The Best Sight in Recife, The Northeast

Background Illustration for Sights

Recife is spread out and somewhat hard to navigate. The Centro—with its mixture of high-rises, colonial churches, and markets—is always busy during the day. The crowds and the narrow streets can make finding your way around even more confusing. The Centro consists of three areas: Recife Antigo (the Old City); Recife proper, with the districts of Santo Antônio and São José; and the districts of Boa Vista and Santo Amaro. The first two areas are on islands formed by the rivers Capibaribe, Beberibe, and Pina; the third is on an island created by the Canal Tacaruna.

Six kilometers (4 miles) south of Centro is the upscale residential and beach district of Boa Viagem, reached by bridge across the Bacia do Pina. Praia da Boa Viagem (Boa Viagem Beach), the Copacabana of Recife, is chockablock with trendy clubs and restaurants as well as many moderately priced and expensive hotels.

Instituto Ricardo Brennand

Fodor's Choice
The impressive private archive of Pernambucan collector Ricardo Brennand is displayed in a fairy-tale castle approximately 15 km (9 miles) north of Boa Viagem and surrounded by 77 hectares of forest. While the paintings and artifacts range in origin from the 15th and 21st centuries and hail from all corners of the globe, the focus is on pieces that illuminate what life was like in Recife during the Dutch imperial rule (1600–1700).