Recife tide times

Recife is the capital of Pernambuco and the largest city in northeast Brazil, built across a delta of three rivers — the Capibaribe, the Beberibe, and the Tejipió — where they meet the Atlantic. The city takes its name directly from the recifes: the natural coral and sandstone reef barrier that runs 1 to 3 kilometres offshore, parallel to the coast, and defines the beach environment of the southern urban coast. Inside the reef, the water is calmer and the beaches sheltered; outside, the open Atlantic.

Tides are semidiurnal and mesotidal. Mean spring range at Recife is approximately 2.5 metres (LAT datum, DHN/FEMAR). The tidal range is sufficient to significantly change beach character — at low water the inner reef flats are exposed and the natural pools of Praia de Boa Viagem (the main urban beach) and the neighbourhood beaches south toward Piedade are at their most accessible. At high water, reef sections flood and the beach narrows. The tidal cycle is one of the daily rhythms of the city's beachgoing.

Praia de Boa Viagem is the most visited urban beach in northeast Brazil — 7 kilometres of sand backed by apartment towers, running south from the Pina neighbourhood. The reef barrier runs the full length of the beach. The beach is popular for morning walks, cycling on the beachfront promenade, and the low-tide rock pools; full-body swimming in the ocean between the reef and the shore is affected by a documented shark presence that has led to permanent advisory signage and prohibited net-free swimming at most sections since the early 1990s. The shark situation at Boa Viagem is a genuine public safety issue related to port development that altered the predator-prey balance in the area; the rock pools inside the reef at low water are the practical swimming environment for most visitors.

Recife Antigo (the old city), on the island between the rivers, is the historic core: 17th-century Dutch colonial architecture from the period when Recife was Mauritsstad, capital of Dutch Brazil (1630–1654). The synagogue Kahal Zur Israel, founded around 1636, is considered the oldest synagogue in the Americas. The Friday and Saturday evening street party in Marco Zero square on the waterfront is one of the most attended regular outdoor events in Brazil.

The port of Recife handles commercial shipping; the approaches to the port cross the reef through a maintained channel. Container vessels and tankers pass close to the Boa Viagem shoreline on the approach.

Predictions on this page come from Open-Meteo Marine, a global gridded ocean model accurate to within approximately ±45 minutes on timing and ±0.2–0.3 metres on height. For authoritative Brazilian tidal predictions, consult DHN/FEMAR at mar.mil.br/dhn.