Surfing in Brazil

Surf Brazil - Quick Facts
LOCATION: Eastern South America
POPULATION: 200 million
NATIONALITY: Brazilian (like the wax job)
LANGUAGE: Portuguese
CURRENCY: Reais

Brazil takes up half the east coast of South America and is the fifth largest country by area. Brazil was a colony of Portugal (hence the local language) until its independence in 1822. Brazil is famous for its Football, which the locals are fanatic about and which is the most popular sport. The national side have won the World Cup five times as of 2008 and is hosting the 2014 tournament.

Brazil has a huge range of different waves, great consistency of swell and has surf to suit all skill ranges. Sounds good so far eh! The deep south of Brazil is the best place, it has bigger swells and more variety than further north. The island of Santa Catarina has the best that Brazil has to offer with quality waves such as Santinho and Mocambique.

Other spots recommended to Surfing-Waves.com are Fernando de Noronha Island - small island in north of the country with huge swells and reef breaks (also one of the best places on earth for scuba diving). There's a WQS competition that takes place here every year. Conditions here may vary to 15 feet with lefts and rights. The second is Saquarema, a small village 1 1/2 hours drive from Rio de Janeiro, conditions are very good year round, near by there are 18 miles of beaches with similar conditions. Usually very good and also known as the place for National surfing Competitions.

Many of the swells are generated by the deep low pressures that track past cape horn, sending swells northwards throughout the year, although April to October are the best. The size of the waves at this time of year can be anything from between 2 to 10ft, sometimes bigger - and there are spots that happily handle all sizes.



One of the main problems with surfing in Brazil is that the sport is very popular and breaks can get very crowded. That said, it is always possible to find uncrowded surf if you are willing to put yourself out, grab a car and a map and search out some classic spots. Time your trip right and get to party in Rio for the Carnival - well worth the trip but plan well in advance.

Our Brazil surf map relies on submissions from you, our visitors. If you have helpful suggestions, Brazil surf camp suggestions or similar, please consider sharing them.

Surfing Brazil - The Good
Great Consistency
Huge Variety

Surf Brazil - The Bad and the Ugly
Can Get Crowded
Can Get Very Wet Weather (not that it matters if you are in the water for the duration of your stay!)
High levels of crime in some areas.

Brazil Surfing Conditions

If you have information on surfing in Brazil we would like to know. Tell us how good or bad your surfing vacation was by posting your trip details on our Surf Forum.

The CIA have a huge amount of non-surfing related information on the country of Brazil.