While ordinary tourists seek relief from the heat at the waters of Ponta Verde and Pajuçara beaches leaving those beaches immensely crowded on weekends and holidays, our volunteers enjoy the calm and clean beaches of the northern coast of Maceió.
“Litoral Norte” (engl. Northern coast) offers a great variety of beautiful beaches with palm trees and colorful rocks. Here is the selection of the best beaches of Maceió based on the opinions of our volunteers.
Carro Quebrado – “the beach of the broken car”, called this way because of the extreme hard accessibility – many cars have been broken on the way there, or were trapped by the high tide unable to leave because the water covered all the sand area of the beach. This way nature protects the beach from the crowds and damaging tourist infrastructure keeping it virgin-wild and astonishing. 
It is the number one beach from our ranking. Its wildness provokes the feeling of being close to the nature, close to the history – you can imagine what have the Portuguese conquistadors have seen when they firs came to Brazil.
The best time to visit: low tide, possibly full moon when the tides are the lowest. By high tide is unacceptable.
How to get there: Take the bus or mini-van to Barra Santo Antonio (Ilha da Crôa), and search for buggy there. Be smart and don´t pay “gringo” price for buggy. It should cost 40 Reais per person not more.
Hibiscus not so wild anymore, though still not that civilized as other beaches. Named after the single restaurant which is located on the beach. It is quite bright, surrounded by coconut trees. If you are lucky and brave you can even pick your own coconut and enjoy the fresh coconut water. If you manage to open it yourself of course. The waters on the beach are quite calm and stays shallow even several meters away from the shore. The colors of the sand and water are peculiarly light, which will make your photos look amazing.
The best time to visit: low tide
How to get there:
Take any bus or van going via Ipioca, and ask the driver to stop at Hibiscus. You need to pass through “condominio” (engl. private residential area) to get to the beach.
Praia da Sereia – The beach of the “Sereia” (engl. Mermaid) itself is quite popular and quite full on the weekends. But if you walk a bit more to the north you will reach more wild part of it which is called among the locals “New Orleans” beach. The long beach with coconut trees is especially beloved by surfers and sea turtles, which is the sign that the waters here are clean and the beach is free from the urbanization and touristification. Every year from December till May more than a hundred of sea turtles come here to hatch. Surfers are there the whole year around.
The best time to visit: anytime, high tide for surfing. From December till May local NGO Biota is organising public births of sea turtles. This is also the season when they especially need volunteers to help by monitoring of the beach. If you want to volunteer by Biota contact us!
How to get there: any bus to Ipioca or Mirante
Garça Torta – our home beach, where everybody can find something for his/her taste. Low tide offers calm waters with natural pools between the reefs and descent waves for surfing. During the high tides the beach becomes wild with a lot of noisy waves. In the end of the week variety of bars open its doors and the beach is very lively. In the beginning of the week its quite empty and authentic – you can meet only the fishermen and some locals.
The best time to visit: any time depending on personal taste
How to get there: any bus to Ipioca or Mirante
