Barra de Punaú, Coastal beach area in Rio do Fogo, Brazil.

Barra de Punaú is a beach in Rio do Fogo, Rio Grande do Norte, where the Punaú River meets the Atlantic Ocean. The river mouth forms lagoons and wetland channels behind a line of sand dunes covered with palms and low vegetation. The channels and sandbanks shift with the tide, so the layout of water and sand changes through the day.

This coastal area remained relatively isolated until the 1980s and 1990s when television and film productions discovered its natural setting. The media exposure gradually brought tourism to the region and changed local economic patterns.

Fishing communities here practice age-old techniques for catching and preparing seafood that you can still see in operation today. The rhythm of daily work follows the tides and seasons, shaping how locals interact with this coastal environment.

Access is via BR-101 highway followed by unpaved roads that become muddy during rainy season and may be challenging to navigate. Basic lodging and small restaurants operate in the area, though services remain limited compared to busier beaches.

The Punaú is a small river whose mouth opens onto the beach; at high tide seawater pushes back into the channel, and at low tide the outflow carves shallow pools and sandbanks across the sand. Bathers time their visits to the tide, since the channel depth changes through the day.