Fortaleza Beach Park

The Fortaleza Beach Park complex is located 10 miles from Fortaleza, Brazil in a beach called Porto das Dunas. Its main attraction is an enormous Aqua Park created in 1985, with water slides  waterfalls, and an artificial river, distributed along an area totaling 35,000 m².  The complex is a combination of resort, hotels, restaurants, shops, a sailing raft museum, water park and beach. Over 700,000 people visit the Aqua Park every year, which makes Fortaleza Beach the largest and best-equipped water park in South America.

The star attraction in the park is Insano, the highest tube slide of the world. The ride is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the highest water slide, its 135 ft (41 m), an equivalent to the height of a 14-story building. Despite it’s height  it’s almost completely leaned down, so you finish the ride in about 5 seconds at a insane speed of 105km/h!. In the park you can also surf in a large wave swimming pool or relax in a tiny lazy river called “Correnteza Encantada”.

Park tickets are very expensive for water park standards (R$ 140,00 – 70 USD). The park gets very crowded on weekends (but waiting times are acceptable 20-30 minutes) and amenities are mainly for children. Food standard is okay but somewhat expensive inside the park. Try the “espetinhos” (beef, tenderloin – known in Brazil as “picanha” and chicken). Overall the park is not a bad place for a day and there are nice free beaches nearby.

Insano, Kalafrio

Insano (thanks Alexandro Simioni)