🇧🇷 Brazil · Southeast
Guarapari is the main seaside resort in Espírito Santo, a coastal town south of Vitória famous for its many beaches and, above all, for its celebrated monazite sands (areias monazíticas), dark, mineral-rich sands traditionally credited with therapeutic properties. Its best-known beach, the Praia da Areia Preta, takes its name precisely from that blackish sand.
Beyond the unusual sands, Guarapari offers a wide range of beaches, from the busy town ones such as Praia do Morro to quieter coves with clear water to the south, near the Parque Estadual Paulo César Vinha. It is a classic summer destination, very popular with mineiros (people from Minas Gerais) who come down to the coast, with good seafood and a lively scene in season.
This guide covers the essentials of Guarapari: the beaches (including the monazite-sand one), the nature and clear water to the south, capixaba food, the boat trips out to the islands and how to get here from Vitória or Minas Gerais. It is ideal for anyone after beach, sun and the classic summer holiday on the Espírito Santo coast.
Colonial in origin and tied to the Jesuits (Father José de Anchieta founded a settlement here in the 16th century), Guarapari was a fishing village for centuries. In the 20th century it became famous for its monazite sands, credited with healing properties, which drove a wave of health tourism. In time it established itself as the great seaside resort of Espírito Santo, a much-visited summer destination, especially for people from Minas Gerais looking for the nearest beach. The full story is on our history page.
Read the full history ↓The small capixaba state between the sea and the mountains: one of the original captaincies of 1535, a land of Italian and Pomeranian immigration, of mountain coffee and of a coastline of monazite sands and humpback whales.
Read the history of Espírito Santo →No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
There is a beach in Brazil where a Geiger counter goes wild. On the Praia da Areia Preta in Guarapari, the dark sand gives off so much natural radiation that the town ranks among the most radioactive inhabited places on the planet: at some points radiation levels have been measured far above the world average. And yet, for decades, thousands of people travelled here precisely to bury themselves in that sand, convinced it would cure them. That paradox —a seaside town famous for its radioactive sand, nicknamed the 'cidade saúde' (health town)— is at the heart of Guarapari's strange and fascinating story.
But before the sand there was faith. Guarapari's origins go back to 1585, when Father José de Anchieta —Jesuit, missionary and one of the great founding figures of colonial Brazil— began the catechism of the indigenous population in the village he called Santa Maria de Guaraparim. It was the seed of the town, part of the evangelising work the Society of Jesus carried out along the coast of Espírito Santo. The settlement grew until it was raised to the status of a town (vila) in 1679.
The name Guarapari has roots in the Tupi language of the indigenous peoples who lived in the region, linked, depending on the interpretation, to birds (the guará, the scarlet ibis) or to features of the local landscape. Through the colonial centuries, Guarapari was, like so many towns on the Espírito Santo coast, a modest settlement given over to fishing and smallholding, in an Espírito Santo that was sparsely populated and far from the country's main economic arteries. Its church and its old quarter still bear the mark of that Jesuit and colonial origin, the first layer in the story of the future seaside town.
The great leap in Guarapari's fame came in the 20th century, tied to a singular geological feature: its monazite sands. On some of its beaches, especially the one that came to be called Praia da Areia Preta ('black sand beach') and also in Meaípe, the sand has a dark tone because it is rich in monazite, a phosphate mineral that concentrates naturally radioactive elements, above all thorium-232 (plus traces of uranium). Radiometric studies identified in Guarapari the highest natural radiation levels in Brazil linked to the thorium cycle, which made the town a celebrated case internationally, studied by scientists from all over the world.
In the middle of the 20th century the belief spread that these sands had therapeutic and healing properties, able to relieve complaints such as rheumatism and circulation problems. That reputation drew numerous visitors —and even patients— who came to 'take sand baths', burying themselves in it in search of its supposed benefits. Guarapari thus became a pioneering health tourism destination and earned the nickname 'cidade saúde' (health town), with an unusual draw that set it apart from any other Brazilian seaside resort.
Beyond the debate over whether those effects are real, the monazite sands put Guarapari on the national tourist map and marked its identity for good. Over the years the message changed: the scientific community warned that this is natural radioactivity that is best not overexposed to, and the recommendation of 'healing sand baths' has been left behind as part of historical folklore. But the town remains associated forever with that natural curiosity, which still draws the attention of the curious and of scientists, even if today tourism centres above all on sun, beach and seafood.
Through the second half of the 20th century, Guarapari established itself as the main seaside resort in Espírito Santo. Better roads linking it with the capital, Vitória, and with the interior —including the neighbouring state of Minas Gerais— made it easy for holidaymakers to arrive in numbers in search of its beaches.
A characteristic feature of Guarapari is its close bond with the people of Minas Gerais. Since Minas is a landlocked state, Guarapari became, thanks to its relative closeness and accessibility, one of the favourite beach destinations for families from Minas, who come down to the Espírito Santo coast in large numbers every summer. That influx sets the town's rhythm and atmosphere in high season.
Guarapari grew this way as a summer town, with its urban beaches such as Praia do Morro, its quiet southern coves such as Meaípe —famous for its moqueca— and protected natural areas such as the Parque Estadual Paulo César Vinha. Today it combines the heritage of its Jesuit origin, the curiosity of its monazite sands and its role as a great popular seaside resort, backed by a seafood tradition that is one of its great sources of pride.
Today's Guarapari is, above all, a big popular seaside resort that lives by the rhythm of the seasons. In summer —especially in January— the town's population multiplies several times over with the arrival of holidaymakers, particularly from Minas Gerais, filling Praia do Morro, the restaurants of Meaípe and the pousadas and flats along the coast. The rest of the year it settles back into the quieter pulse of a medium-sized coastal town.
Alongside sun-and-beach tourism, a closer attention to conserving its natural surroundings has gained ground. The creation, in 1990, of the Parque Estadual Paulo César Vinha —named in memory of the Espírito Santo environmentalist murdered that year— protected a valuable ecosystem of restinga, lagoons (such as Caraís) and unspoilt beaches in the Setiba area. Off the coast, the crystal-clear Arquipélago das Três Ilhas became established as a boat outing with visiting rules designed to protect the islands.
The fame of the monazite sands, which in the 20th century made Guarapari a health tourism destination, gave way in time to a more cautious understanding: it is now known that those sands carry natural radioactivity at low concentration, and the talk of 'healing sand baths' has been left as part of the town's historical folklore rather than as a recommendation. So today's Guarapari combines its Jesuit heritage, the curiosity of its dark sands, its identity as the seaside resort loved by the mineiros and a growing care for the Espírito Santo nature that surrounds it.