Balneario Camboriu

Balneario Camboriu has the densest concentration of tall buildings in Brazil, a continuous wall of residential towers along a three-kilometre beach, including some of the tallest in Latin America - which produced a specific problem: the towers cast the beach into shade through the afternoon in winter. In 2021 the city responded by widening the sand from around twenty-five metres to seventy with dredged material, a project that was expensive, controversial and effective at what it set out to do. The Unipraias cable car runs from Barra Sul over the forested headland to Laranjeiras beach with a station in the middle. There is also the Cristo Luz, a thirty-three-metre figure holding a beam of light that sweeps the city at night, and heavy nightlife along the front.

History

The Tupi-Guaraní first lived here, and Europeans settled in 1758, when a few families from Porto Belo moved to a spot they called Our Lady of Bom Sucesso, today's Barra, followed by settlers from the Azores and Germans from the Itajaí valley in search of fertile land. It was a district of Itajaí from 1848 until 1884, holidaymakers began to come in 1930 and the first hotel opened two years later, and in 1964 the district became autonomous as Balneário de Camboriú, renamed Balneário Camboriú in 1979 (Wikipedia, Balneário Camboriú).

Highlights

• A wall of towers - the densest high-rise concentration in Brazil.
• A beach widened by dredger - sand extended from 25 to 70 metres in 2021.
• The Unipraias cable car - over the headland to Laranjeiras beach.
• Afternoon shade in winter - the shadow problem the widening addressed.

When to go

December to March. Two days.

Before you go

In January the city is extremely crowded, expensive and loud, with heavy traffic and Argentine and Paraguayan holiday flows. The beach is shaded in winter afternoons regardless of the widening. This is a high-rise resort city, not a quiet coast.

Nearby

Bombinhas is south; Beto Carrero World is north at Penha.

Key facts