Current Time in Praia Grande, Brazil

Praia Grande lies on the Atlantic coast of São Paulo state, in the group of municipalities known as the Baixada Santista, about eighty kilometres south-east of the city of São Paulo. Its name means simply big beach, and it is well earned: a continuous strip of sand runs for more than twenty kilometres along the whole front of the city, divided into a series of named stretches. Behind the beach the land is flat, and a few kilometres inland the wooded wall of the Serra do Mar escarpment rises steeply, covered in Atlantic rainforest. The climate is warm and humid, with hot rainy summers and mild winters.

Around three hundred and forty thousand people live here permanently, but the figure is misleading. Praia Grande has an enormous stock of holiday apartments, and in January and during long weekends the population can more than double as families arrive from São Paulo and the interior of the state. The economy depends heavily on this seasonal rhythm, supported by construction, commerce, services and work connected with the nearby port of Santos and the offshore oil industry.

The coast here has a long history. It was on these shores that Portuguese ships first made contact with the region in the early sixteenth century, and the beaches were watched for centuries as a possible invasion route towards the colonial towns of São Vicente and Santos. Fortifications were built to guard the approaches, and the Itaipu fort, completed in the early twentieth century with heavy coastal guns, still stands on a rocky point at the northern end of the city and now houses a military museum. Praia Grande itself remained a scattering of fishing villages until roads from São Paulo opened it to mass tourism, and it separated from São Vicente to become an independent municipality in 1967.

Attractions are mostly outdoors. The seafront promenade with its cycle path, kiosks and sculptures runs the length of the city, and surfers, anglers and kite flyers use the beach all year. The Cidade da Criança amusement park has entertained generations of Brazilian children, and the Piaçabuçu ecological park protects mangrove and restinga forest with walkways, wildlife and an environmental education centre. Boat trips, waterfalls in the hills and the historic towns of Santos and São Vicente are all close by.

Local life is informal and beach-centred, with seafood restaurants, street vendors selling corn and coconut water, summer concerts and a lively carnival. Municipal theatres, libraries and sports centres serve residents outside the holiday season, and several university campuses and technical colleges have opened in recent years, including a medical school.

The Padre Manoel da Nóbrega highway and the Anchieta and Imigrantes motorways link the city to São Paulo in about ninety minutes, and the light rail system of the Baixada Santista is being extended towards Praia Grande.

Praia Grande is popular above all as the beach of São Paulo, an accessible seaside city whose long sands have made summer by the ocean possible for millions of Brazilians.