Which beach should you pick on a windy day?
Búzios is a narrow peninsula, so it almost always has a calm side. The beaches that face the open Atlantic get the wind and the swell: Geribá, Brava and Olho de Boi. The ones tucked into coves or facing the bay stay flat: Ferradurinha, Ferradura, Tartaruga, Azeda and João Fernandes. If the sea is rough where you are, cross to the other side. It is a 10 to 20 minute drive from almost anywhere in town, and the water can look like a different country.
When are the beaches busy?
Three times of year fill them: New Year, Carnaval, and all of January, when the Argentine holidays land on Búzios at once. In those weeks the small beaches, Azeda, Azedinha and Ferradurinha, are best in the morning. The rest of the year the same beaches are quiet by mid-afternoon. May to October is the low season, with cooler water and far more room on the sand.
How do you get between the beaches?
Most people drive. The peninsula is small, and no beach on this list is more than about 15 minutes from another. Uber works in Búzios and is the easiest way if you are not driving. A rented buggy is the local way to do it, and it makes the dirt access roads to the quieter beaches much easier. Azeda and Azedinha also take a water taxi from the centre of town, which is worth doing once for the ride.
What is on the sand, and what should you bring?
On the busier beaches you do not need to bring much. The kiosks rent chairs and umbrellas by the day, and once you are sitting, someone will come and take a drinks order. You pay at the end. Cash is useful, though most kiosks now take Pix. On the quiet beaches, Olho de Boi and João Fernandinho, there is little or nothing, so take water, sunscreen and shade with you. And whichever one you choose, everything you take onto the sand comes home with you.
