Nearby · To the south
Porto de Galinhas to Maragogi
- Distance from Porto
- about 85 km
- Driving time
- 1 h 20 min to 2 hours
- State
- AL
Maragogi, on the north coast of Alagoas, has natural pools on the reefs of the APA Costa dos Corais environmental protection area, some of them out at sea. From Porto de Galinhas, it is a full-day trip: the town center is about 85 km away, 1 hour 20 minutes to 2 hours by car via the PE-060, heading south.
How to get there
If you drive, note that the beaches of Ponta de Mangue, Antunes and Barra Grande are north of the center, in the direction of Pernambuco. If you prefer not to drive, there are daily excursions that leave from the hotels in Porto in the morning. In October 2026, there was an option at R$ 160 per adult with transportation, a guide and a beach club day pass, with the catamaran paid separately, and an option from R$ 200 with the boat included.
How much time to set aside
A full day. Add the round trip by road to a boat tour of two to three hours. Departures are usually early, because the boat schedule follows low tide and changes every day. Choose the date by the tide table: at high tide, there are no pools.
What to combine
There are two main itineraries. The first leaves from the waterfront in the center for the Galés, about 6 km from the coast, or for Taocas, depending on the rotation set by the municipal government. The second leaves from Barra Grande Beach and combines, in about two hours by speedboat, the Barra Grande natural pool, the Caminho de Moisés sandbank and Antunes Beach. On days of very low tide, the Caminho de Moisés can also be done on foot, at no cost.
Porto or Maragogi
The pools in Porto are almost 200 meters from the sand, and the tour on a jangada, a traditional sail raft, takes about an hour. The Galés require half an hour by boat, a tour of about three hours, a R$ 7 environmental fee and a reservation, because ICMBio limits daily visits. Both depend on low tide. Visits to the Lagoa Azul, in Antunes, have been suspended by the Federal Court, and commercial jet ski tours have been banned in the municipality since March 2026.