Check out some pictures from this trip!

Maceió

A stay in Maceió will probably be at the "orla" (shoreline), which is how the neighborhoods of Jatiúca, Ponta Verde and Pajuçara are known. - each with its own beach.

We stayed at some friends' place over at Jatiúca. All we've done in Maceió - except for the Ipioca Beach - was between these 3 neighborhoods.

For those who like to go grocery shopping (either for some local experience or for budget reasons), we recommend the Palato. It's a slightly more premium chain, but offers a good variety of products. The Palato over at Ponta Verde also has a cafe place with good options for a light snack.

🌊 Plan your trip following the tide table. At the Brazilian Northeastern, high and low tide completely change the scenery and available attractions. There are many websites to look it up. Take 0 to 0.4 as "low tide".

Restaurants

• Truckzone: food park at Jatiúca. Easygoing place, good variety of options.
• Imperador dos Camarões: famous for the "shrimp bubblegum". We also ordered a salmon that was a little over done. Not sure if it's worth the price.
• Wanchako: allegedly Brazil's first Peruvian restaurant. I didn't check this information, but the food was amazing. Menu is quite varied as well. The place is small, but comfortable and beautiful. Super expensive though.
• Bodega do Sertão: a must visit for tourists. Gift shop, a very complete self service buffet, good service and fair price. "Best tapioca I ever had", said Bruna when finishing her shrimp tapioca.
• Janga: get there early! Doors open at 6:30pm, be there at 6:15. We formed a line while it was still closed - seriously. When we left, the wait list was unbelievable. Nice place, good service and some exclusive menu choices.

Attractions

• Orla: a walk over the boardwalk (sometimes too narrow) is quite pleasant. Throughout the day, the changes on the tide also modify the scenery.
• Ponta Verde Lighthouse: walking on the orla, there's no way to miss the lighthouse. It offers some good shots, especially at sunset. At low tide, it's possible to walk on the rocks around the lighthouse.
• "Moses Path": also at Ponta Verde, close to the lighthouse, there's a "Moses Path": a sand bank that forms a walking path during low tide. It takes to the "Flipped Rock" (Pedra Virada), a landmark over at the beach horizon.
• Pajuçara Craftwork Fair: many tents with local products - and more. Good place to buy nuts and leather sandals.

Around

What to do around Maceió:

• Gunga Beach: as a beach it's.... ok. It's a bit far from the road and the parking lot isn't free. It's filled with restaurants right where you park.
• Gunga Belvedere: meh… sea and palm trees.
• Gunga Cliffs: from the beach, you can visit the cliffs either by renting a buggy (with a driver) or a get an ATV (2 people, you drive). The tour is quick but quite fun - especially if you ride the ATV.
• Ipioca Beach: to the North end of Maceió (Gunga is over at the South). Beautiful beach, nice walk and swim. It's almost empty, except for a few beach clubs, which takes us to...
• Hibiscus: nice supporting place to enjoy the beach. Restrooms, restaurant, kid pool. Get there early to use the most of the daily fee. Also, even though it's big, it gets pretty packed. We recommend the fish with tapioca shell and pumpkin cream.

São Miguel dos Milagres

The famous São Miguel dos Milagres has a very weak city structure. If you're at a residence (Airbnb, for example), bring all your groceries with you. You'll only find small shops over there.

The shoreline has many beaches, most connected to each other. They make for a nice walk and beautiful scenery at sunset.

We stayed on the Airbnb at Porto da Rua. Among the places we visited, the Marceneiro Beach renders a nice walk to the Capela dos Milagres (chapel at the beach). Have water with you!

Close to the central beach there's the Alto do Cruzeiro Belvedere, offering a nice lookout to the shoreline. You can easily drive up there.

We had most of our meals at home. Still, we visited the great No Quintal restaurant – well recommended.

Lastly, we visited the natural pools in São Miguel on a day with a low tide of 0.1. Super recommended! We went with Alejandro from Milagres Mergulho.

Sun Hours

During our trip, many people got curious with the sunset time. That's because we visited Alagoas during Carnival (late summertime), when the sun would set at around 7pm at SC, where most of our audience is from.

I made this quick article to explain this "phenomenon".

Solstice, June 21, 2021

Shortest day.

🌏	🌇 Sunrise	🌆 Sunset	☀️
Maceió	05:38	17:10	11:32
Floripa	07:05	17:27	10:22

Solstice, December 21, 2021

Longest day.

🌏	🌇 Sunrise	🌆 Sunset	☀️
Maceió	05:01	17:40	12:39
Floripa	06:16	20:08	13:52

💡 Solstice: mark where the sun is furthest from the Equador. On these days, the sun will cross the tropics: Cancer e Capricorn.

Notice how Maceió has little difference on the day length - 1h07 on the extremes. Floripa has 3h30 of difference.

• Little variation: proximity to the Equador line
• Longer day during summer: proximity to the Tropic of Capricorn (for us over at the South Hemisphere)