Cidbob

My wife and I have 10-12 days of vacation time over the Xmas holidays, 2007. We want beaches, beaches, and more beaches. We are thinking about Buzios but are wondering about spending all our time there. We have no interest in the big cities, so we were thinking of splitting the time between Buzios and another beach-oriented location. Our idea of a great time is to go to a beach then go to another beach then go out to dinner and catch live music. Like villas or upscale boutique accommodations. Morro de Sao Paula is an option; so too is Fernando de Noronha. Advice?

tengohambre

If you love beaches and relaxing you should love Buzios. We went last winter and had a terrific time. We also are content with a great beach, an umbrella and good food. There are a number of beaches in Buzios and you will need a car to get from one to another. Frankly, it is convenient to spend a day at each one, perhaps. We did and used taxis, which were cheap and easy. Do not miss Praia Geriba. It is long, wide and bracketed by green hills. It has good rolling surf with small waves and you can walk way out because it remains shallow. Clear water. Chairs and umbrellas for rent and restaurants at the back of the beach. Outstanding. Also praia de toruturaga (sp?). Smaller but great too, with crystal water. When you get to the beach the first restaurant, all white, is excellent. It has chairs, tables, umbrellas and a large wood verandah. I can't recall the name but it also has a restaurant of the same name in town. You can lay there all day, have lunch and a caipirinha and relax.

Re: other beaches in Brazil. We are looking into returning to Brazil this winter, also in search of a beach. After much research, and speaking to a number of Brazilian friends, the beaches in the Northeast are uniformly mentioned as the best. Two areas in particular: Porto de Galinhas and Ponta Negra and Pipa. Beacause the two are further north the water is even warmer. Crystal blue seas and long beaches. Few Americans. For Galinhas you need to fly to Recife, its about a 45 minute easy drive from there. Small but quickly developing town. Restaurants, clubs, etc. and many hotel options. Top option is Nannai. Nannai.com.br. It looks great and gets terrific reviews. Very expensive. Ponta de Negra requires a flight to Natal. Its about 30 mins or so from there, I believe. Also many pousadas. A beautiful one is Manary. Also, a bit further out is one called Estrela da agua. Estreladagua.com.br. Beautiful, expensive. (I do my homework, and used to be a travel agent years ago.)

A great source to look at is: roteirosdecharme.com.br. It is a grouping of top pousadas in Brazil, I guess kind of like SLH of the world and is a good mark of quality.

For flights etc., most everything in Brazil goes through Sao Paulo. Alternatively, try GOL airlines, they are good and have good flights, prices.
Have fun.

Cidbob

Great stuff in your response, tengohambre! Thanks!

Cidbob

Hi again, Tengohambre. Where did you stay in Buzios?

Dondiega

There are about 25 different beaches in Buzios, the night life is great, plenty of great restaurants and Pousadas. I have been there several times and if you don't want to stay in Rio at all then sure 10 days in Buzios, why not? Many people on this board like the Casas Brancas, I have stayed there, very nice. I have also stayed at the Colonna Park on Joao Fernandes beach, very nice too and on the beach, 10 min walk to town.

tengohambre

Dondiega is right - she always is.

There are lots of beaches in Buzios and nearby to content yourself. There are also day trips on schooners and snorkeling trips, etc.

We stayed at the Galapagos Inn and liked it very much. We were with our children and the hotel feels more "tropical" and "less boutiquey" than some others. It has a good pool, nice views and terrific staff. We looked at a few properties, not all, and we thought either the Galapagos or Casas Brancas were the two nicest in Buzios. The CB is close to town, about an easy 5 minute walk. It reminds you of a small chi chi South Beach hotel, all white, background music playing, very pretty. Very small pool. Wonderful views towards town. Galapagos is a 5 minute taxi ride to town, but right across a small road to the Fernando beach, which is nice. I would not choose a hotel further out, right on one of the other beaches. Those seemed a bit far from everything and no real reason to stay there since getting to the beaches is very easy during the day.

Satyricon is a very good seafood restaurant in Buzios, also one in Rio. Very expensive but the most amazing different flavored caipirinhas. There's also a good upscale pizza spot next door and a pretty good Argentine steak place, Don Fernando, in town.

There's also some pretty good resort shopping there, though prices seemed a bit less expensive in Rio. Bum Bum is a very well known international swimwear shop and they have a store right on the main drag.

katolb90

Hope you don't mind me sharing your post. I plan to take a day trip to Buzios on a schooner while in Rio in Dec. Do you know if they drop you off at certain beach and leave you there for 6 or 8 hours? That Praia Geriba beach sounds like a perfect way to spend the day.

Cidbob

Thanks again, tengohambre--and now thanks as well to dondiega! (And welcome aboard this thread, kato.) I've checked with Brancas and they're already booked full for Xmas of 2007. Too popular, I s'pose! I'm looking into Perola Buzios, which used to be the Nikke, and I've inquired about Villas Bambuti, which only has a room with a double bed (!). Since the reviews of Buzios hotels on Tripadvisor are even more all over the map than the reviews there usually are, I'm having a lot of trouble pinning down a place. Other than Brancas, just about every posada gets reviews ranging from "the greatest" to "don't even think about staying there." Now I'm wondering if we should just settle for something cheap in Buzios and spend all our money on Nannai Beach Resort. Bottom line: I'm looking 14 months out and still having trouble!

Another question, if I may: what about Ilha Grande--too crowded, temperature not warm enough in late December?

Thanks again to all!

katolb90

Does anyone know how far the Ferradura beach is from the Geriba beach in Buzios? I see from a map that Geriba is farther from town than Ferradura. Want to spend the day at a nice beach, but also would like to be close to the main shopping area.

adrianbuzios

Hi cidbob
wy don't you check on www.pedradalaguna.com.br in Buzios is a grate pousada!!