Tourist Attractions & Monuments Brazil

Inside the former headquarters of the National Bank of Commerce, this very active cultural centre offers high-level art exhibitions, an art cinema (located in an old vault!) and also a café (located in the other vault). Works by Miro and Picasso have already been exhibited, but the foundation also aims to promote Brazilian art. For example, a retrospective of the work of Pernambuco sculptor Francisco Brennand and gaucho writer Simoes Lopes Neto showcased local visual and literary arts.

Porto Alegre's Mercado Publico, the city's oldest market, isn't just a market. This handsome 1869 building boasts a beautiful yellow façade and a metal roof inside, where you'll find over 110 stalls of all kinds. It's one of the city's must-visit meeting places. You can buy food, maté, cuia and bomba to prepare your chimarrão at home! For those into local folklore, it's possible to buy typical gaucho clothing.

Located 8 km from Fazenda, this beach is isolated from buildings. It has good waves and is very much appreciated by surfers.

The LGBT section of the Rio Tourist Office.

The city has some very nice beaches in its surroundings. The urban beaches are polluted and swimming is not recommended. If you can't go too far away, go to Ponta Verde (5 km away) and Jatiúca (6 km away). These beautiful beaches are very popular. By bus: take direction Riacho Doce (North).

To the north: Go even further north, there is plenty to choose from: Jacarecica (9 km), Guaxuma (12 km), Garça Torta (15 km), Pratagi (17 km), terminus at Riacho Doce (16 km).

To the south: Praia do Francês and Barra de São Miguel, sublime!

The quilombo of Palmares is a major place in post-colonial Brazil. The curious traveller who passes through Salvador cannot miss the statue of the "hero" of negritude: Zumbi de Palmares, an African king enslaved in Brazil. He managed to escape with many maroons and built a city in the northern hinterland. From the beginning of the 17th century, the slaves who managed to escape from the fazendas (farms) and engenhos (small sugar cane processing factories) began to gather in safe places where they could move freely, these communities are known as quilombos.

The largest and most famous quilombo in Brazil, the one "governed" by Zumbi dos Palmares, was established in the Serra da Barriga, 80 km from Maceió. It brought together runaway slaves, Indians and a few outcast whites, who resisted fiercely for almost 100 years, like the Canudos rebels not far from here, before finally being wiped out by the Portuguese crown army in 1694. The story goes that Zumbi fell after being betrayed by one of his own.

Unfortunately, the remains of the quilombo are not promoted: no guards, no means, and you will have to rent a vehicle. On the spot, guides offer, "voluntarily", to guide you. More than a visit, it is a small adventure for those who are particularly interested in this page of Brazilian history.

Housed in a beautifully restored colonial building, this museum is named after a doctor who bequeathed to the University of Alagoas his collection of an infinite number of handicrafts from popular culture. This museum is dedicated to anthropology and regional folklore, of infinite richness. Popular toys, objects made of vegetable fiber (caçuás, baskets, abanos, hats, etc.), utilitarian ceramics from the Kariri Xocó ethnic group, from Alagoas, pieces of the Afro-Brazilian cult, elements of popular Catholicism, lace and embroidery

The museum of the Historical and Geographical Institute of Alagoas is located in the city centre of Maceió. It exhibits to the public part of the historical, archaeological and ethnographic collection of the institute. This museum offers a collection focused on the culture of the natives: ornaments, bows and arrows, native accessories and weapons that belonged to the bandit Lampião... an interesting journey through time, too bad that the place suffers from a cruel lack of maintenance.

Aracaju is a destination that offers many pleasant beaches, suitable for swimming or surfing, for the more athletic. There are urban beaches south of the city center: Praia dos artistas, 7 km away, with its waves suitable for surfing, is nicknamed "Havaizinho", the little Hawaii. But also Praia Atalaia, at 9 km, Praia Aruana, at 11 km, Praia do Robalo, at 13 km...

The further you go down, the more quiet and preserved they are, like Praia do Refugio (18 km from the center), the wildest of all.

The José Inacio Art and Culture Centre is a beautiful pavilion that houses an exhibition of local crafts. This space was named after the artist José Inacio de Oliveira, known by his pseudonym José Inacio. You can admire the works of José Roberto Freitas or Beto Pezão, who make figurines with huge feet. All the local crafts are represented: hammocks, sculpture, traditional pottery, calabash dolls... Unfortunately the space is underused.

Created in 1997, it is a vast open-air museum where you can browse the sites that were the theatre of the war of Canudos: Death valley, Alto do Mário, sacred road, sticking valley… Charming names, echoing the furious violence of the confrontations that occurred in these places. No trace of the village, because not content with having razed and burned the village after having exterminated most of the inhabitants, the Brazilian government blew the site under the Açude Cocorobó (the lake created by a water restraint near Parque Estadual).

Casa da Cultura is an amazing building housed in a prison until 1973. It was built as a cross to facilitate surveillance of all cells. Today there is a vast commercial and artisan complex. Many small souvenir and craft shops (of varying quality) are installed in the old cells, as well as art galleries and folk presentations. The old central station of Recife (1888) houses the train museum and the metro terminal.

This large building seems to observe the coast of Alagoas. Built in the 20th century, and located on the Nossa Senhora da Piedade hill in the town of Porto de Pedras, this lighthouse offers a beautiful view of the Coral Coast, especially at sunset. The structure of the Porto de Pedras lighthouse is a truncated reinforced concrete tower, with white and black horizontal stripes, 90 meters high and 36 meters in focal height. It was inaugurated in 1933. It was the first lighthouse to operate with an acetylene gas system. It was electrified in 1973.

This chapel is one of the splendors of Recife. Built between 1696 and 1724, this chapel, so named for its fine gold woodwork, is one of the best examples of Baroque art in Pernambuco. It houses the Franciscan Museum of Sacred Art as well as the convent and Igreja de Santo Antônio, the former hospital building and the Ordem Terceira house of prayer, which make up the Franciscan complex in Recife. You can see beautiful azulejos.

Dedicated to the patron saint of Recife, the majestic Carmelite Church was built between 1687 and 1767, on the site of the Palácio da Boa Vista, of the German Count João Maurício de Nassau, the governor of Dutch Brazil. The interior of the building is Baroque in style and contains some interesting works. Together with the Convento do Carmo and the Igreja de Santa Teresa da Ordem Terceira, it makes up the Carmelite complex of Recife, initiated a century after the arrival of this order in Brazil.

The boats leave from Piaçabuçu, the last village before the river meets the sea. Known as the Velho Chico, the river originates in Minas Gerais and flows through the states of Bahia, Pernambuco, Sergipe and Alagoas. Between these last two states is the mouth of the São Francisco River and the trip is worthwhile for those who stay in one of these two states. The landscape, superb, is made of dunes and lagoons. On the program, short breaks for swimming and lunch. The movie "Espelho d'agua" sublimates these landscapes.