Lençóis Maranhenses

Currency budget Brazil

Barreirinhas takes cards in the pousadas, the agencies and most restaurants; Atins and Santo Amaro are mostly cash, and Pix — which needs a Brazilian account anyway — depends on a signal that comes and goes. Bring cash from São Luís or Barreirinhas for anything beyond Barreirinhas, in small notes.

ATMs & cards

Barreirinhas is the only base with banks: Banco do Brasil, Bradesco, Caixa and Banco do Nordeste. Atins and Santo Amaro have none at all. Withdraw what you need for the whole stay before leaving Barreirinhas, decline the machine's conversion, and ask your pousada in advance whether it takes cards.

Barreirinhas is the only one of the three bases with banks. Withdraw there, or in São Luís, for the whole stay.

Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.

Safety all of Brazil

Crime is not the issue here. The dunes are: there is no shade, no landmark, and nothing to follow, and people who walk off alone get lost. Go in with a guide, carry more water than seems reasonable, and stay out of the dunes at the hottest part of the day. Hold on in the back of the 4x4s, which bounce hard over the sand tracks.

Our own assessment, not a sourced index.

Entry & visa Brazil visa rules

Health & emergencies all of Brazil

Required to enter

• Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present

Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.

Food tip

Maranhão has its own table: arroz de cuxá, rice with a sour green sauce of vinegar leaf and dried shrimp; fried fish from the river; and Guaraná Jesus, the pink local soda. In Atins, the grilled shrimp at the Canto do Atins, reached by 4x4 over the dunes, is a reason to go.

Getting around

• 4x4 — the park is entered in open-backed 4x4 trucks with a licensed driver, booked by the half-day circuit from Barreirinhas
• Boat — down the Preguiças river to Vassouras, Mandacaru and Caburé, a full day, and the usual way on to Atins
• On foot — the dunes themselves, only with a guide; the multi-day crossing from Atins to Santo Amaro is the walk to do
• Van — shared vans and buses between São Luís and Barreirinhas, cheaper than a transfer and about as slow
• Airport: São Luís, then about four hours by road to Barreirinhas

eSIM

A data eSIM for Brazil, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:Works hereWorks hereRevolutIn the app

Must-see

Nearby day trips

Say a few words

Portuguese (Brazilian)

• HelloOi / Oláoy / o-LA
• PleasePor favorpor fa-VOR
• Thank youObrigado / Obrigadao-bree-GA-doo / -da
• Yes / NoSim / Nãoseeng / nowng

Softer and more open than European Portuguese, and the de sounds like "dje".

Religion

Catholic and Evangelical

The largest Catholic population in the world, with a fast-growing Evangelical share and Afro-Brazilian traditions such as Candomblé and Umbanda practised alongside.

Do's and don'ts

Do

• Greet with a kiss on each cheek between women, or a woman and a man; a handshake between men
• Expect physical closeness in conversation — standing back reads as cold
• Arrive late to social invitations; on time is genuinely early
• Learn a few words of Portuguese, and never open in Spanish

Don't

• Do not make the OK sign with finger and thumb — it is obscene here
• Do not walk with a phone visible in the street
• Do not wear obvious jewellery or watches on the beach or in the city
• Do not call Brazilians Hispanic or assume they speak Spanish