it's 800 acres of protected land, a 300-year-old organic banana farm, and a strict limit of 25 low-impact chalets, ever, so that the forest stays the point. Ubatuba's wild coast and our quiet mountains are two faces of one threatened, extraordinary biome — and seeing both, in one trip, is the best way we know to understand why it's worth protecting. When you're ready to build that trip, get in touch and we'll help you shape it around the tides, the weather, and the kind of days you're after.