Buzios

Buzios is a peninsula ringed with more than twenty beaches, and choosing one each morning is the main business of a stay. The two sides of the peninsula are quite different. On the sheltered bay side, Ferradura, Joao Fernandes, Azeda and Tartaruga are calm, clear coves, good for floating and snorkelling and gentle enough for small children. On the open Atlantic side, Geriba and Tucuns are long, sandy and surfable, with beach bars, crowds and a sociable scene in summer.

The sea is clear but cooler than many expect this far into the tropics. Cold upwelling off the coast can pull the water below 20°C on some days, while the bay coves usually sit in the low to mid twenties in summer. Water taxis and schooners hop between the smaller coves, some of which are hard to reach by land. December to March is high season, and the coves fill up at weekends and around New Year and Carnival.

For a town of its size, Buzios eats well. Its years as a resort for Argentine and Rio visitors left it with plenty of restaurants along Rua das Pedras and the Orla Bardot waterfront, many of them serving grilled fish, moqueca, shrimp dishes and Mediterranean-leaning menus, with tables looking over the bay at sunset. The beaches have their own kiosks selling grilled cheese on sticks, fried fish, coconut water and caipirinhas.

The range is still a resort's range. You won't find a big market, a street-food culture or much regional cooking beyond the coastal seafood, and dining in the centre is aimed squarely at visitors. It suits relaxed evenings out after the beach, not travellers who plan their trips around food.

Buzios has very little to see in the conventional sense. The old fishing village survives in a few low whitewashed streets, the small chapel of Sant'Ana on its hill above the bay and the colourful boats pulled up on Ossos beach. The bronze statue of Brigitte Bardot on the waterfront marks her stay in the 1960s, which made the town famous. There are no museums or landmarks of any weight. Visitors come for the coast, and an hour of wandering covers the sights.

Rua das Pedras, the stone-paved main street, is where evenings happen. People eat late, then move on to lounge bars and small clubs that keep going into the early hours during summer, and the street fills with a well-dressed crowd from Rio, Sao Paulo and Argentina. New Year and Carnival bring beach parties and the busiest nights of the year.

Out of season it is a different town. Many places shorten their hours or close midweek, and a night out often amounts to a drink by the water after dinner. The scene is fun but small, and it depends heavily on the calendar.

The scenery is coastal: a rocky, scrub-covered peninsula with headlands, small islands and bays of very clear water. The best way to see it is from the water. Schooner and boat trips circle the coves, snorkellers find turtles and reef fish in the sheltered bays, and the steady wind at Rasa and Manguinhos makes the town a kitesurfing and windsurfing base. Short coastal trails link some of the beaches and lead to viewpoints over the ocean.

Arraial do Cabo, under an hour away, has some of the best diving on the Brazilian coast. Inland the land is low and dry, with no mountains or forest hiking close by.

There isn't much to visit beyond the peninsula. Cabo Frio, half an hour away, is a larger beach town with a seventeenth-century fort at the mouth of its canal. Arraial do Cabo, a little further, is mostly visited for its sea and boat trips. The coast towards Rio das Ostras has a few quieter villages. Rio de Janeiro is about three hours by road, so it is better treated as a separate stay than as a day out.

For young children the bay beaches are the draw. Ferradura, Joao Fernandes and Tartaruga have calm, shallow water and sand to dig in, and boat trips with snorkelling stops keep older children busy. Pousadas with pools are common, and Brazilian family culture makes children welcome in restaurants late into the evening. On the other hand, there are no attractions built for children: no zoo, aquarium or parks to speak of. Rua das Pedras gets crowded at night, and moving between beaches means hills and taxis rather than easy walks.

The centre, around Rua das Pedras, the Orla Bardot and Armacao beach, is small and easy to walk. Everything else is spread across a hilly peninsula. Local buses run along the main road but are basic and infrequent for a visitor's purposes, so most people use taxis, hire beach buggies or quad bikes, or take the water taxis that run between the bay beaches. Some roads have no pavements. Getting there from Rio's airport means a road transfer of about three hours.

The shopping is resort boutique shopping, and it's better than you might expect. Rua das Pedras and the lanes around it have Brazilian beachwear and swimwear labels, linen clothing, jewellery and a few art galleries, and they stay open late for strolling after dinner. An evening craft fair sells handmade jewellery and souvenirs. Beyond that there is little: no department stores, no market of any size, and only a short list of shops once you leave the centre.

Buzios is one of the more expensive places on the Brazilian coast. Boutique pousadas and waterfront restaurants charge resort prices, and over New Year, Carnival and summer weekends rooms cost far more and sell out early. Taxis and boat trips add up because so much of the town is spread out. Beach kiosks, simple per-kilo lunch places and the quieter months from April to November make it much more manageable. Overall it costs about what a mid-range vacation in Southern Europe would.

Live performance in Buzios means musicians playing bossa nova, samba and Brazilian pop in waterfront restaurants and bars on summer evenings. It's pleasant as a backdrop to dinner, but that is the whole of it. The town has no theatre, concert hall or regular cultural programme to plan an evening around.

There is no bathing tradition here. Wellness comes from the pousadas and resorts on the hillsides, many of which have small spas, massage rooms and pools looking out to sea. The town's real offer is its pace: a day built around a cove, a long lunch and a sunset over the bay is restful, especially between April and November when the crowds are gone. In high season the centre and the popular beaches are busy and loud, and a quiet stay means choosing a pousada away from Rua das Pedras.