Pousada Caravelas de Pinzón

“This Pousada Grew On Us”

We visited this pousada as part of our FIFA World Cup trip in June 2014. Our initial impressions were not great as the building, rooms and furniture are not up to the standards we found in the larger tourist areas in Rio, Foz do Iguassu, Pipa etc but we were determined to make the most of it. We f… more

We visited this pousada as part of our FIFA World Cup trip in June 2014. Our initial impressions were not great as the building, rooms and furniture are not up to the standards we found in the larger tourist areas in Rio, Foz do Iguassu, Pipa etc but we were determined to make the most of it. We found the owners and pousada employees to be friendly and they went out of their way to be helpful. For example, they obtained a parking pass for one of the games at the Recife Pernambuco stadium, allowed us to use the office printer to print travel confirmations, and helped us when we had two flat tires on our rental vehicle. We ate breakfast daily and dinner in the dining room on a couple of occasions, and drinks and lunch by the pool, and all the food was good and reasonably priced, with local Brazilian dishes and specialties such as tapioca pancakes. The rooms are small and the cost was a little high but we had booked through FIFA so normal rates would be more reasonable. The location is beautiful - on the beach with plenty of surfing and walking opportunities. The weather was hot and muggy with significant rainfall, particularly at night, typical for that time of year. The pool was clean and very refreshing. This is not a sophisticated tourist area - it is about twenty miles south of Recife and there is not much to do beyond the beach - few people speak English and the accommodation and local town are somewhat spartan. To the south about twenty miles is another tourist beach area with the advantage of a new toll road into the town of Porto de Galinhas. We visited on a day trip and this town seemed more geared towards tourists with more shops, restaurants, boat trips etc. One difficulty in this area is transportation. We rented a car since we were travelling to games in both Recife and Natal. However we would suggest that the average beach tourist rethink that idea and investigate alternatives, such as buses and cabs. The roads are in dreadful condition with potholes everywhere. Traffic is heavily congested. The main road - the BR-101 - is a nightmare around Recife, where it can take two hours to get through the city. Let someone else do the driving. Summary - this is an unsophisticated town about an hour from Recife. It has a beautiful beach, not much else to do, and the Caravelas De Pinzon has friendly and helpful staff and owners. We enjoyed our stay there but we will not miss the BR-101.

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