The Dunes That Fill With Lagoons

Travel Onion · 2:06

On the north coast of Brazil there's a sea of white dunes that fills with thousands of blue lagoons every year — and then dries out again. Lençóis Maranhenses ("the bedsheets of Maranhão") looks like a desert but isn't one: it gets well over a metre of rain a year, almost all of it between January and June. Under the sand is a layer of rock the water can't drain through, so the rain pools in every valley between the dunes, in lagoons up to three metres deep. And the lagoons have fish. Some swim in from rivers when the lagoons link up; the wolf fish never leaves — when the water goes it burrows into the damp mud, goes dormant, and waits for the rain. Marvel used the place as an alien planet in Avengers: Infinity War, and in 2024 it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Save this one for the trip you actually take. Follow for more places worth the trip. 📍 PLAN YOUR VISIT — LENÇÓIS MARANHENSES ✈️ Getting there: fly to São Luís, then by road to Barreirinhas (the main gateway), Santo Amaro or Atins 📅 Best time: June–September, when the lagoons are full 🎯 Don't miss: the Lagoa Azul and Lagoa Bonita circuits · sunset from a dune crest · the Preguiças river to Atins