Cumbuco vs Jericoacoara for Kitesurfing: Where Should You Stay?

Cumbuco and Jericoacoara are the two names every kiter finds when searching for Brazil. They sit on the same coast, about 300 km apart, with the same wind. Everything else is different.

Access is the first difference. Cumbuco is less than an hour from Fortaleza international airport: you can land in the afternoon and be on the water the same day. Jericoacoara takes about five hours by road from Fortaleza, or a domestic flight to its small regional airport, plus a ride across the dunes.

The spots do not look alike. Cumbuco has a long ocean beach and flat-water lagoons nearby, with many kite schools, shops and repair services. It is busy in high season, and convenient. Around Jericoacoara, kiters mostly ride at Preá, a wide and windy beach a short drive away, and in lagoons such as Guriú and Tatajuba further along the coast.

The atmosphere is not the same either. Cumbuco is a kite town close to a big city: easy, practical and social. Jericoacoara is a village with sand streets inside a national park, with no private cars, a sunset ritual on the dune and restaurants lit by candles. People who are not kiters love it too.

For downwinders, both are starting points. From Cumbuco, the coast runs west through Paracuru, Guajiru and Icaraí de Amontada: it is route A of our six-day trip, and it ends in Jericoacoara. From Jericoacoara, our one, two and three-day downwinds start a few minutes from your hotel, and route B continues all the way to Atins.

So where should you stay? Choose Cumbuco if you have less than a week, if you want lessons and services at your door, or if you would like to avoid a long transfer. Choose Jericoacoara if you have a week or more, if you travel with a non-kiting partner, or if you want to do short downwinds without changing hotel.

And if you cannot choose, do not. Start in Cumbuco, kite the coast for six days and arrive in Jericoacoara by sea. It is the most satisfying way to see both.