As we looked across the São Sebastião Channel toward Ilhabela we couldn’t stop staring at the tall mountains that took over the island’s interior. They are a continuation of the mountain range that follows much of Costa Verde in Brazil, but looked much taller than those we had seen yet. Between the peaks and the ocean, there is just enough flat land to host the town and pristine beaches that were waiting to be explored.
After visiting Ilha Grande we traveled to an even larger island on Costa Verde. Ilhabela is almost twice as large as Ilha Grande. At 347 square km, it is the second largest island in Brazil. Ilha Grande is a mere 193 square km. Although Ilhabela actually refers to the archipelago, most people refer to this large island as by that name. It is formally called Ilha de São Sebastião.
The main city on the island is also called Ilhabela. Much different than the relaxed vacation vibe on Ilha Grande, this is a busy city with paved roads, traffic lights and local stores such as hardware and grocery stores. Of course there are tourist shops, restaurants and hotels, but it is a city designed both for the people who live there as well as for tourists.
Along the edge of the city we found the long Praia do Perequê. It may not be the nicest beach to laze on for the day, but we loved walking on the long boardwalk at its side. The pathway is shaded by tall palm trees making if a comfortable place to walk while enjoying the views toward the mainland.
A paved road follows the western coastline, traversing from the north to south of the island. This meant that it was easier for us to see other parts of the island on our own, without having to take a boat tour. This is the way we prefer to explore a new place.
Given that the island is so large, we had to make a decision to either visit the north or south half. We chose to visit the north to see the most beautiful cove on the island. At its tip lies Praia do Jabaquara. The view from above is lovely. Between the green rainforest and turquoise water we could see a pristine white-sand beach. It wasn’t as busy as some Brazilian beaches we visited and seemed to have a good mix of amenities and nature. There are restaurants and kiosks in one area, but also a lot of natural space. A small lagoon fills with water during high tide and provides a gentle bath for a soak.
On the way back to town we had a few nice views of the island’s green shoreline. The undulations between its many points and coves makes it very picturesque.
We stopped to see a few of the small beaches that dot the shore. To reach Praia do Pacuiba we walked from the road down a long stairway built of large rocks from the mountain’s walls. There were only a few people sitting on the lawn above the beach and its natural setting made us wonder why there weren’t more people.
Praia da Armação was a little tricky to find because we had to walk through a resort to find it. There’s a law In Brazil that all beaches are public and you can’t restrict access. The resort had to let us in, even though we were dressed in walking gear and not beachwear. They almost didn’t know what to do with us, but eventually left us alone so we could explore ‘their’ beach. It is a small, quiet beach with an old Portuguese chapel on its edge.
Between Armação and the city, the coast is one long beach separated into coves by small rocky points. Right beside Armação is Praia Pinto, a small beach with easier access since the road is now at sea level. We were told we could continue to walk along the rocks to reach the next beach, but it turned out that it wasn’t as easy as we expected. We climbed up and over tall, slippery boulders around the point only to see more of the same further ahead. Eventually, after a lot of sweaty effort, we reached the lookout Pedra do Sino (Bell Stone). I’m sure the people standing on the lookout wondered where this sweaty pair had come from and why!
From there it was easy to reach Praia do Sino and finally Praia do Garapoccaia where we treated ourselves to a much needed beer. At one of the beaches, kayaks were available to rent. It took a long time to realize the sign ‘Quaiaques’ was for Kayaks.
In fact, as soon as we arrived in Brazil we realized that Portuguese is a very difficult language to learn. We thought our basic knowledge of Spanish would help, but it rarely did. Some Portuguese words are easy and are fairly similar to Spanish such as quejo (cheese), praia (beach) or mascara (mask) but most were not. Pronunciation was often a problem for us. We tried to learn a few words before we arrived and thought we knew how to say ‘bom dia’ (good morning) but we were way off in pronouncing it correctly as bo jee-ah. There are a lot of zh, gee, chi sounds in Brazilian Portuguese. The word for today is hoje pronounced oh-zhee. Abacate (avocado) is pronounced abacatchee; sete (seven) is pronounced se-tche. The number two was very difficult because it has a masculine dois and feminine duas and we didn’t know which one to use at any time and often resorted to showing two fingers. It took a long time to learn the days of the week Segunda-feira, terça-feira, quarta-feira, etc (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday). The funniest story though is when Maggie was trying to get into the bus terminal. The guard was looking at her ticket while speaking with another man. The guard said ‘now’ so Maggie tried to enter, but he stopped her. He said ‘now’ again, she tried to enter again and he stopped her. This went on and on until finally she got inside. Much later we figured out he was saying não (no) to the other man, but it sounded to us like the English word now. There were may some words weren’t difficult to pronounce or spell but were very unlike English or Spanish such as suco (juice), abacaxi (pineapple), or frango (chicken). Google Lens was very helpful and we highly recommend it. The icon is in the upper corner on the Google Chrome app.
Back to our tour of Ilhabela. We had seen the Pico do Baepi standing high above town for the past few days and thought we’d like to see the views from its slope. An easy hiking trail leads from town to a lookout platform part way up the mountain. The lookout is above an open meadow so there is an unobstructed view of the island’s shore and the coastline on the mainland.
Another trail leaves the viewpoint and heads through the jungle toward the summit. We were hoping to get views of the other side of the island, so continued our hike up the mountain. To get to the mountain’s peak you are supposed to hire a guide. A park official questioned us before we began our hike and we assured her we weren’t going to the summit. We hadn’t intended on going as high as we did, but the dense Atlantic Forest wouldn’t let even a shimmer of light shine through, never mind allowing a view. We kept going higher hoping to reach a viewpoint of the other side of the island. After almost 3 hours, gaining 1,010 m in 3 km we finally reached a rocky outcrop that gave us a slightly better view than we had below. We could see toward the southern end of the island, but still not much on the other side.
We ended up being just below the summit and could see that from the summit, we still wouldn’t get a view. When we returned to the park official, over 4 hours later, she knew that we went higher than the first lookout and was quite angry, but we were honest that we didn’t go to the summit. The trail is steep and has quite a few slippery roots, but is not difficult to the point where we turned around. Beyond that it looks to be steeper and possibly exposed and that may be why a guide is required.
One thing about Ilhabela that is not endearing is amount of black flies (borrachudos). They are relentless. We brought Deep Woods Off from Canada and it helped to deter them, but unless you covered every square inch of your skin, they will find that one spot that you missed and leave a very itchy bite mark. During the day they are not a problem, but at dusk and dawn you may want to remain inside.
We did like Ilhabela, but there was no comparison between it and Ilha Grande. In our opinion they got the names mixed up for these two islands. Ilha Grande is smaller and prettier than Ilhabela, so the names should be reversed.
Getting to Ilhabela
The ferry travels between the city of São Sebastião on the mainland and Ilhabela town every half hour and takes roughly 20 minutes. Don’t depend on the ferries being on time though. One of the ferries we took was 45 minutes late and was quickly followed by the next two ferries. Getting to São Sebastião from São Paulo by bus is quite easy as there are several buses a day making the trip. From the eastern side of Costa Verde you will need to first take a bus to Caraguatatuba. From there you can catch another bus to São Sebastião (30 minutes). The Rodoviária (bus station) is a 15-minute walk to the ferry (Balsa). The public ferry is free to pedestrians and cyclists, but there is a fee for vehicles. When we were there, a long line of cars were waiting for the ferry. Sometimes the wait for vehicles can be over 2 hours.
Getting around in Ilhabela
If you visit Ilhabela without a car as we did, you will find their city buses to be dependable and safe. There are several different routes in the city and one between the city and Armação in the north and another to Borrifos in the south. The cost is roughly R$5 ($1 USD) per trip.
Where to stay on Ilhbela
There are many options for hotels and resorts along the entire west coast. Most are easily accessible by car. If you want a remote location, there are a few boat access-only resorts located on the eastern beaches. We stayed in the main town of Ilhabela. It’s a busy town but has several good restaurants and pubs and you can easily take day trips to other parts of the island.
Ubatuba
On our way from Ilha Grande to Ilhabela we spent a couple of days in Ubatuba. Known for being the rainiest city in the area, we didn’t plan to spend much time. The city is very industrial but the views of Ubatuba Bay are unmatched. We loved walking along the main beach, Praia Itaguá, to watch how the look of the mountains changed as the sun moved across the sky.
There are of course many more beaches in town, but most were filled with beachgoers. They all have very nice surroundings, but were a little too busy for our liking.
To read about our other adventures in Brazil click here.
Coming Next – The Historic Port Town of Paraty
For pictures from other blogs go to Gallery at monkeystale.ca
To read about more of our adventures go to Destinations.
If you like what you read, please comment or share (with credit) using the links below
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Some very good looking beaches here! Não? 😉😊
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🤣🤣🤣
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I already think that all these posts about Brazil deserve to be published in a book. thank you very much for this generous view of the country. my hug.
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Thank you Fernando! I wouldn’t even know where to start, but appreciate your kind words. Maggie
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Maggie, I was, or still am, editor. I know it’s not easy, but my look at what you do is worth a book. something like this: our travels in through our eyes (the idea). I really enjoy reading your posts. my hug.
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Oh wow, thanks so much! Maybe I will look into it. It is a daunting thought 🙂
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The trees and other plantlife are amazing. Add them to the views of the water, and everything looks so exotic.
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It’s such a lush part of the country. It was so nice to see so many plants we’d never even heard of before.
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I love the contrast of the ocean with the mountains, so beautiful!
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It has the right combination doesn’t it?!
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Again a stellar journey well presented. Thank you. I love those long views from lookout points like view from Pico do Baepi, Ilhabela.
Plants seem to thrive on all the islands, wow. That is the largest Bromeliad I have ever seen…awesome
P.S. I enjoyed your honesty about the language challenges. Spanish and Portugese ,,,not the same.
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I don’t know where we got the idea that we’d get a long in Brazil with a bit of Spanish, but that’s definitely not the case. Oh well, adds to the excitement of traveling!
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Yes it sure does add richness to learn the language even a word or too in the land where it is spoken. Lovely sharing I enjoyed seeing all those wonderful beaches.
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Beautiful coastline but a shame about the flies and the busyness of some beaches. I see you’re off to Paraty in your next post. We loved it these so I’m hoping to find that you did too!
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Paraty was a highlight. I’m going through the pictures now and it’s going to be very difficult to choose!
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I can imagine! We were there pre-digital, otherwise I’d have taken 100s!
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Gorgeous pictures, Maggie.
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Thank you!!
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Hi there. You are true adventurers. A lot of visitors to Brazil go to Rio and maybe one or two other places. But you go almost everywhere.
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We try to see more than just the highlights. In Brazil there were so many amazing places, it’s too bad that it’s not visited more often.
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I don’t know Portuguese at all. If I went to Brazil, how big of a hindrance would that be?
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If you stick to the usual tourist places like Rio, Amazon and Iguazu it wouldn’t be a problem. Outside of those there is not much English. But we got a long fine with zero Portuguese. The people are more than eager to help. As well Google translate can get your message across and Google Lens to read menus and signs. Don’t let the language stop you from going. Maggie
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Nothing beats a coastal walk or a walk with great coastal views Maggie. This place looks stellar, except for your story about black flies. Yikes, nothing says foreign vacation like biting bugs. Love the story on language difficulties. So much fun to travel not knowing how to communicate easily. Thanks for sharing. Allan
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It adds another layer of challenge but also excitement to traveling doesn’t it! Maggie
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Lovely….so beautiful!!
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As always, through your posts you make me travel to wonderful places.
Thank you with all my heart, dear Maggie🦋
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Thank you Luisa!!!
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You’re so welcome 😘
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I love seeing Brazil through your lens. It is such a beautiful place.
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Thank you, so many beautiful places in Brazil to show you 😊
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Another fabulous glimpse of Brazil. Thanks so much for sharing your travels!
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Thank you!! Glad you’re enjoying Brazil! Maggie
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One of my favorite moments in this blogging world we’re in is seeing somewhere I have been and loved from another’s perspective- so I was so excited to see Ilhabela and Ubatuba on your site today! My friend’s family had a beach house on Ilhabela there so we would spend the first couple days there enjoying the sand and sun before heading out for other places. Your pictures make me want to jump on the first plane to Brazil! 🙂
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Oh wow! There certainly weren’t many international tourists on Ilhabela. Are you friends from Brazil? Hope it lived up to you memories. 😊 Maggie
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It definitely lived up to my memories and made me a little homesick for Brazil (maybe it’s not homesick since it’s not my home…) My friends are from Brazil- they live about an hour away from Sao Paulo in the city of Jacerei. This may be my new favorite shared location 🙂
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Sounds like you need another trip!!
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Brazil has always looks beautiful “at a distance.” It is nice to see these up-close and personal experiences here. Great photos and enjoyed taking this tour!
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We really loved Brazil. So many beautiful landscapes and very friendly people. Thanks for taking the time to comment 😊 Maggie
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Love reading your posts and checking out the images. Keep the coming! Took a moment to check out the website outside of wordpress reader. Nice!
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Thanks so much Eric!! Maggie
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Maggie, I have to say that you WOW me with your amazing photography and narrations of these awesome places you visit. Thank you for entertaining us through your words and imagery my friend. 🌞📸🌴🗻😊
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Thank you Kym!! 🌴🏖⛰
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My pleasure Maggie. You’re welcome! 😍📸🌞
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Brazil is such a beautiful country. I love that the Brazilians have a law to ensure there’s public access to all beaches, it’s a fantastic idea.
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Isn’t it!? We weren’t completely sure they’d let us on the beach, but they didn’t stop us!! Maggie
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If ever a church could be described as adorable, the Capela Imaculada Conceição is!
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Ilhabela looks like an amazing place, with great looking beaches and beautiful nature. Despite the fact that my wife was born in Brazil I have never been there. You are making me want to go. I knew that Spanish and Portuguese was not that close. Swedish (my language) and Norwegian are very close though. If you know either language you can easily understand the other.
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You definitely should visit Brazil!! I’m not sure where we got the idea that a bit of Spanish would help in Brazil, butbwe were wrong. Richard, our photographer, is from Poland where he can easily communicate with people from both Czechia and Slovakia. Thanks for taking thentime to comment! Maggie
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Thank you so much Maggie. I hope I will.
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So it’s either black flies in Brazil or mosquitoes in Calgary? Pick your poison lol. That’s quite the story about Portugese. I noticed when I hear Portugese, it’s eerie how it sounds almost nothing like Spanish and yet Spain and Portugal are right next to each other! You expect languages to be similar if the countries are next to each other, but it’s not always the case
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Ha yes, the black flies were much worse than the mosquitoes though. I think if you’re fluent in Spanish you could understand Portuguese, but jot at our basic level. 😊
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That’s true about Portuguese. Although it makes me think of how Russia and Georgia are neighbours, but their languages are completely different
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Beautiful island, Ilhabela.
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😊 They kind of give it away in the name 😊
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Beautiful as usual.
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It is yet one more gorgeous place in Brazil! Where is your wife from?
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“I’m sure the people standing on the lookout wondered where this sweaty pair had come from and why!” I often feel this as well, especially after walking a lot to reach a place in a foreign country. Some people did actually approach me and ask, out of curiosity. Speaking of getting lost in translation, I think it’s mostly fun — as long as things work in our favor at the end.
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Glad we’re not the only ones! We like to walk a lot in a foreign country, but it often makes us stand out. Problems speaking the language is usually not a problem, and can lead to many funny scenes. But at the end of our long trip when we still could barely understand anything other than the basics, it was very tiring. All good though, adds to the adventure!!
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All those beaches look so very inviting Maggie. It’s always a nuisance at dusk when biting insects are prevalent. Finnish Lapland in midsummer is full of them and even covering myself in high quality repellant I soon looked as if I had measles! It wouldn’t put me off returning though.
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That’s true it wouldn’t prevent us from returning either 😊
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I’m loving this detailed exploration of Brazil. Maybe one day I’ll get there.
I too liked Grande better than bela from your descriptions though some of the beaches look lovely (not the crowded ones lol).
Alison
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Thanks Alison, Ilhabela is very pretty but not as relaxing and gorgeous as Grande. I guess they all can’t be fabourites! Maggie
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You find the best beaches!
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We didn’t even have to look too hard in Brazil! 😊
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Sounds like Brazilian Portuguese is quite different from the homeland version let alone Spanish. These islands may not be quite as nice as previous but this Brazil adventure has been fantastic, so many wonderful places.
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It’s very unlike any other language we knew and the pronunciation is so difficult, at least for me.
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Sounds (and looks) like it was a good call to visit the north half of the island. The views of the lush shoreline are stunning. Plus it’s always great when there aren’t many people around. The views from the mountain are also gorgeous, but it sounds like it was a steep hike with quite a bit of elevation gain! I guess there is no escaping the bugs no matter where you go.
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Yes I thinknwe made the right choice going north, the coves and beaches are so pretty. The black flies made me think we were in Ontario’s backcountry!! 😊 Maggie
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Now you nõa! 😃 Great photography! What a country!
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🤣🤣 It is an amazing country isn’t it!?
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I cannot understand Portuguese even though I have embryonic Spanish. It sounds like Klingon… Another beautiful set of beaches. I particularly liked the little blue and white chapel.
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Haha Richard speaks Polish and I can’t tell the difference between it and Portuguese 🤣
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LOL!
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Your posts on Brazil are giving me the biggest dose of wanderlust – and it’s shot up my list to visit. The only Portuguese I know is que lindaaaaa, which I feel like I’d be saying round every corner in Brazil anyway 🙂
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We did! Everything was linda!!! 😊😊
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Oh no! We’re going to be in Portugal in about a year and I had high hopes of learning some of the language, but it looks like the pronunciation is going to sink me! I seem to recall you recommending Google Lens on another post a long time ago and I just checked and, sure enough, I have it on my phone. I’ve never yet used it. I hope I remember that I have it and what it can be used for!
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You can use it to read a Portuguese menu! I think the pronunciation in Brazil is different from Portugal. I’m not sure easier or more difficult, but different. Northern Brazil don’t pronounce their r’s and in the south rolls them, adding to our challenges. 😊
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You spent so much time on that big coast (and on the islands), and the photos really show the beauty! I loved the language description which accurately describes the challenges of Portuguese, especially for Spanish speakers who have a false sense of competence. Back when I was in international banking, I was assigned to work on the Rio desk and told to take Portuguese lessons. I was fluent in Spanish and thought “no big deal.” Well, you know how wrong that was! As it turned out, my assignment in Rio was cancelled when that market crashed for a lot of U.S. banks. And so … I still can’t speak Portuguese! 🙂
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Haha well a trip to Brazil won’t help! There was so much to see on Costa Verde, we did end up spending a lot of time.
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Snapshots of paradise, Maggie. Again. Especially with Praia do Jabaquara and Praia de Pacuíba. Saying no thanks to the boat tour would also have been our choice. It was interesting to read about your experiences with the language. We too had assumed that with our Spanish we’d be able to get by comfortably.
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We could read better then we could understand by listening. And we never did seem to get the pronunciation. We pick up a bit of Spanish everytime we go to South America, but Portuguese will take a lot more effort. Adds to the adventure!
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How beautiful! Love the boardwalk along the Praia do Perequê – could picture me strolling along there in the evenings.
To my ears, Portuguese is very different to Spanish. Such a funny story about Maggie and the bus. I’ve bumped into friends in South America, where one is Scottish and speaks Spanish with a Scottish accent, but locals totally understand him. But, they never understood a Welsh or English person speaking Spanish and they used to get a blank vacant look.
Those Cycads and Bromeliads are massive.
So many beautiful islands to explore!
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I also think that in Brazil they have so few foreign tourists that they’re not used to hearing their words pronounced differently or wrong. It all adds to the adventure 😊
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That’s a bonus of travelling in Brazil. I thought that loads of travellers work their way through the country, especially to see Iguazu.
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No, most seem to go to Rio, Amazon and Iguazu. We rarely saw English speaking tourists. When Brazilians realized we didn’t speak English they assumed we were from Argentina.
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In my opinion … there is just no end to the beauty in Brazil as portrayed in your posts thus far! Ha, you guys pretty much had a hiking adventure walking from one beach to the next, but it also made for beautiful photos. You’re right, we also thought that if you had some knowledge of Spanish, we would be able to understand Portuguese a little – but that was not the case at all!
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I think by walking we saw kore then if we drove, but it is a big island and we were pretty tired by the end of the day 😊
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Ever get beached out? Or are they all sufficiently unique, or useful breaks in the day?
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By the end of Costa Verde we were quote beaches out, but we don’t lounge on them, we usually walk between for the views. Some of those views never get dull.
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really beautiful pictures. i have never been come to Ilhabela. looks like this place is good for relax, cool. I like it very much
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Thank you, Ilhabela is very beautiful. Maggie
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