“Wild” north-east Brazil (Jericoacoara to Atins)
This small guide may help you out to make a choice of your downwinder to North-East Brazil to do it by yourselves or go along with an organized trip.
In September 2022 we planned a vacation and kitetrip to Jericoacoara Brazil. As we were informing about downwinders to Atins we were quite amazed about the prices asked for small groups and we did not find much willingness to negotiate. Sometimes the quotes were just “above budget”, some prices were really “outrageous”.
Big spoiler…. We did save like 65% to 78% on the offers by organizing the trip ourselves.
What’s included in most downwinders
That leaves lunches, dinners and drinks. And of course this can make your trip pretty expensive. But hey… It is vacation and it is Brazil, so… not that expensive!
Our wished trip itinerary
Quotes on a downwind kite safari
Our preferred option was to go along with an organized trip with a lot of other kiters. Socially that can be good fun and something organized gives a peace of mind. A couple of years ago we also traveled in Brazil and did a downwinder from Cumbuco to Jeri. We figured a total budget of 5.000 Euro (without flights) for the 2 of us for 2 weeks. We thought pretty fair budget for going to Downwind in Brazil and not a kite cruise on a yacht in the Bahama’s. And we still feel that way… but now we know it is!
Initially we found a kite-safari with the perfect itinerary for us and easy within the budget, but unfortunately we were the only participants. When the price from the website more than doubled, we had to say no.
When looking further we could not immediately find a group or organization to join for our travel dates, so we tried to ask around.
After a post on Facebook we found a lot of response, but when the conversations started it also turned out to be a private tour for the 2 of us…. and every time highly expensive!
And when we did some calculations on the offers…. It just didn’t add up! (And now we are back home we even know better…. Especially for 2, it didn’t!)
And of course we do get that a private tour is a lot more expensive than going with a bigger group. Some parts of the costs simply can not be shared over more people, right. But besides the social part, that is the other reason for wanting to join a group.
Please keep in mind that most offers were for 2 persons, sometimes a few people more. But I think most of you will agree that 350 or 400 Euro per person per night is a lot of money! It calculates for us to over 10.000 Euro for a downwinder of 12-14 days… And that still didn’t include lunches, dinners and drinks.
So…. we took the calculated risk to take the little more ‘adventurous’ road and just take it day by day. Back to our days of traveling and how we used to to travel the world with a backpack. Plan, book hotels or pousada’s by ourselves and find a downwind day or transportation ourselves too. But then again, not completely backpacking style, we definitely did afford ourselves to travel in some luxury. Meaning: not so many hassles or finding the cheapest form of transportation, but good accommodation with breakfast, aircon, a private bathroom and sometimes a private car with driver.
So, with that being said… You can do the same trip even far cheaper than we did it!
Organizing it ourselves
The concerns
Our biggest concern; We might not make it to Atins or other wished destinations. There could be no be transport or a kite trip or even no hotel….
The lesser concern; We might not kite the whole distance, but might have to take transportation for some parts.
In the end we have definitely took some transportation instead of kiting downwind, but which paid off in our opinion. With all diverse and fun days, nice adventures, great kiting, good company, and it turned out to be a lot cheaper.
But yes… There might also downsides, depending how you look at it.
The positives
The negatives
The spending
In total we made our kite trip 18 days long. Stayed in 8 different hotels/pousada’s and did kite in 25+ different kite spots including sweet water lake between the dunes of the Lencois. We did not save much on going for low-budget options, but went for nothing less than convenient. And, it must be said, we do not find much pleasure in negotiating 😉
Total for 18 days:
| Kite safaris | 4.500 |
| Transportation | 3.400 |
| Hotels | 7.900 |
| Total Real | 15.800 |
| Per night (18 nights) | 878 |
| Per person (2 persons) | 439 |
| In Euro p.p.p.n. (1 Euro = 5 Real) | 88 |
When comparing 88 to 400 Euro of one of 2 the offers, you can say we saved ourselves 78% and stayed very easily within our budget.
Prices in North-East Brazil
To give you an idea of prices
| Cheap room* | 200-300 |
| Good room* | 300-450 |
| Comfy room* | 450-600 |
| Dorm (not often to find) | 50-100 |
| Buggy + driver** | +/- 50 per hour |
| Private car + driver** | +/- 100 per hour |
| Kite guide | +/- 100 per hour |
| Bus Trip | 50-100 |
* Rooms are often for 3 or even 4 persons
** If you book a buggy/car/driver 1-way, calculate 2-ways as costs
Restaurant / Bar
| Coca Cola | 4-6 |
| Bottle of water | 3-5 |
| Big beer (600ml) | 12-16 |
| Bottle of wine | 80-120 |
| Caipirinha | 12-20 |
| Starters / small bites | 20-40 |
| Mains | 30-80 |
Places we stayed (and additional trips)
- Jericoacoara
– Giuriu - Tatajuba
– Lagoa Torta - Maceo
– Barra dos Remedios - Tutoia
– Arpoador - Atins
– Lencois - Macapa
– Barra Grande (upwinder)
– Panaïba Delta - Jeri
– Giuriu
Conclusion
We can ask ourselves why are some organized downwinders in Brazil so pricey?
We did get to meet some of the people behind the organizations in person during this trip, and they did seem pretty sincere to us. In our opinion they definitely do rather tend to overprice and not go out at all (with little groups). Maybe they do want or agreed to keep a certain price-level, maybe they live by the day, maybe we were just extremely (un)lucky…. who knows?
We think the answer lies somewhere near “because they can” and “people still bite”.
Fun fact: A lot of organizations have Swiss websites and/or seem to target Swiss people! (Does that also makes sense to you, now?)
About the prices mentioned in this blog
Prices will strongly depend on the size of your own group and of course how many strangers will join in. At the time of traveling the inflation is high, also in Brazil. And the devaluation of Real is a big concern of the Brazilians.
At time of writing the Dollar and Euro are almost equal and about 5 Real is exchanged for 1 Euro.
Have fun kiting! And we’ll meet you on the water of Brazil once again!
Alternative Downwind Brazil 