“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” – Pele (Brazil’s football superstar)
Going to Ubatuba was suggested to me by my friend from São Paolo when she found out that we are going to Brazil. We initially planned to drive from Rio to São Paolo city and she said a stop for a night or 2 at Ubatuba will be best because it’s in the middle or border of these 2 cities.
However, when we decided to stay for 2 nights at Paraty, we thought of just ending our roadtrip until Ubatuba only before going back to Rio de Janeiro. And this place didn’t disappoint us, indeed, we got all the relaxation we need!
See my separate entry for Rio de Janeiro, HERE.
See my separate entry for Paraty, HERE.
We stayed at Pousada de Praia do Félix, which is just in front of the Felix Beach. This is my friend’s favorite getaway and I thanked her for sharing it to me because the pousada (hotel) is surrounded by rainforest or jungle but a quiet pristine beach is just outside the gate we don’t need to go anywhere.
Although, we needed to drive a bit far to reach the town centre to get something to eat, it didn’t bother us because the town centre looked too commercialize for me anyway. We’d rather stay at the beach by our pousada and be lazy all day, lol!
Ubatuba is just an hour drive away from Paraty along BR-101, so that makes 4-5 hour drive away from Rio de Janeiro, same driving time going to São Paolo too. This makes Ubatuba a popular holiday destination and not just a weekend getaway to Brazilians, and popular to tourists too because
Ubatuba is known as the best surfing beach because of its wave and it’s called the Surf Capital of São Paolo, especially the Itamambuca Beach.
Although, it rained for 2 days in Ubatuba whilst we were there. Drizzles during the day and heavy rains at night, the weather got better only on our 3rd day when we were already on our way back to Rio de Janeiro. But that’s fine because the sun wasn’t too strong so my husband has enough time to heal his sunburns haha!
Ubatuba is known also for its continuous rain even on summers because of being in a rainforest. It is even called by the locals as Uba Chuva, chuva meaning rain.
Even if it was 4-5 hour drive going back to Rio de Janeiro, it didn’t matter to us. The weather was great and we felt recharged. However, we got lost on our way back because we decided to become more adventurous by taking the road along the coastline of Rio de Janeiro and not the highway at the inner city that GPS kept on directing us.
Although, we get to see Barra de Tijuca (where wealthy people lives), it was a stupid idea because we nearly end up in a favela! We were driving along the coastline when suddenly roads get narrower and dodgier, we don’t normally lock our doors but we did it that time, and we avoid eye contact with people on every traffic light haha! It was a relief when we finally got out of it. Never, ever, do this! 😛
Well, it can’t be a nearly perfect trip if there are no misadventures right? We were successful getting recharged and relaxed even with some hiccups in between. As they say, success is sweet but is not without a struggle 😉
