Ubatuba

The coast here was Tupinambá land, and the village of Iperoig stood near today's town. In the 16th century the Portuguese enslaved Tupinambá families for the sugar plantations around São Vicente, and the Tupinambá answered with the Tamoio Confederation, a military alliance backed by the French of France Antarctique in Guanabara Bay. In 1563 the Jesuits José de Anchieta and Manuel da Nóbrega travelled to Iperoig to make peace. Anchieta stayed for months as a hostage while Nóbrega returned to São Vicente with the chief Cunhambebe to settle the terms of the Peace of Iperoig — often called the first peace treaty in the Americas. With peace made, the Portuguese went on to destroy France Antarctique and keep the land.

Unlike the Tupinambá of Guanabara and Cabo Frio, much of Iperoig's population stayed, and on 28 October 1637 the village was raised to a town, Vila Nova da Exaltação à Santa Cruz do Salvador de Ubatuba. In the 18th century Ubatuba Bay became the busiest port of the captaincy of São Vicente, and through the 19th century the town grew rich on its port trade.

In the 20th century Anchieta Island offshore served as a prison until 1955, the scene of a great prisoner rebellion in the 1950s, and in 1977 it became a nature reserve. The Serra do Mar State Park now covers most of the municipality, and the Rio–Santos road links the town to both cities; tourism has made Ubatuba one of the best-known beach destinations of São Paulo state.

Caiçara culture is at the heart of Ubatuba's identity: canoe fishing, the cycle of the mullet run, festivals of Portuguese origin and a distinctive coastal cooking. The town also has quilombola and Indigenous communities, and today it draws on all these traditions alongside its few surviving historic buildings, some of them listed by the state heritage body.

Religious festivals mark the year. The Festa de São Pedro Pescador, in June, has nearly a hundred years of tradition, and since 1954 has included a sea procession of boats and canoes from the Rio Grande de Ubatuba and a blessing of the fish-hooks for a good year's fishing. The Festa do Divino Espírito Santo, celebrated for more than 150 years, falls in July rather than at Pentecost, to coincide with the mullet run, and grilled tainha is its dish. Pilgrimages to the shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida set out from the central parish at the end of the year.

Surfing is the other culture. Ubatuba is designated by state law as São Paulo's surf capital, and more than ten important contests are held off its beaches each year. The town is also known for its birdlife, with more than 565 species recorded.

Ubatuba had about 93,000 people in the 2022 census, in a large municipality of more than 700 square kilometres, 83 per cent of it inside the Serra do Mar State Park. The town has two districts, the seat and Picinguaba, and most people live in the narrow strip between the mountains and the sea, along the Rio–Santos road.

Tourism drives the economy. Ubatuba is one of fifteen municipalities that the state classifies as coastal resorts, which brings extra state funding for tourism, and much of the local workforce is in hotels, restaurants, shops, construction and services for holiday homes. Fishing continues in the caiçara communities, and the University of São Paulo's Oceanographic Institute runs a research base here.

The year swings between two extremes. In the January and February holidays and on long weekends the town fills, the central beaches are packed and the coast road jams; for much of the rest of the year, especially midweek, the town is quiet and some remote beaches are almost deserted. Rain, landslide risk on the slopes and the pressure of building on the forest are constant concerns.

Ubatuba's cooking is caiçara cooking, built on fish, cassava and bananas. One local speciality is azul-marinho, fish served with a pirão of cassava flour and green bananas. Fish is often served with pirão, a thick porridge of cassava flour, alongside rice and beans.

The mullet run in the cooler months is the high point of the fishing year. Tainha grilled over coals is the main dish of the July Festa do Divino, and the June fishermen's festival also falls in the mullet season. In the restaurants of Itaguá and the beaches, the menu runs to grilled and fried fish, prawns, squid and moqueca, fish stewed in a clay pot with tomato, onion and coriander.

Beach food is simple: fried fish and prawn portions shared over cold beer, pastéis, coconut water and fresh juices from the kiosks. The caipirinha, made with cachaça, lime and sugar, is the standard drink.