  Whether you were drawn here by my photos or someone else's, I can guarantee that after seeing photos of the Lencois Maranhenses in Brazil, you immediately wanted to go! That's my story--or part of it. Jet is Brazilian, if you didn't know, and when he announced that his parents were having their 50th anniversary in Brazil this year, and that we would be going, I knew that I could jump at the opportunity to plan our own little tour of his home country, including this incredible-looking desert filled with freshwater lagoons! It had been 10 years since we last visited here, afterall, and with a country this big, there are no shortage of places to visit!  If you're planning a trip to Brazil and considering adding the Lencois Maranhenses to your itinerary, or even if you're considering Brazil as a destination specifically for them, then let me encourage your decision! It is such an incredible place and unbelievable destination! Obviously the pictures don't do it justice! The anticipation and excitement the first time you see the glaring edge of a sand dune on the horizon, or the first time you hike your way up a dune and peek over at your first turquoise-blue lagoon, is truly an unforgettable experience! We spent hours just roaming and swimming and exploring the lagoons, and those few days we spent here were the highlight of my trip to Brazil (except seeing family, of course)! So once you have convinced yourself it is worth going, you're ready to start planning how to get here. It's not an easy place to get to, as you probably guessed, otherwise I'm sure we'd be seeing more of these pictures everywhere. It REALLY helped that Jet speaks Portuguese, and without a translator, things can get tricky. Freshen up your Portuguese or download a translating app on your phone before you go. Or try to make all of your arrangements for transport ahead of time, through your hotels or B&B. To help you, here are my best tips for getting to the Lencois Maranhenses, and where to stay once you're out there!
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 In Brazil, a nap in a rede (hammock) after a meal is a necessity! |  Our amazing meal in Cabure--fresh filet of fish from the Amazon. One of the best meals in Brazil! |
IV. Tours of the Lencois Maranhenses - Itinerary
Once you're in Atins, or Barrierinhas, start making your plans with your hotel accommodations for a tour into the park. You can't just walk in--it's way too far from town. And riding in the back of the 4x4 trucks is half the fun! I'll outline a couple of options for you.
Most tours are about 4 hours. You're not going to want to spend 8 hours in the park anyway. Book either the morning tour or the sunset tour. All of the different agencies pretty much offer the same thing. I wouldn't worry too much about "shopping around" for the best deal. Everyone knows everyone in these small towns, especially in the tourist circuit, and they all do the same thing!
The morning tour leaves between 8-9am and the sunset tour leaves around 3-4pm. We opted for the morning tour on day 1, and the sunset tour on day 2, to get the full experience.
Most tours are about 4 hours. You're not going to want to spend 8 hours in the park anyway. Book either the morning tour or the sunset tour. All of the different agencies pretty much offer the same thing. I wouldn't worry too much about "shopping around" for the best deal. Everyone knows everyone in these small towns, especially in the tourist circuit, and they all do the same thing!
The morning tour leaves between 8-9am and the sunset tour leaves around 3-4pm. We opted for the morning tour on day 1, and the sunset tour on day 2, to get the full experience.
i. Day 1 - The Capivara
We did our first tour on day 1 with Cassia, a friendly woman who we met as she was dropping off some other tourists for the day at our hotel. For 70 reais each, she arranged our transport into the desert, about a 30 minute drive, along with our Scottish family, and another couple. The truck took us to the entrance of the park (apparently trucks and other vehicles are not allowed in the park--some follow the rules, some don't, since we often saw trucks in the park) and from there we walked about half a mile to the Capivara, a region just inside the entrance to the park where several lagoons intersect.
And what did we do four the next two hours? Enjoy the lagoons! Take a million pictures! Slide down the sand dunes! Swim in the lagoons and stare out at the view!
Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect, I thought we would be "touring" the park by truck, but honestly, it's not much of a tour, it's really just you walking around enjoying the scenery after disembarking the truck ride. Cassia shared a little info here and there with us, but mostly it was just Jet and myself venturing off on our own, climbing the dunes and swimming in the lagoons. There's really no need for a tour, I guess, even though we were expecting one. The good news is though that the park is HUGE and no matter how many people in your group, you can always walk a few hundred meters in one direction, and be completely alone and find your very own lagoon!
All of the pictures below are from day 1 of our tour into the desert!
ii. Day 2 - Lagoa Tropical
On day 2 we did a quad ride into the desert at sunset. We arranged it through our hotel. Two quads pulled up to our hotel at 3pm. Jet rode the first quad, and the guide rode the second quad into the park. It took about 40 minutes of driving through dirt roads with sections of knee deep water and mud and across narrow wooden bridges until we reached sand. I didn't drive because it was stick shift, but later I decided it wouldn't have been too hard to drive it. It was such a fun ride!
It was the same deal once we were in the park as the first tour--meaning there really wasn't much of a "tour". We just parked the quads and spent a few hours exploring the area. This time we were taken to Lagoa Tropical. The dunes were a little higher here, and we were able to walk around and enjoy the sunset. You can see in the pictures just how different the sunset is from the daytime. The colors are spectacular, and the dunes take on a whole new personality. Honestly, it was all a dream to me!
iii. Day 3 - Lagoa Azul
On day 3, after staying 3 nights in Atins, we actually got up early and headed back to Barreirinhas. I wanted to see what all the fuss was over Lagoa Azul!
We left Atins on the public transfer boat that we avoided on the way there and made our way back to Barreirinhas by 10 am. There we were, with all of our luggage, walking around town. We called Marcilio again, and he referred us to his tour agency, Alternativa Trip Turismo. After speaking with them, they arranged for us to store our luggage at their hotel, eat breakfast on the third floor terrace, and join the 12pm tour to Lagoa Azul. They even let us use their SHOWER in one of the hotel rooms after the trip into the desert before our four hour bus ride back to Sao Luis. Do you know how amazing that felt, that I didn't have to sit with a sandy bottom for our four-hour bus ride? Their rooms were basic but clean and had nice views of the port. I didn't stay here but I would definitely recommend them for their hospitality!
And the Lagoa Azul was absolutely GORGEOUS! You'd think one would get sick of seeing the same desert three days in a row, but NO WAY! I felt like each corner of the park had its own beauty, and I could probably spend weeks or months exploring every corner of this desert!
We left Atins on the public transfer boat that we avoided on the way there and made our way back to Barreirinhas by 10 am. There we were, with all of our luggage, walking around town. We called Marcilio again, and he referred us to his tour agency, Alternativa Trip Turismo. After speaking with them, they arranged for us to store our luggage at their hotel, eat breakfast on the third floor terrace, and join the 12pm tour to Lagoa Azul. They even let us use their SHOWER in one of the hotel rooms after the trip into the desert before our four hour bus ride back to Sao Luis. Do you know how amazing that felt, that I didn't have to sit with a sandy bottom for our four-hour bus ride? Their rooms were basic but clean and had nice views of the port. I didn't stay here but I would definitely recommend them for their hospitality!
And the Lagoa Azul was absolutely GORGEOUS! You'd think one would get sick of seeing the same desert three days in a row, but NO WAY! I felt like each corner of the park had its own beauty, and I could probably spend weeks or months exploring every corner of this desert!
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V. Tips & Advice
Here are a few tips that came to mind when writing this article about Maranhao, the Lencois Maranhenses, and Atins:
As you travel around Maranhao and to the Lencois Maranhenses, keep in mind that the entire region is still very undiscovered. This is the one appeal for visiting the Lencois Maranhenses. Mass tourism has not reached this region of Brazil, even though most Brazilians know about the desert and have seen pictures of it, it's still unknown elsewhere in the world. There were plenty of tourists, though. Most of the other tourists we encountered were from Brazil and Europe. We didn't meet any other Americans. And most of them were carrying around the same dog-eared copy of Lonely Planet Brazil that we were reading. That's why I wrote this article--there aren't too many other blog posts in English that give you the lowdown on visiting this region! And I was happy to write it and share my experiences with you!
The pictures speak for themselves about this region of Brazil. It was truly magical and was an amazing place! I would do the same trip over again if I could! I hope you enjoyed my pictures! Let me know if you have any questions about the Lencois Maranhenses, Maranhao, or even visiting Brazil in general!
- Bring enough cash for your entire trip! I don't remember seeing an atm anywhere, and although some restaurants and hotels take credit card, cash is still king.
- In the rainy season in Atins, the "roads" can fill with water and be impossible to walk through. You need a ride in a quad to get from, say, your hotel to the restaurant for dinner, or back to the hotel. It was a bit of a surprise to us to leave dinner and find several guys in quads waiting outside the restaurant. Turns out they're like the UberQuad--for 10-20 reais, they can shuttle you around town in their quad (since there are not cars here) so you don't have to walk! Very convenient--but bring a few extra reais with you to dinner and be prepared to haggle!
- Bring water on your trips to the desert because the day "tours" don't provide it to you. We did our entire quad tour without water...
- Be patient with your waiters, tour guides, cashiers, and hotel staff. The residents of Atins and Barreirinhas are already used to the expectations and needs of all the tourists who visit. They are also used to doing the same thing for every tourist that comes their way--over and over again. Because of this, there is some personal attention lacking in the service industry with most of the waiters, tour operators, and hotel staff that we encountered. That might just built into the Brazilian culture, however. Service is slow and they aren't worried about appeasing you, just because you're paying for something. Waiters, tour guides, cashiers, etc. don't fawn over you the way they do in the US. They don't work for a tip. This can be refreshing to some (they don't have to worry about shelling out the extra cash) and frustrating to others (complaining to the manager for shitty service won't get you anywhere, here!) They also seem to be lacking in any kind of originality in services. I guess I would tell you to lower your expectations a little when dealing with this region that is newer to the tourism game. Don't be rude, and be patient. Not everyone is trying to take advantage of you! I think out of all the places we visited in Brazil, the people in Maranhao were the most trust-worthy and easy going!
- Lastly, keep in mind that most of the area is very far removed from the main cities of Brazil, so don't expect grandeur when you go. Electricity can be spotty, transportation may be substandard, cell service is unreliable, there's sand EVERYWHERE, including your room, and don't expect all of the amenities you may be used to when near a big city. Unless you're staying at La Ferme de Georges, your accommodations might be quite rustic!
As you travel around Maranhao and to the Lencois Maranhenses, keep in mind that the entire region is still very undiscovered. This is the one appeal for visiting the Lencois Maranhenses. Mass tourism has not reached this region of Brazil, even though most Brazilians know about the desert and have seen pictures of it, it's still unknown elsewhere in the world. There were plenty of tourists, though. Most of the other tourists we encountered were from Brazil and Europe. We didn't meet any other Americans. And most of them were carrying around the same dog-eared copy of Lonely Planet Brazil that we were reading. That's why I wrote this article--there aren't too many other blog posts in English that give you the lowdown on visiting this region! And I was happy to write it and share my experiences with you!
The pictures speak for themselves about this region of Brazil. It was truly magical and was an amazing place! I would do the same trip over again if I could! I hope you enjoyed my pictures! Let me know if you have any questions about the Lencois Maranhenses, Maranhao, or even visiting Brazil in general!
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Emily & Jet: Our travel is modest, but packed with adventure. Cheap, but not hostel-cheap. Romantic, but exciting and memorable. We take little, but grand, adventures together to grow in love and life experience.
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