The presence of faecal contamination and pathogenic microorganisms in samples of dry and wet sand collected from three major beaches in Fortaleza, Ceará State, Brazil: (Praia do Mucuripe, Praia do Futuro and Praia do Caça e Pesca), during the period of May 1999 to January 2000 was evaluated. Praia do Caça e Pesca had the highest incidence of E. coli in dry sand (56%) followed by Praia do Mucuripe (28%) and Praia do Futuro (16%). In wet sand, results were 48%, 28% and 24% for Praia do Caça e Pesca, Praia do Futuro and Praia do Mucuripe, respectively. Only two samples from Praia do Futuro, one from dry sand and another one from wet sand, were positive for Salmonella. V. parahaemolyticus was isolated from four samples from Praia do Caça e Pesca (two from dry-sand samples and two from wet-sand), one from Praia do Futuro (wet sand), and three and four from Praia do Mucuripe (wet and dry sand, respectively). Yeasts belonged to the Candida genus. Dry-sand samples presented higher yeast contaminations level than wet-sand ones. Praia do Futuro had the highest level of yeast contamination (41%), followed by Praia do Caça e Pesca (33%) and Praia do Mucuripe (26%).