Barreirinhas, Gateway town to Lençóis Maranhenses National Park in Maranhão, Brazil.
Barreirinhas is a municipality in the northern part of Maranhão state, Brazil, situated along the Preguiças River near the Atlantic coast. The town itself is modest in size, with low buildings spread around a central area, while the surrounding territory shifts between sand dunes, rivers, and wetlands.
Settlement in the area grew during the 18th century around the Preguiças River, which served as the main route for moving agricultural goods like cotton and rice to the coast. The area gained recognition as a separate municipality during the 20th century as the population along the river slowly increased.
Barreirinhas is known as the main gateway to Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, and much of daily life in town revolves around the visitors who come for the dunes and lagoons. Along the Preguiças riverbank, small restaurants and guesthouses give the town center a relaxed, river-facing character.
The town is reachable from São Luís by bus on paved roads, and it is the most common starting point for excursions into the national park. The rainy season fills the lagoons inside the park, while the dry season makes the sandy tracks easier to cross and the dunes more accessible.
Although the dunes of Lençóis Maranhenses look dry, the lagoons that form between them are fed entirely by rainwater that cannot drain through the compacted sand beneath. The sand sits on top of an impermeable rock layer, which traps the water and allows the lagoons to stay filled for months after the rains end.
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