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Caucaia is a coastal city in the Fortaleza metropolitan region of Ceará, Brazil, famous for Cumbuco beach, the international mecca of kitesurfing. Its top sights are Praia do Cumbuco, the Lagoa do Banana among the dunes, the Lagamar do Cauípe, the Parque Estadual Botânico do Ceará and the mother church of Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres.
The town grew from a Jesuit mission among the Caucaia people, active from 1735, and became the Vila Nova de Soure in 1759 under the Marquis of Pombal's reforms. It kept the name Soure until 1943, when it became Caucaia, and later grew as a residential and industrial centre of the Fortaleza metropolitan region.
With an estimated 375,679 people in 2024, Caucaia is the second most populous city in Ceará and has 44 km of Atlantic coast. It draws about 300,000 tourists a year, the second largest flow in the state, and lies 16 km by road from Fortaleza, linked to it by a bridge over the Rio Ceará.
Praia do Cumbuco is a beach in Caucaia, about 30 km from Fortaleza, rated the town's main tourist destination and one of the most important in Ceará. Backed by dunes and lagoons and lined with hotels, inns and beach bars, it won Blue Flag certification in 2022, the only beach in Ceará to do so.
Praia do Icaraí is the beach of the Icaraí district of Caucaia, a fishing village discovered by Fortaleza residents and tourists in the 1980s and then lined with holiday homes, beach bars and water parks. Erosion since the 2000s hit its seafront avenue, and a stepped stone wall was built in 2011.
Kitesurfing in Cumbuco, the Caucaia beach known as the international mecca of kitesurfing, thrives on steady winds that make it one of Brazil's top spots for kitesurf and windsurf. Since 2023 the town has marked International Kitesurf Day on 1 August by launching the windy season in Vila do Cumbuco.
Barra do Cauípe is the last and most deserted beach on the Caucaia coast, where the Cauípe river reaches the sea after forming a second lagoon among dunes and coconut palms. Its long shore draws kitesurfers, and a calm, warm lagoon at its right-hand end suits beginners and families.
Lagoa do Banana is a lagoon among the dunes behind Praia do Cumbuco in Caucaia, about 35 km from Fortaleza. Visitors relax at tables by the water or on loungers set in the shallows, take kayak, speedboat and banana-boat rides, or slide down the dunes on a wooden board into the lagoon.
Lagamar do Cauípe is a long lagoon in Caucaia formed where moving dunes dammed the Cauípe river, protected since 1998 as a 1,884-hectare state APA. Its dunes, native coastal plants and the river's outflow to the sea draw weekend visitors for walks, sport fishing, kitesurfing and windsurfing.
Parque Estadual Botânico do Ceará is a 190-hectare state park in Caucaia, 15 km from Fortaleza on the CE-090 beach road, created in 1996 and opened on 5 June 1998. Protecting coastal tableland forest, caatinga and mangrove, it has trails, a plant nursery, an orchid house and an environment museum.
Rio Ceará is the river whose mouth divides Caucaia from Fortaleza, where in 1604 the colonists Pero Coelho de Sousa and Martim Soares Moreno built the Fortim de São Tiago, seen as the founding place of Fortaleza. Its estuary holds 11.58 km2 of mangroves, 6.75 km2 of them in Caucaia.
Igreja Matriz de Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres is the mother church of Caucaia, dedicated to the town's patron saint, on the square where the Vila Nova de Soure was installed in 1759. Founded in the 19th century, it has a large central tower, four bells, a Maltese cross on top and a cross in front.
Praia de Iracema is a beach and district in central Fortaleza, next to Caucaia, named in 1930 after the heroine of José de Alencar's novel Iracema. Once the fishing beach Praia do Peixe, it became the haunt of Fortaleza's bohemians in the 1940s, and its Estoril mansion was a wartime casino.
Praia da Taíba is a 10 km beach in São Gonçalo do Amarante, 76 km from Fortaleza along the coast beyond Caucaia, with wide sands, dunes, sandstone reefs and cliffs. Its rough sea draws surfers, a lagoon 5 km from the centre suits kitesurfers, and an escargot food festival is held each year.
Beach Park is a beach resort and water park at Porto das Dunas in Aquiraz, about 20 minutes from Fortaleza, born in 1985 as a beachside restaurant. Its Aqua Park, with more than 30 rides, was rated the world's second-best water park by TripAdvisor users in 2015 and drew 990,000 visitors in 2025.
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Log in to add photosPhoto: Fabiobarros, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Eduardo P, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Photo: MARIA LEDA S. C. DE MIRA, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: MARIA LEDA S. C. DE MIRA, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Photo: Boris Karpuk, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Otávio Nogueira from Fortaleza, BR, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Otávio Nogueira from Fortaleza, BR, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Otávio Nogueira from Fortaleza, BR, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
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Photo: Parpan05, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
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Photo: Boris Karpuk, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Boris Karpuk, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Photo: Otávio Nogueira from Fortaleza, BR, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
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Photo: MTur Destinos, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
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Photo: Beach Park, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Beach Park, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
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