Brazil is the winter sun destination we’ve all been missing out on

Brazil is famous for not selling itself as a tourism destination, and the police violence, deforestation and associated wildfires of the Bolsonaro years haven’t been good for the once-smiley brand. Because most flights from London go to São Paulo – a fascinating megacity but not an obvious holiday destination – there’s a perception that Brazil is way down there, near Argentina.

Yet as a winter sun destination, Brazil is phenomenal. Just ask urban Brazilians from the south, who love places such as Natal, São Luís, Salvador and Recife for their long beaches, warm seas, paradisaical islands and African-inflected culture and cuisine.

Cabo Branco in Brazil is 4,317 miles from Land’s End in Cornwall – closer than Cancun, Costa Rica or Los Angeles as the crow, or airbus, flies. When South America was discovered, mariners aimed for capes like this, just a short sail away from the already familiar coast of Africa.

Flights from Lisbon with the Portuguese carrier TAP go directly to cities on the north-east coast, some taking less than eight hours. From the end of October, the time difference with Britain is only three hours on Brazil’s Atlantic seaboard, so there’s no jet lag.

In this short guide we stick to the coast, but it’s easy to add on trips to the Pantanal, Brasília or the Amazon. Of course, Rio is featured – it’s on a direct flight from London and it’s never cold – but here’s hoping we inspire you to consider Trancoso or Paraty or Olinda this winter.

São Luís and Lençóis Maranhenses

Founded by the French in 1612, later invaded by the Dutch and finally colonised by the Portuguese, São Luís has architectural traces of all three; the historic centre has been a Unesco World Heritage site since 1997. The Museum of Visual Arts is full of azulejos, Portuguese tiles. The cuisine is tilted towards the sea. Reggae is the most popular music.

The Bumba Meu Boi folk festival – which comes round every June – is not as well known as the carnivals further south, but features comparable quantities of drink, dance and music – revolving around a folk play in which an ox dies and is resurrected, and the poor lampoon the rich.

There are beautiful beaches along the coast of Maranháo state, but the most alluring sandy place is in the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, a surreal, beautiful coastal desert of sweeping dunes where rainwater collects to create freshwater lagoons. Four hours by road east of São Luís, they were made into a Unesco World Heritage site in July.

Abercrombie & Kent (01242 386469, abercrombiekent.co.uk) offers a 13-day Beach Adventure trip taking in the Lençóis Maranhenses, from £6,670 per person based on two people sharing, including flights, B&B, transfers and guide.

Fortaleza and Jericoacoara

A modern-looking, high-rise city, Fortaleza is a regional economic hub. Most people from outside come for the long golden beaches. Praia do Futuro is a three-mile stretch of soft sand lined by huge restaurants known as barracas, which dish up seafood and chilled beer at tables on the sand. It gets busy, but the beach is huge and there’s space for everyone.

A five-hour drive – 183 miles – north along the coast is Jericoacoara (“Jeri”), a remote village surrounded by dunes and lagoons. While ultra-fashionable, and popular with the yachting crowd from Rio and São Paulo, its location in an out-of-the-way national park makes it special. The main village sits between a white-sand beach popular with kite and windsurfers, a chain of grassy hills and the towering Pôr do Sol dune, where crowds gather to sip cocktails and watch the sunset. There’s a small airport in nearby Cruz. TAP flies to Fortaleza (7h40) as does Air France (9h).

Latin Routes (0208 546 6222, latinroutes.co.uk) has a 13-day National Parks and Sand Dunes holiday, which takes in Jericoacoara, from £4,699 per person, including B&B and flights.

Recife, Natal, Olinda and Fernando de Noronha

Recife – the capital of Pernambuco – is known for its nightlife and frevo music, which derives its name from the way brass bands “boil” a rhythm to a frenzy. Once a fishing village, it grew around the colonial sugar trade. Six miles north is Olinda, a lovely old town with a laidback vibe. There are beach towns on either side of Recife, with a surfing scene at Porto de Galinhas.

Natal is another major city, but southern Brazilians come here mainly to kick back on the beach – Praia de Pipa is popular, as is the dune complex around Genipabu. The Rota do Sol highway, south of Natal, passes dozens of beach resorts. Inland are stretches of sertão, the arid lowlands where life moves at a far slower pace.

Just over an hour by air from Natal or Recife is Fernando de Noronha, a chic beach-focused archipelago popular with affluent Brazilians, and a marine park filled with turtles, whales, sharks, clownfish, anemones and parrotfish. The diving is superb and the beaches are splendid – Baia do Sancho often tops international rankings. TAP flies direct from Lisbon to Recife (7h 35m).

Journey Latin America (020 8747 8315, journeylatinamerica.com) has a 15-day Active Brazil tour that combines Recife, Olinda and Salvador with a 5-night stay on Fernando de Noronha, from £4,780 per person, including flights, transfers, B&B and excursions.

Salvador de Bahia, Trancoso and the Discovery Coast

In Salvador, the state capital of Bahia, the African influence on Brazilian culture is keenly felt – from the capoeira dancers in Pelourinho (the old part of the city) and the pungent cuisine cooked in azeite de dendê (palm oil) to the carnival, which is huge but less commercial than Rio’s. Salvador, founded in 1549 on a bluff above the Baia de Todos os Santos, has dozens of historic sites, including some beautiful ecclesiastical buildings. It’s easy to get to the beaches, either close by at Barra or by heading north along the Estrada do Côco (Coconut Highway, BA-099) to the cleaner, serener beaches of Praia do Forte, Costa do Sauípe and Praia Sítio do Conde.

South of Salvador, also on the coast, are car-free Morro de São Paulo and – further along – Trancoso and Porto Seguro; known for their beach parties and backpackers. The latter sits in the Unesco-listed Discovery Coast, a group of eight protected areas containing remnants of the Atlantic rainforest and coastal shrublands called “restingas”.

Some 260 miles inland is Lençóis, a former diamond-mining town with a colonial air and, close by, the Chapada Diamantina National Park. With a mesa rock formation, caves, waterfalls, gorges and glistening pools, the area is good for walking and abseiling.

Air Europa flies Madrid-Salvador (8h 55m). Air France launches thrice-weekly direct flights from Paris to Salvador (10h 15m) from October 28.

Humboldt Travel (01603 340680, humboldttravel.co.uk) has a 14-day Best of Bahia itinerary visiting Salvador, Trancoso and the Chapada Diamantina National Park, from £5,295 per person, including B&B, excursions, and flights.

Rio, Búzios and the Costa Verde

Rio de Janeiro needs no introduction – it’s beach central, with top-class hotels, visually arresting natural wonders such as Sugarloaf and Mount Corcovado (on which stands the Christ the Redeemer statue) and a regenerated port district containing the MAR art museum and Museum of Tomorrow.

Rio sits between two superlative winter-break options. To the north is Búzios, which began to attract the international jet-set in the mid-1960s after Brigitte Bardot visited with her boyfriend. Mick Jagger, Madonna and many others followed in her wake. It has an upscale little township and lots of small bays and coves, not common elsewhere in Brazil. Praia João Fernandes is one of the prettiest, with water calm and clear enough to snorkel.

South of Rio lies the Costa Verde, a 375-mile beach road that links Rio and Santos (near São Paulo) via the inshore islands of Ilha Grande and Ilhabela, picturesque Paraty and the beach towns of Ubatuba and São Sebastião. Santos itself is a convivial city, and home to the stadium that nurtured the talents of Pele and Neymar – with a museum on site. Nearby Guarujá is a developed resort town, popular with Argentinians.

The Costa Verde, washed by warm seas and fringed by the forests of the Mata Atlântica, has long been an escape duct from the two big cities. Exploring it is a great way to combine good dining and stays in smart beach hotels and/or fazendas (ranches) with diving, walking, cycling, kayaking or surfing.

Rainbow’s (020 8131 7899, rainbowtours.co.uk) Emerald Coast Discovery package is a 10-day trip to Rio and the Costa Verde, from £2,895 per person, including B&B accommodation and flights.

Southern beaches: Florianópolis and Santa Catarina

The southern subtropics have seasons, and the resorts of the coastal archipelago of Santa Catarina are best visited from October to March. Discovered decades ago by Argentinians, they are well developed and get busy in January and February. Florianópolis, the gateway, has an industrial area, but the historic centre and fashionable Beira-Mar Norte district are on the island half of the city – as are around 40 excellent beaches.

This part of Brazil is associated with cattle-raising and has its own gaúcho. The culture is predominantly European, with large numbers of Germans settling in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The inland town of Blumenau has an Oktoberfest. For first time visitors or those who don’t like intense heat, this is “Brazil lite” – and it’s easy to combine with a stay in Uruguay or with Buenos Aires and the Iguazú Falls.

TAP started flying Lisbon-Florianópolis on September 3 (12h 5m). It’s easy to reach via Buenos Aires or São Paulo and other regional hubs.

Last Frontiers (01296 653000, lastfrontiers.com) has a 10-day Southern Brazil tour, which combines the beaches of Florianópolis with Curitiba and Praia da Rosa, from £4,660 per person, including B&B, transfers and flights.