South of Vitória in Brazil

Cachoeiro do Itapemirim is a busy city straddling both banks of the fast-flowing Rio Itapemirim.Cachoeira Alta, with a natural swimming pool, is 38 km away on the road to Castelo. The countryside south of Vitoría is flat and uninteresting, broken only by fields of sugar cane and the occasional granite mountain looming over the plain. The beaches that dot the coast are less beautiful than those in the north of the state and considerably less beautiful than those in neighbouring Rio. The most popular are those at Guarapari, some 50 km south of Vitória on the coast road. The town gets very crowded at holiday times, especially mid-December to the end of February when Mineiros flood down from Belo Horizonte. The sand here is mildly radioactive but if the Casa de Cultura in town is to be believed, the radiation is good for the health. Plenty of Capixabas and Cariocas seem to agree, as they come here to cure everything from rheumatism to backache. There are many hotels and plenty of cheap seafood restaurants in town and by the beach.