Living in Estância and Sergipe

Getting here

Aracaju airport (AJU): ~70 km, about 1 hour by car (BR-101), with direct flights from São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Belo Horizonte and Recife. Salvador airport (SSA): ~255 km, about 3 h 20 by car, with direct TAP flights from Lisbon.

Estância, the “Garden City”

A town of about 65,000 people on Sergipe's southern coast, crossed by the Piauí River. In June it is the capital of the “barco de fogo”, the São João fireworks recognised as state cultural heritage.

Praia do Saco, Ilha da Sogra and Mangue Seco

Dunes, natural pools and boat trips in the municipality of Estância. Ilha da Sogra is a sandbank that rises at low tide and is reached by boat; 15 minutes away by boat lies Mangue Seco (Bahia), the dune village of Jorge Amado's novel “Tieta”.

Praia do Abaís and the Costa das Dunas

Long ocean beaches on the southern coast, popular for surfing and kitesurfing, a few minutes from the resort along the SE-100.

Aracaju, the state capital

About 70 km away: the Orla de Atalaia seafront with restaurants and bars, boat trips to Croa do Goré and Ilha dos Namorados, hospitals, shopping centres and the airport.

Xingó Canyon

The fifth-largest navigable canyon in the world, on the São Francisco River at Canindé de São Francisco (~213 km from Aracaju, ~280 km from the resort: best with an overnight stay): 65 km of sandstone walls up to 50 m high, catamaran trips and swimming in natural pools.

Safety

According to the indicators of Brazil's Ministry of Justice and Public Security, in 2024 Sergipe had the lowest violent-death rate in the Northeast. According to the state Public Security Department, homicides in the first half of 2025 were 75% lower than in the same period of 2016, and June 2025 was the month with the fewest homicides since 2003.

Estância · SE-100 · nearby

Lagoa dos Tambaquis

In the municipality of Estância, on the SE-100 between Aracaju and Praia do Saco: a clear lagoon where tambaqui, large freshwater fish, swim among bathers and feed from their hands. Restaurants with hammocks and tables on the sand, kayaks, stand-up paddle and water slides on a day-use ticket.

Praia do Saco · Estância

Praia do Saco by speedboat: the islands

A speedboat tour from Praia do Saco around the estuary's islands and sandbanks — Ilha da Sogra among them — with swimming stops in calm water, and the option to continue to the dunes of Mangue Seco (Bahia). Buggy rides on the dunes are also available.

~50 km · ~1 h

Croa do Goré and Ilha dos Namorados

Leaving from the Orla Pôr do Sol in Mosqueiro, at the southern tip of Aracaju: Croa do Goré is a sandbank that emerges from the Vaza-Barris River only at low tide, about six hours a day, with floating bars and natural pools. Next to it, Ilha dos Namorados is home to hundreds of white herons; tours often end at sunset.

~55 km · ~50 min

São Cristóvão

Founded in 1590, it is the fourth-oldest city in Brazil. Its Praça São Francisco has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2010, and the city has the country's first Christ the Redeemer statue (1926, five years before Rio's), with a lookout famous for its sunsets. In the evening the old town fills with bars and traditional Sergipe food.

~180 km · ~2 h 45

Mouth of the São Francisco (Brejo Grande)

A day trip to Brejo Grande, ~110 km from Aracaju: a boat takes you down the “Velho Chico” through mangroves and restinga to where the river meets the ocean, on the border with Alagoas. A stop on the beach among dunes reshaped by the wind every day, next to the remains of an old lighthouse swallowed by the sea.