Itacaré was a fishing town that surfers found, and the shape of the place still follows from that. What makes it unusual is not one famous wave but the range: inside roughly twenty kilometres of coast there is a sheltered bay where people stand up for the first time and there is reef that only very experienced surfers should paddle out on, with most of the ladder in between. The water is warm enough to surf every month of the year. What changes with the season is how big and how heavy it gets.
When to come: the surf season
Itacaré is in the Southern Hemisphere, so the seasons run opposite to Europe and North America. April through September, the Brazilian winter, is when the swell is most consistent and most powerful. South and southeast groundswells run through those months and regularly put up waves between one and three metres, with more on the bigger days. April in particular tends to read well in the forecasts, with clean, well shaped waves on the exposed beaches.
October through March, the Brazilian summer, flattens out. The swell is smaller and less reliable, which is exactly what makes it the better half of the year to learn in. Put simply: if you are chasing size, come between April and September. If you are learning, come between October and March. There is surf in both, and the month by month picture for everything else is in when to come to Itacaré.
No wetsuit, in any month
The sea here sits somewhere between about 23 and 30 degrees through the year. Nobody in this town owns a wetsuit. Board shorts in July, board shorts in January. The season decides what the wave does, never whether you can get in.
Which wave suits which level
The short version, and the rest of this guide is the long one:
- First time on a board: Praia do Resende, where the water stays calm and forgiving.
- Finding your feet: Tiririca, Engenhoca and Prainha all give you something to work with without punishing a mistake too hard.
- Experienced: Itacarezinho on a bigger day, and Jeribucaçu for a heavier wave without the crowd.
- Advanced only: Corais, Boca da Barra and Pontal. Strong currents, reef, and remote access. Go with somebody who knows them.
One correction to the way this coast is often described: Pontal is not a beginner wave. It gets recommended as one because the inside looks manageable from the sand, and then the shore break, the cross currents and the rips do what they do. Learn at Resende instead.
Engenhoca
The longboard wave. Engenhoca peels long and mellow inside a half enclosed bay, with a channel on the left that stays clean even when it gets to double overhead. It is at its best in summer, when the bay is sheltered from the northeast wind. An east or southeast swell chops it up.
It is reached from the coast road and then a walk down through forest, which keeps it quieter than anything in town. More about the beach itself is on the Engenhoca page.
Tiririca
The heart of the local scene and the busiest wave here, because it is the one you can walk to from the centre. Tiririca gives short, fast, hollow waves almost year round, which is why it is also the most reliable. Cross currents drag towards the rocks on either side, and once it is overhead it is a wave for experienced surfers only. The beach is on the Tiririca page.
Jeribucaçu
A short, heavy right off the corner and a longer, equally heavy left off the middle, breaking over sand shaped by the rock underneath. The long, steep walk in keeps the numbers down, which makes Jeribucaçu the obvious alternative for shortboarders on a day Tiririca is full. Best on a three to four foot swell in the austral winter. The beach, and the river that runs out across it, is on the Jeribucaçu page.
Prainha
One of the most striking waves on this stretch, and it changes character completely with the season. In summer, roughly December to February, northeast swells wrap into the left corner and produce tubular left point breaks. In winter, southern swell and wind turn on a powerful right hander with an easy take off that runs into a heavy, shallow tube.
Pontal
Across the river mouth from town. The outer sandbars break big and slow while the inside peaks go fast and hollow. It is not a spot for beginners: the shore break makes getting in and out awkward, cross currents pull hard along the channels towards the outside, and rips can turn dangerous quickly. Pontal comes alive in the Brazilian winter, May to September, when swell and wind swing south.
Itacarezinho
Ten kilometres of open beach break, running from mellow peaks to very powerful and tubing depending on where you paddle out. The most consistent sections are towards the south end. Nearby, the reef at Pedra Preta throws a near perfect left in summer. Because it has sections for every level it is worth a look whenever the swell is up and the wind is down. The beach itself is on the Itacarezinho page.
Corais
Just past the lighthouse jetty that shelters Concha, Corais puts up long, clean left and right tubes over sharp rock with no channel to paddle through, which makes getting in and out the serious part. It only switches on with overhead surf and works best on a solid, clean east swell at low tide. Advanced only, and a barrel hunter's wave rather than anybody else's.
Boca da Barra
South of Pontal, at the river mouth. A right hander peels in from open sea all the way into Pontal beach and on a big winter swell can run one to two kilometres, which puts it among the longest rideable waves in Brazil. It is reachable with a short paddle from Concha. Out in open water orientation is difficult and cross currents pull you off the peak, so this is strictly for advanced surfers.
Lessons, and what they cost
Several established surf schools work in town and between them they teach every level, from a first lesson to coaching for people who already surf. Lessons are commonly taught in Portuguese, English and Spanish, and one to one coaching is available. Expect a lesson to start from around 150 reais. The schools people are pointed to most:
We list them without ranking them: nobody on this site has sat through a lesson at each one yet, and until that happens a ranking would be an opinion dressed as a fact. Each name links to its page here, which has a WhatsApp button where the school uses one.
Boards, and not bringing one
You do not need to travel with a board. Most of the surf schools and shops in town rent boards and stand up paddleboards by the day, from around 60 reais a day. If you are staying longer, a club membership works out better than daily hire and solves the problem of one shop only having what is on its own rack.
Surf's Up Club runs several pickup points in Itacaré, with a monthly plan you can cancel any time or pay as you go credits that do not expire. Both cover damage, so a ding does not become a bill, and the boards are proper shapes rather than worn out rental stock. It is genuinely useful if you want to switch between something mellow at Resende and something heavier at Tiririca in the same week. Their pickup points and plans are on their own site.
Surfing here safely
These are open Atlantic beaches with currents in them, several of the best waves break over reef or rock, and there are no lifeguards on the beaches south of town. Watch the water for ten minutes before you paddle out, go with somebody, and take the local read on a spot over your own on the first day. The rest of what catches visitors out is in the safety guide.
Getting to the breaks
Tiririca and Resende are a walk from the centre. Everything from Prainha south means the BA-001 and then a path down through forest, by bus, taxi or car. How that works in practice is in getting around Itacaré, and boards travel on the buses up from Ilhéus if you tell the driver before anything is loaded, which is covered in how to get here.
