Although it is Brazil's fourth largest city, Recife hasn't lost its traditional and cultural attractions to commercial development. The capital of Pernambuco state in northeast Brazil, Recife is a fluid mix of new and old.
It's a busy seaport, a commercial and trading center, with high rises, busy streets and business deals. It's also known for its artistic and folkloric traditions, music and dance.
Protected by the reef that gives the city its name, Recife is built around a number of inlets, canals and bridges, living up to its name as the "Venice of Brazil." It offers walkable tours, great beaches and lively arts and entertainment.
Click on the thumbnailmapsfor larger views of Olinda, Recife area and the beaches of Pernambuco, or this larger map of centralRecife.
When to Go:
Anytime! Recife has an average year round temperature in the 80's F, or 27C. See thisRecife Climate Graph.
However, the city puts on a great carnaval so you might want to schedule a visit to the Recife and Olinda carnivals in February/March, or to the off-season carnival, calledRecifolia,in October. Either occasion means thousands of visitors, so make your reservations early.
Getting and Staying There:
Recife has air, land and sea access. For air and land details, check theArrivinginformation. Checkflightsfrom your area. You can also browse for hotels and car rentals.
Recife is also a port of call for many cruise lines. SeeRecife Cruisesfor details.
Base your exploration of the city and region from one of thesehotels.
Things to do and See:
Beaches! One of the best is Boa Viagem, an upscale area, which is also offers most of the restaurants and nightclubs.
Take a walking tour of the old city from the Praca da Republica to the impressive, 19th-century Teatro Santa Isabel and then the Catedral de Sao Pedro dos Clerigos. Next, browse through the colorful Mercado do Sao Jose (Saint John's Market) for local arts and crafts and handiwork, including a special section for lace, and finish your walk at the Basilica de NS da Penha.
Watch a football (soccer) game. Recife is big on futebol!
Shop at Shopping Center Recife, Brazil's second largest shopping center.
Tour the Casa de Cultura. Once a prison, the buildings now house craft and souvenir shops, and are the locale for music and dance performances.
Olaria de Brennand is a ceramics factory with a display area of thousands of pieces.
Museo do Homen do Nordoeste displays anthropological and popular art and is considered to be Recife's best museum.
Olindais the reason many visitors travel to Recife. Olinda is a living museum, a UNESCO heritage city, and considered to be the origin of the entire Brazilian culture of the 16th century.
Carnaval! Two months before the actual date, the rehearsals start and theblocos, or carnival section or group, draw in hundreds of watchers. The main dance is thefrevo, an energetic, exhilarating experience. In Olinda, everybody participates. You'll need a costume.
In Olinda the Folclore Nordestino festival at the end of August is a highlight of dance and music from the entire northeastern region.
No matter when you go to Recife and or Olinda, tell us about your experience. Post a message in theforum.
If so, you are in the minority. According toChris Erskine of theLos Angeles Times, a mere 35 percent of Americans can legally travel to another country.
This year perhaps the most inspired thing you can do is give yourself permission toget a passport. If you already have one, then use it! From there, the art of adventure begins as you commit to starting a new adventure.
I was born inEcuadorand was raised traveling around the world. One could say that I am a lifelong adventure junkie.My life experiences taught me that travel is a vital form of yoga. If, as Shri Krishna Pattabhi Jois writes,“Yoga is 99% practice, 1% theory,”then we must do more than simply visualize our connection to the world. We need to actually experience and visit new places. Spending time with people outside our immediate circle becomes another way to live our Namaste.
Travel expands perspective and inspires enthusiasm. You return home different.
“The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences…”
~ Jon Krakauer,Into the Wild
Travel itself is an adventure because we typically face more unknown factors when we travel than in our normal daily lives.It is this ability to take a leap into the unknown with mindfulness and gracethat we bring back home with us. The ability to think big about who you are, how you live and what you can do in the world, whether it’s climbing volcanoes in South America, living in the rainforest in Hawaii, learning to surf in Puerto Vallarta or trying new foods in a nearby city. Ask yourself, when was the last time youtried something new? Have you been putting off taking an adventure?
Do you know how many countries there are in the world?
I have been fortunate to be globally aware because my parents felt that travel was an important part of my formal education. They, likeEuripedes, believed,“Experience, travel—these are an education in themselves.”
To celebrate my first birthday, we flew across the ocean and visited three countries. I celebrated my fifth birthday in Italy spending time in Spain and France, so by the age of five years old I had been to six countries. By the age of 10, I was up to 10 and the number has since grown to more than 20.My intention is to visit at least 100 countries in my lifetime,and to honor my world citizenship by owning three passports: American, Italian and Ecuadorian.
While this may not be your path,I encourage you to get curious and see more of the world.
As Frank Borman writes,“Exploration is the essence of the human spirit.”
Slows us down; gives us a break from our fast-paced lives.
Expands our awareness and introduces us to greater diversity.
Helps us break habits: mentally, physically and emotionally.
Gives us time to heal, reduces stress and helps us regain enthusiasm for life.
Awakens the inner child by offering us new, “first-time” experiences.
Promotes patience by releasing heavy expectations and allowing life to flow more organically.
Invites the opportunity to get lost and face one’s fears of the unknown.
Helps you get to know yourself better; the true you is rediscovered.
Travel is important because it fundamentally transforms us. Today, update your bucket list. Go somewhere new, try something adventurous in 2012 and become united with the world through travel.
Stingray City Tripswill take you to a sandbar where you can feed and stroke up to two dozen southern stingrays. You don’t have to get into the water: you can also view these slightly scary-looking fish from a glass-bottomed boat.
2. Zip-wire in St Lucia
The course takes you through the forest canopy, 30-50ft above the ground, on 500ft runs of cable. Children must be eight or older; helmets, hair nets, gloves and harnesses are provided.
3. Learn to surf in Barbados
The island’s rougher Atlantic east coast is excellent for surfing. Zed’s Surfing Adventures offers a six-hour programme for beginners, in two-hour segments, at Surfer’s Point. Cost is about £90 per person and classes are suitable for adults and children.
4. Hike through a cloud forest in Puerto Rico
The El Yunque rain forest is home to the highest mountain in the Caribbean, the Pico del Toro. For spectacular views, hike up the Mt Britton trail, through the cloud forest, to Mt Britton Tower. Waterproof clothing is essential.
5. Take the train in St Kitts
The railway was built between 1912 and 1926 to carry sugar cane from the plantations to the factory in the capital city of Basseterre. St Kitts Scenic Railwayis a three-hour circular route, with 18 miles by narrow-gauge train and 12 on sightseeing buses.
6. Paint in Jamaica
The Beaches Boscobel Resort & Golf runs a Crayola Art Camp, which gets children and adults making collages and creating murals. Advanced watercolour and oil pastel classes are also available.
7. Travel beneath the waves – a submarine tour in Aruba
The subs, which are specially designed for underwater sightseeing, descend to 120ft then spend 45 minutes among the coral, fish and sunken wrecks. Great for non-swimmers and children (minimum height: 3ft). Atlantis Adventures.
8 .Join a turtle watch in Nevis
Hawksbill and leatherback turtles bury their eggs on the Nevis beaches. Montpelier Plantation Innorganises night vigils fom early July to mid-August.
9. Dive in Curacao at full moon
Once a year, during a full moon – usually in late September – Curaçao’s coral reef species release millions of spawned eggs that light up the sea and attract a multitude of fish. Regaldive.
10. Practise sun salutes in ?Turks and Caicos
Parrot Cayoffers a selection of yoga retreats from April. The Yoga Shanti technique incorporates yogic and Buddhist teachings, as well as poetry and music.
11. Send your children to sports camp in Barbados
There’s free netball, football and cricket sports coaching on offer this summer at the Barbados Sports Camp 2008.The coaching will run on weekdays from August 5-29, for children aged 9-17, at the University of the West Indies, near Bridgetown.
12. Eat breadfruit in Jamaica
?If you stay in an international resort, you could easily miss out on this staple altogether. There’s no missing it at the annual Breadfruit Festival in August. Jamaica Tourist Board
13. Dive with sharks in the Bahamas
Stuart Coveoffers diving with Caribbean reef sharks in the reefs and coral walls of Nassau. The shark adventure is a two-tank scuba dive for experienced divers and costs about £70 per person.
14 .Gaze at the stars in Antigua
Jumby Bay resort has a resident astronomer, David Stubbs, who hosts star-gazing evenings on the beach.
15. Learn about volcanos in Montserrat
Visit the Montserrat Volcano Observatory. Watch the rumbling volcano through binoculars, take a boat to the devastated capital of Plymouth or visit the deserted and ash-filled houses near St George’s Hill. Montserrat tourism.
16. Ride a bike in St Lucia
BA Holidaysoffers its clients a four-hour bike ride with a guide, exploring the east coast’s lush forest trails. £26 per person including Jeep tour, bike and helmet.
17. Watch birds in Trinidad
Trinidad is a natural aviary on a major migratory route. Among species you are likely to encounter here are the Trinidad piping guan, bearded bellbird and scarlet ibis, Trinidad’s national bird. Trinidad and Tobago tourism.
18. Go racing in Barbados
There’s been racing at Garrison Savannah race track, just outside Bridgetown, for more than 100 years. You can sit under the trees with a picnic or buy a seat in the stands. The Barbados Turf Club.
19. Sign your children up for tennis in Mustique
The Cotton Cluboffers hour-long tennis lessons three times a week. Tuition focuses on strokes and strategy.
20. Take an aerial ?tram in Dominica
The hanging gondola goes through a mile of rainforest at the edge of the Morne Trois Pitons National Park, 30 minutes’ drive from Roseau. Gondolas seat eight and there is a guide to point out the many colourful plants and wildlife. Nature Island Destinations
21. Caving in Barbados
The open train will take you deep into Harrison’s Cave, a crystallised limestone cavern, where there is a magnificent array of stalactites and stalagmites.
22. Go to Sunday school in Tobago
This Sunday-evening event in Buccoo, on the south-west coast, is actually a festival of local steel bands playing everything from soca to classic oldies. Trinidad and Tobago tourism.
23. Kayak in St Lucia
Dive Fair Helenhas a three-hour kayaking tour which starts in Marigot Bay, on the west coast, and heads down the dramatic coastline as far as Anse la Raye. It has pick-up points at lots of resorts and hotels.
24. Swim under a waterfall in Grenada
Take the 45-minute trail through the rainforest to the Seven Sisters Falls, where you can swim in the numbingly cold water. Go with a guide who can drive you to the start of the hike and pick you up again at the end. Mandoo Tours.
25. Burn it up in the Bahamas
Take the family on a powerboat day to the Exuma CaysFirst stop is 4ft “dragon lizards” at Allans Cay. Then it’s off to snorkel, feed stingrays or sharks and enjoy a nature walk.
26. Dive and dine on lobsters in Nevis
Guests at the Four Seasons resortcan go diving and search out the elusive Nevisian spiny lobster, lasso it, learn how to prepare and cook it, then tuck into a sumptuous seafood feast. Around £900 per couple.
27. Swim with dolphins in the Bahamas
Helped by a hand-held scooter, you can swim with dolphins in the lagoons at Dolphin Cay, Atlantis Resort. The highlight is the “foot-push,” where a pair of dolphins - one per foot - propel you across the lagoon.
28. Saddle up in Bermuda
Take an early-morning ride along the empty South Shore beaches and through the sand dunes, either with a group or à deux. Cost is around £40 per person for a 1½-hour ride. Spicelands Riding Centre
29. Bathe in light in Puerto Rico
Mosquito Bay, in Vieques, is full of tiny bioluminescent organisms, which dart away from moving objects leaving phosphorescent blue-white trails like microscopic underwater glow-worms. Magical for all ages.
30. Be a pirate in the Bahamas
The island was crawling with pirates in the 17th century. There’s a great interactive pirate museum in Nassauwhere you can board a replica pirate ship and learn all about their dastardly trade.
31 .Party in Antigua
Sunday night is party night as tourists and locals gather between 4pm and 10pm at Shirley Heights for a knees-up (it happens on Thursday evenings too, when it’s less crowded and more suitable for children).
32 .Learn to scuba-dive in Tobago
A day’s course at Pigeon Point beach and one open-water dive costs about £36. The full PADI Diver Certification which includes two dives costs about £130. Scuba Adventure Safari.
33. Spot humpbacks in the Dominican Republic
Eighty per cent of the world’s humpback whale population mates and calves in the Bay of Samana between January and mid-March. Take a boat tour with Phipps Marine Tours.
34. Visit original plantation buildings in Anguilla
You see plenty of plantation houses in the Caribbean (most are now hotels), but at Wall Blake House,built in 1787, there’s ?a whole complex of restored buildings, including kitchen, stables and workers’ quarters.
35. Eat a soursop in Antigua
If you’ve never tried one, you’re in for a treat as the pale flesh of this dark green, spiky fruit has the taste and texture of crème anglaise. It’s a regular on the menu at Hermitage Bay.
36. See rum made in Grenada...
Rum is made on many of the islands, and most distilleries welcome visitors, including River Antoine in Grenada which boasts the oldest functioning water-propelled system in the Caribbean. Grenada tourism.
37…But drink the best rum cocktail in Nevis
Everybody has a view on who makes the best rum cocktail, of course, but a Killer Bee from Sunshine’s beach barin Nevis is a definite contender. It’s made from a secret recipe that includes rum and more rum.
38. Learn to Sail in the BVIs
Sunsail offers two courses in Tortola taught by Royal Yacht Association instructors, one for beginners and one called the Day Skipper course, which leads to a qualification allowing you to skipper a small yacht in familiar water. Both start at £450.
39. Have a ‘desert island’ BBQ in Anguilla
It’s crowded and touristy, but you can’t leave Anguilla without going to the barbecue restaurant on tiny Sandy Island. There’s a free shuttle from the mainland every 20 minutes and once you get there, there’s nothing to do but eat, swim and snorkel and enjoy the loud, live music. Teens love it.
40. Gorge on chocolate in Grenada
You smell The Grenada Chocolate Company, housed in a pretty gingerbread building, well before you see it. Watch the various stages of production then buy slabs of the chocolate and drinking chocolate powder to take home.
41. Sip a martini in Jamaica
There are lots of places associated with 007-creator Ian Fleming in Jamaica. Have a martini at Goldeneye resort, in Orcabessa, where Fleming lived and wrote several of the James Bond novels.
42. Snorkel around the Grenadines
Palm Island resortoffers a wonderful snorkeling trip to the marine park in the Tobago Cays. There are lots of little islets south of Canouan with some of the most spectacular coral reefs in the world.
43. Get shipwrecked in the Virgin Islands
?Or at least, explore one of the world’s most famous wrecks, the Royal Mail steamship, Rhone, which sank in the area in 1867. For non-divers, there’s a great shipwreck museum at Saba Rock run by wreck diving expert Bert Kilbride.
44. Try t’ai chi in Grenada
T’ai chi is just one of several holistic activities – not to mention many non-holistic ones – on offer at La Source resort.The all-inclusive rates also include one spa treatment day.
45. Kite-surf in St Martin
Wind Adventuresreckons you can learn to kite-surf in just a few hours in Orient Bay. You can learn in a class or with private tuition; courses for children are also available.
46. Fly across the BVis ?on a seaplane
A ride on a seaplane is expensive but terrific fun. Seaborne Airlines operates between St Thomas and St Croix, and Tortola and Virgin Gorda, from around £60 per person for a round trip.
47. Drink Blue Mountain coffee in Jamaica
The Blue Mountains lie to the north of Kingston and you can trek to the top of the highest peak in a few hours. Whitfield Hallis a coffee farm and lodge on the main trail – stay there or just stop for a cup of estate-grown coffee.
48. Catch a Blue Marlin in Puerto Rico
The Caribbean offers some of the best fishing in the world and the waters around Puerto Rico are about as good as it gets. Caribbean Outfitters, based in Cangrejos yacht club, runs a wide variety of trips, from about £250 for half a day.
49. Eat fish in Barbados
The Friday-night fish-fry in Oistins is worth doing once. Essentially, it’s lots of people, lots of fried fish from roadside stalls and lots of loud music.
50. Go to the sales in St Barths
The island’s designer shops may be duty- free but they’re still expensive - prices drop dramatically in June and October.
Protected by the reef that gives the city its name, Recife is built around a number of inlets, canals and bridges, living up to its name as the "Venice of Brazil." It offers walkable tours, great beaches and lively arts and entertainment..jpg)
