Recife and Olinda
Brazil
A port city of rivers and bridges, and a colonial hill town twenty minutes up the coast
Photo by Nat Belfort on Unsplash
Photos by Denys, Datingjungle, thiago japyassu and thiago japyassu on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Brazil
September to February
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 391mm in Jun
Where it is
8.06°S, 34.88°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Walk Olinda's hill from the Alto da Sé down to the Mosteiro de São Bento in the morning, before the heat
- Spend a half-day at the Instituto Ricardo Brennand, and take a car — it is out at Várzea
- See frevo at the Paço do Frevo before you see it in the street
- Swim at Boa Viagem only in the reef pools at low tide, and read the shark signs
- Go to Carnival in Olinda for the giant puppets, and to Recife's Galo da Madrugada on the Saturday
- Visit the Sunday craft fair on Rua do Bom Jesus
Recife and Olinda travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Brazil
Good valueCards work almost everywhere, and Pix — the instant transfer every stall and driver takes — needs a Brazilian bank account, so a visitor is on cards and a little cash. Change money at a casa de câmbio in a shopping centre rather than at the airport, and carry small notes for Olinda's tapioca stalls, the beach and Carnival, when card machines and phone signal both give up.
ATMs & cards
Use Banco do Brasil, Bradesco, Itaú or Santander machines inside branches or shopping centres — Shopping Recife in Boa Viagem and RioMar are the easy ones — in daylight. Avoid street kiosks at night. Decline the machine's own conversion and take modest amounts; Olinda's historic centre has very few machines, so withdraw in Recife first.
Avoid these
- street kiosks at night
- machines in Olinda's historic centre, which are few and often empty
Use these instead
- Banco do Brasil
- Bradesco
- Itaú
- Santander
Machines inside shopping centres in Boa Viagem are the easy choice. Withdraw before going up to Olinda.
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
Stay alertRecife has a real problem with phone and bag snatching, and most of what happens to visitors is that: a phone held out on a pavement, on a bus, or at a traffic light in a car with the window down. Use app cars after dark, even for short distances, and keep the phone in a pocket on the street. At Boa Viagem the shark warnings are real — swim only inside the reef at low tide. Olinda's centre is quiet and pleasant by day and empties quickly at night.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (8 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
- Boa Viagem — the seafront avenue, where most visitors stay
- Olinda historic centre — by day
- Recife Antigo — by day, and on the busy streets in the evening
Worth more attention
- Praia de Boa Viagem — sharks: signs line the beach and surfing has been banned for decades — swim only inside the reef at low tide, never in murky water after rain
- Recife Antigo — once the bars close, when the streets empty fast — take a car from the door
- Mercado de São José — phones and bags in the crowded streets around it
- Olinda historic centre — the quiet lanes after dark, outside Carnival
- Phones held out on the street or at a car window — the commonest thing that happens to visitors here
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Brazil visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
Other passports
e-Visa requiredup to 90 days$80
Brazil reintroduced visas for these three nationalities. It is an e-visa applied for online.
Visa required in advance
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Brazil
Good but costlyRequired to enter
- Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Yellow fever — recommended for most of Brazil including the area around Rio
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
Getting treated
Public emergency care (SUS) is free to everyone including foreigners, but is crowded and slow. Private hospitals in Rio and São Paulo are excellent and expect insurance or payment up front.
Dengue, zika and chikungunya are all present and mosquito-borne — repellent matters. Yellow fever vaccination should be given at least 10 days before arrival.
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
Very goodPernambuco has its own sweets and its own breakfast: bolo de rolo, a cake rolled as thin as paper around guava paste, and cartola, fried banana under melted cheese, sugar and cinnamon. Eat tapioca from the stalls on the Alto da Sé in Olinda, carne de sol with macaxeira for lunch, and caldinho de feijão — bean broth in a small cup — at the bar.
Travel tipsNightlife
Frevo, maracatu and manguebeat came out of this city, and the evening is live music in the old port and the bars on Olinda's hill.
- Rua da Moeda — the bars of Recife Antigo
- Olinda historic centre — small bars and live music on the hill, best at weekends
- Boa Viagem — the bars along and just behind the seafront
Closing: Around 02:00, later on Friday and Saturday, and not at all during Carnival.
Carnival here is street Carnival: Galo da Madrugada fills central Recife on the Saturday, and Olinda's hill is a single crowd for five days.
Getting around
Workable- UberWorks here
- 99Works here
- inDriveWorks here
- BoltNot here
99 the Brazilian one, often cheaper
- Against a taxi
- Cheaper than a taxi and, in the big cities, the default for everybody.
Some favela and periphery addresses will not be accepted by drivers at night; that is a driver safety decision, not a fare one.
Time zone and your working day
America/Recife — 1 hour ahead of you
7 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–16:00 your time, 10:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 08:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 08:00–16:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
eSIM
A data eSIM for Brazil, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:
Works here
Works hereRevolutIn the app
Must-see
Travel tipsNearby day trips
Travel tipsSay a few words
Portuguese (Brazilian)
- HelloOi / Oláoy / o-LA
- PleasePor favorpor fa-VOR
- Thank youObrigado / Obrigadao-bree-GA-doo / -da
- Yes / NoSim / Nãoseeng / nowng
4 more phrases
- Excuse meCom licençakong lee-SEN-sa
- How much is it?Quanto custa?KWAN-too KOOS-ta
- The bill, pleaseA conta, por favora KON-ta
- Cheers!Saúde!sa-OO-djee
Softer and more open than European Portuguese, and the de sounds like "dje".
Travel tipsReligion
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.
Travel tipsDo'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
Where to stay in Recife and Olinda
No Holistay rentals in Recife and Olinda yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Recife and Olinda on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Guararapes REC
25 minfrom the airport· 9 km as the crow flies
25 min to Recife Antigo, 45 min to Olinda.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
