With 723,514 million inhabitants, João Pessoa maintains the serenity of rural Brazilian towns and the hospitality that only pessoenses have to offer.
Year-round summers can be enjoyed along more than 24 kilometers of coastline. The easternmost point in the Americas, Cabo Branco Lighthouse, is located on the beach of the same name, about five kilometers from the meeting venue. These two attractions alone would be enough to distinguish the city of João Pessoa from others in the Northeast, but the capital of Paraíba has many more beauties and charms scattered around its 211,000 square km, charms that surprise visitors and invite them to return.
Nature, history, events, monuments, gastronomy, handcrafts and culture are present in almost all places in the city, which opens the doors to the future with the Cabo Branco Science, Culture and Arts Station, a prominent work by Oscar Niemeyer built on the easternmost point on Cabo Branco Beach. More than five thousand square meters are available for cultural and artistic events that animate the Capital. Opened in 2008, it is one of the newest attractions of the city and impresses tourists both for its natural beauty and for the greatness of the monument built between the Atlantic Forest reserve and the sea.
The rich houses of the Historical Center of João Pessoa, the third city founded in Brazil, takes the visitor to a distant past, where art-nouveau buildings can be seen in Antenor Navarro Square and Portuguese colonial architecture is represented by the St. Francis Cultural Center, built in 1589 and considered one of the most complex Baroque sites in Brazil. The historical importance of these buildings were recognized by the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN).
This tour through the past can be undertaken in the company of a guide or even alone: the city has provided marked routes for pedestrian visitors. Altogether there are 162 signs bearing guidelines to main tourist attractions, as well as information on monuments located in the area. Routes to the Cidade Alta and Cidade Baixa reveal beauties like Hotel Globo, where you can admire the Sanhauá River, where the city was founded, as well as a train station, St. Francis Church, Solon Lucena Park, João Pessoa Square and the Pavilhão do Chá (Tea Pavilion). At Solon Lucena Park, one of the city’s postcards, you can admire the Pedra do Reino (Kingdom’s Stone), a monument to Paraíba’s dramatic and literary genius, Ariano Suassuna.
The recently installed light fountain enchants pessoenses and tourists daily with a spectacle of lights, colors and sounds. The park also serves as a home for many white herons, which fly quietly through the city and feed on the fish living in its lake. Also at the park, the visitor will find the peaceful coexistence between people and nature that is present in virtually every corner of the city.
The coastline is a chapter apart, with clean, warm waters inviting tourists to a wonderful bath at the urban beaches of Cabo Branco, Tambaú and Bessa. A ride on the sidewalk, fresh air and the feeling that time itself is too lazy to pass are characteristic of the city where the sun rises first.
Source: João Pessoa Visitors Bureau