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We've been travelling for seven years and have visited 80 countries. Slowest around the world with Sal & Wayne Schmidt.

Writer's pictureSal Schmidt

Cruising North Brazil

Updated: Dec 21, 2023

Recife | Maceio | Salvador

After spending a week on the Amazon River in Brazil, enjoying Christmas and New Year's Eve aboard the Marina with Oceania Cruises, we continue exploring the Northern coast of Brazil.


Recife, Brazil

After two days navigating out of the Amazon River and two days sailing the Atlantic, including crossing the equator again (this time, we could skip the ritual as we were no longer equator virgins), we arrived at our first port of call Recife.


Recife is pronounced ('heh-see-fee'), a coastal city and the capital of Pernambuco, the Northeast State of Brazil. Recife is closer to Africa's west coast than the farthest western border of Brazilā€”just 8Ā°3' south of the equator.

After letting the passengers disembark throughout the morning, we then strolled off around noon, we had the option to take a shuttle to the city of Recife, but after experiencing the high humidity, we opted for an Uber to the nearby charming and far more tranquil historic town of Olinda that lies on Recife's northern edge, just 6km from the city centre.

We googled our way to an Asian restaurant, 'Oishi', with very positive reviews by the beach, which deserved the 4.3 ratings. We filled our bellies with a giant spring roll, the largest we have ever seen, followed by vegetable tempura and shared a dish of Chop Suey for two; upon arrival, we were guessing we ordered for four! We did our best and admitted defeat, but it was delicious and excellent value at AUD 40 with a couple of cocktails too.

After lunch, we strolled the beach, watching the local life and enjoying the holidays and came across a shopping mall, brand new, so it was great to cool off and purchase our essentials!

We might have missed out on seeing more of Recife, we did enjoy the architecture and colourful homes as we drove by, but we had a delightful day and loved supporting the local businesses and navigating a new language; thankfully, we have Google translate helping with our Portuguese.

Maceio, Brazil

Welcome to Maceio; it feels like a city surrounded by beaches. Where you will find local tourists enjoying their vacations. Think Pattaya in Thailand. You have a long stretch of coast on the main road full of beach activities, beach beds, umbrellas, and beach clubs.

It was buzzing with locals and families all enjoying the hot and humid sun by the water; it's where everyone has a drink in hand by 10 am, and you can buy everything from drinks, food, clothing and beach accessories whilst sunbaking.


We stopped by a beach club for a morning coffee; we could only enter if we paid the all-day entrance fee of about $13 each, so we did this to watch the world go by for an hour or so!

After our chill-out, we walked a little and returned to the ship for lunch to escape the heat!


Maceio was a much wealthier city, with safer and excellent infrastructure and a great nightlife based on the vibe.

MaceiĆ³ is the capital city of the state of Alagoas, on the east coast of Brazil. An offshore reef protects the city; the shore is lined with white-sand beaches, palm trees, and many beautiful and tranquil beaches within a half-hour drive.