The Ilha Grande - Tourism in Rio V

In English, the name Ilha Grande translates as the Great Island.

One of the most popular areas for tourists in Rio de Janeiro, the Ilha Grande is frequented by those who find time to journey out of the city during their stay and enjoy this island and its bay.

There are two options for discovering and enjoying this new Caribbean: one is to spend just one day here on an organised outing, and the other is to spend a few days here, if you have more time at your disposal.

Along with other day trips, to Buzios for example or to another of the islands, trips to the Ilha Grande are highly popular with tourists in Rio de Janeiro. When I was there, we hadn't originally planned a trip to the island, but when we arrived, it was being advertised as an utter paradise, and not without reason: in my opinion, a visit there is 100% worth your time and money. If you like busier areas, with more people, shops and bars, then perhaps you should choose the first option I suggest and spend a day on a boat visiting the Ilha Grande's different beaches. If however you're someone who likes to escape the hustle and bustle of places and who would enjoy a few laid-back days among the stunning nature and paradisical beaches this island has to offer, you may prefer to stay here for a few days and enjoy a few caipirinha cocktails on your own little peaceful corner of the beach.

If you read my entry about the Guarda do Embaú, I can tell you that the Ilha Grande is a similar destination, humbler than the city of Rio, where you can enjoy the fresh natural air and beaches worry-free in that they are much quieter and more relaxed. Spending a few days here gives you the opportunity to disconnect from the stress of everyday life and enjoy your own and the company of others. There are no shops or bars here; instead the free time activities on offer here are walking, rowing and swimming.

Far away from the real world, spend your time taking a siesta on the beach, walking along the shores when the sun is shining heavily, enjoying guided tours of the abundant and exotic nature in the area or discovering the marine life.

You may decide due to timing or simply because the laid-back style of life on the island doesn't suit your holiday preferences to only spend one day here strolling along the beaches, swimming with exotic fish, catching glimpses of marine turtles when diving, enjoying a delicious meal on the beach and, of course, being blown away by the beautiful sunsets.

This was what we decided to do, not because the idea of spending a few days on the Ilha Grande wasn't appealing to us, but because our time in Rio was very limited.

Your visit

You can catch a bus very early to the relevant port in Rio to start the day trip.

Your tour around the Ilha Grande takes place in a boat full of tourists of all different nationalities, which takes you around the different beaches, stopping at truly paradisical places for you to enjoy them. The boat doesn't only take you to the Ilha Grande itself, but also to several lost beaches in the bay, which makes the experience all the more amazing since you have the opportunity to enjoy these wonderful and utterly deserted beaches.

If you only have one day in your schedule available to take a trip to the island, it's very important that you choose a warm, sunny day, since if it's rainy or overcast, the trip won't be a very enjoyable one for you. You also need a clear day for visiting the Cristo de Corcovado and the Pao de Açucar so that you can really appreciate the views. You should try and organise your trip so that the weather conditions coincide well with the places you choose to visit each day.

When to visit the Ilha Grande (best weather conditions and dates)

You can visit the island at any time of the year, and you'll never be confronted with suffocating heat or biting cold there. The weather is usually good on the Ilha Grande - warm temperatures and sunny, making it possible for you to swim and sunbathe at any time of day - but the heat is never stifling. The ocean island is characterised by a tropical climate, normally warm, with an average yearly temperature of 22 degrees, and the water temperature between 18 and 24 degrees, making it very suitable for bathing. On the other hand, you shouldn't forget about the rain. As strange as it sounds, it tends to rain more in the summer months (November to April) and sometimes for several days at a time (though this isn't very common). In the wintertime the sky is usually clearer, though the temperature does drop by a few degrees.

If you're thinking about visiting when the carnival is on, I wouldn't really recommend it, since the island is absolutely packed full of people, and I think it's meant to be more of a place to relax, recuperate and disconnect far from the stress of the excessively urbanised cities and towns we live in nowadays. Another time at which the island tends to be full of tourists is at New Year, as people throw parties on the beach like on the Guarda do Embaú and dress in white.

I'll explain a little more about what exactly this island is, where it is and what you can do there, so that you can form a better picture of it in your minds and decide whether you'd like to plan a visit here. I'll tell you about the places I've been to and share my personal opinion on them and on the activities we did there. Some things I of course can't give my opinion on as I haven't experience them myself, but I'll give you some interesting links so that you can read more about a certain topic or activity if it interests you. What I can definitely tell you however is that I really recommend the Ilha Grande if you have the opportunity and time to visit it. There are many other day trips available in Rio, but due to lack of time, we were only able to enjoy this one and we didn't regret a second of it.

The Ilha Grande is an island off the coast of Brazil, belonging to the state of Rio de Janeiro, but located within the municipality fo Angra dos Reis, 180 kilometres south of Rio with Vila do Abraão as its capital (with 3, 000 inhabitants, to give you an idea of its size). The biggest industries here are fishing and tourism.

Many people decide to visit the island from São Paolo (around 750 kilometres away), but if you are really interested in visiting the Ilha Grande, it's much better to travel there directly from Rio de Janeiro, since the journey from São Paolo is quite complicated. You lose a lot of time travelling the long distance, too.

History

The name Angra do Reis (the municipality the island belongs to) was given to it by its discoverer, André Gonsalves. He discovered this small piece of land in the middle of the ocean on one of his expeditions, and at first thought it was part of a cove. When he realised that it was an island, he decided to name it 'Angra do Reis' (Cove of the Kings) since the date was January 6th. (January 6th being Epiphany, the Day of the Three Kings).

Due to its location, the island was a important and strategic location for the trade, piracy and smuggling of gold, minerals and slaves between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, as well as a key place for hiding and stocking up on food and water. The island was also a suitable place for mooring ships due to the irregularity of the coastline and the abundant vegetation.

At the start of the nineteenth century, the island was known for being used as a quarantine for navigators and immigrants who had contracted illness at sea, such as cholera or leprosy, leading to the place becoming an island of lepers.

Later on in the mid-twentieth century, the Dois Rios prison was built on the island to house the most dangerous criminals in the country. Not much later, the new government decided to cancel these plans, mainly owing to stark opposition and to the restrictions on the island's economic development the prison would cause. It seems, however, that the real reason behind the decision to close the prison was the fact that prisoners kept escaping.

Until the closure of the prison 20 years ago in 1994, the island wasn't visited by tourists, and human presence was very limited. It is for this reason that even today the island still consists of many virgin beaches, though since 1994 tourist attention has increased at a dazzling speed.

A few years after the decision was made to demolish the prison, a Centre of Environmental Studies and Sustainable Development was constructed on the island by the University of Rio de Janeiro.

Geography: Beaches and nature

The island consists of 106 beaches, all of them accessible, and the perimeter of its coastline is 130 kilometres (its rather large size is the reason behind its name) with its area being 193 kilometres squared. In addition to the beaches, there are also some small peninsulas which give the coastline a more uneven appearance.

Although the island's main tourist attraction are its beaches, the middle of the island is covered in extensive, dense vegetation, interspersed with rivers, rocky terrain and several mountains: the biggest of these being the Pico de Pedra d'Auga at 1, 031 metres, and the second biggest the Pico do Papagaio, visible from almost every part of the island and 99 metres tall. You can climb the latter via a path with a steep incline, which requires you to dodge obstacles on the way up. The climb takes around three to four hours.

Beaches

I would go on forever if I was going to explain what each of the beaches on the Ilha Grande has to offer, and since I haven't visited them all either, I'll leave you a link to a site which I find pretty good for explaining the features and characteristics of most of them.

http://www.ilhagrande.com.ar/servicios/servicios.php

I'll give my personal opinion on the beaches I have visited, and give my personal opinion on them:

Lopes Mendes: Considered one of the most beautiful beaches on the Brazilian coast and even in the world, Lopes Mendes is the most famous beach on the island. Approximately 3 kilometres in size, when I visited it, one of the things that really struck me was the transparency of the water and its different shades of green and blue. Although the water may seem peaceful, don't go too deep into the water since this beach is part of the Atlantic Ocean and has strong currents, which give its sand a very irregular surface, and generate large waves and strong gusts of wind. For this reason, this beach is very popular with surfers.

Caxadaço: I've no idea how to describe this wonderful beach. It's hardly 15 metres long, hidden between the rocks and lush trees. I was lucky enough to share this beach with just a few friends and no-one else - we were entirely alone. The boat took us to a nearby beach, and to get to this one, we had to investigate between the rocks.

Laguna Verde: a great place deeper inside the Ilha Grande. This is the ideal place to do some snorkelling. The waters in the lagoon are peaceful and very clear, and very green. We stopped here with the boat and were allowed to do some snorkelling in the area. We saw millions of tiny fish that swam next to us, and we saw thousands of starfish too.

Laguna Azul: this lagoon is similar to a natural swimming pool when the tide is low, and is situated in the closest part of the Ilha Grande to the continent (only 2. 3 kilometres away). In this area, the boat halts for a few minutes so that some tourists can go snorkelling and take photos of the huge shoals of fish in this lagoon, the most stunning being yellow fish with black stripes. This place is paradisical, with tranquil, shallow waters.

Isla de Jorge Grego: the name of this island comes from a castaway, Jorge Grego, who after his ship sunk took refuge on the island for many years. The island is located 5. 3 kilometres away from Lopes Mendes beach. Although we didn't actually set foot on the island, we had a lovely view of it from the ship. On Lopes Mendes beach, I tried to swim to the island (obviously I didn't make it all the way, since it's a lot closer than it looks! ) with my snorkelling kit on, and I saw a few marine turtles swimming below me. I found out afterwards that different kinds of marine birds also inhabit the island. Other famous beaches on the island include the Dois Rios, Aventureiro, Feiticeira, Saco do Cey, Araçatiba, Pamaioca and Abraozinho. This is all down to personal opinion of course, and to what each person is personally looking for in a beach (peace and quiet, exoticism, isolation... ).

Nature

It's common for tourists visiting the island to leave a lot of rubbish behind them, so although the island remains a very virgin one, sometimes you do come across rubbish on the beaches. One of the most charming and appealing things about this island is its purity, which even today still hasn't been completely exploited by tourists - and if we want it to continue to be so, and for other visitors to be able to visit and enjoy the paradise it offers, we should try and leave everything just as we found it: it's just common sense.

The island is a biological reserve. This is an important thing to remember, though your tour guide will also tell you about it, as it means that you should take care of everything on the island and be careful that you don't spoil any of the areas you visit. The island is an Environmentally Protected Area of the dos Tamoios (APA dos Tamoios), consisting of three specific areas: the state park of the Ilha Grande (PEIG); the biological reserve of the southern beach (RBPS); and the state marine park of Aventureiro (PEMA). In this internet graphic, you can see the distribution of the three areas clearly.

Parque Estatal de Ilha Grande (PEIG): Although people are allowed to 'interact' with this area, you are not allowed to alter the environment, meaning that it is open to the general public purely to be enjoyed. Agriculture is therefore not permitted in this area of the island, nor is fishing or, of course, any kind of industrial exploitation.

Parque Estatal Marino de Aventureiro (PEMA): This area is also accessible, but in the same way, no environment-altering activities are permitted.

Since the island is a protected area, certain rules apply when visiting: no camping is permitted without a license; no campfires, bonfires or fireworks; no fishing with nets or underwater fishing within a one kilometre radius of the island's shores (only fishing with line and bait is allowed); no capturing starfish or any other animal; no pulling up plants or flowers; no motorcycles, only bikes are allowed. If you really love sleeping in the open air and want to camp on the Ilha Grande, take a look at this link where you'll find information on the permitted camping areas on the island.

Things to do

As I've already mentioned, this depends on your own plans and on how much time you have at your disposal for visiting the island. When I visited, we were on a planned day trip, which meant that we visited beaches and went snorkelling, but didn't get to go on any walks or follow any trails. The tourist centre on the Ilha Grande is in Vila do Abraão, where you'll find hotel accommodation, places to eat and the necessary information on all the activities, views and walks that the island has to offer.

The island offers some limited leisure activities aside from shopping and going for a few drinks. You can enjoy the beaches, wander through the nature and go trekking along the marked paths, enjoy the aquatic wildlife, take boat trips, go sailing or kayaking, surf if you're into surfing (mainly on Lopes Mendes beach), or enjoy the island from underwater while snorkelling or diving.

Beaches

I've already told you a bit about the beaches, and from the link I posted you should be able to decide for yourselves which ones are the ones most worth visiting, depending on what your interests are and how you intend to get there (by boat, by trail... ).

Hiking

Featuring natural exotic and protected landscapes, the Ilha Grande is the perfect place to enjoy nature for all those who enjoy hiking. It’s a shame I didn’t get to go hiking here, but I’m sure the views must be spectacular. I’m sure that at every twist and turn in the path you discover new animals and new trees, plus beautiful views of the beaches, coasts and bays. I really wanted to catch a glimpse of the famous ‘macacos’ (monkeys in Portuguese) who live on the island.

You can find information about the various island trails at the Vila do Abraão, as well as other tourist information and services. All trails on the island are named ’T’, followed by a number according to each route (e. g. T1, T2). Most of them start at Abraão, some at Aracatiba. There are 16 ‘official’ hiking routes on the island. Here are some photos I found online (and one taken while I was there) in which you can see each path with its particular features:

The majority of these paths begin at one of the beaches, lead you through the middle of the island and finish on another beach. Always bear in mind the time it will take you to get back, as the last you want is for it to be getting dark when you are on the way back to Abraão (in addition to the dense forest, I think the light must be quite bad in some places, since after having followed one of the paths in broad daylight, we still found it hard to see through the dense trees! ). Some trails can take two days to complete, so you should bring a backpack with you containing food and a tent for camping (although don’t forget that you need permission from the prefecture, as camping without this permit is prohibited). There are even some trails which take three days to complete, on which you connect several of the ‘official’ trails and make a round trip of the island. Ask for advice at the tourist information office in terms of what route you should choose, since some are harder than others (due to their length, their precipices, there may even be some streams you have to jump over…) and you should also choose one bearing in mind you physical ability.

I wouldn’t recommend going off on your own and finding new trails, since there have been many news stories about tourists who have gotten lost on the island, especially at night when you could really run into problems.

If you remember, I mentioned the best time of year for visiting the island in terms of climate would perhaps be wintertime (May to August), since during this period the temperature never gets too cold and is quite pleasant. These are the perfect weather conditions for going on a trail, and the rain is less frequent at this time of year.

There are also open paths for going on walks around the island. There are three bike paths, and you can rent bikes in Abraão. The first path runs from Abraão to Dois Rios (distance 14 kilometres, duration one to one and a half hours), the second from Abraão to Saco do Céu (10 kilometres), and the third from Palmas to Lopes Mendes via Saco das Palmas, and Aroeira (8 kilometres). For those who are interested, here are two links which give you information on the different paths on the island, and there is even book guide you can by named ‘Caminhos e Trilhas da Ilha Grande’ by Jose Bernado.

http://ilhagrande.org/Trilhas-na-Ilha-Grande

Navigating

Sailing: sailboats are available to rent for tourists, and you can take a tour to any of the famous beaches on the island, or even to one of the 360 islands in the bay. You can even rent a boat for private use, and spend the night on it on the ocean.

Kayaking: if sailing is ‘too much’ for your taste, you can also rent kayaks to reach any of the best-known beaches. Group and guided trips can also be booked, especially for long distances.

Boat trips: if not on a boat, then on a GOLETA, as we did. Most boat trips start at the Vila de Abraão and circle the island’s coastline, visit the different beaches and lagoons for visitors’ enjoyment, and make stops to give you time to relax and to eat. One day alone isn’t enough for a full round trip of the island by boat, as it’s quite big. If this is what you’d prefer, there are motorboat trips which take you all around the perimeter of the island.

Diving and snorkelling

The Ilha Grande is a fantastic destination for diving and snorkelling due to its peaceful and clear waters. The best season for these activities is the period between November and May (the opposite time period to the trails), but you can of course enjoy these activities all year round should you wish to. The best places for them are the green and bluish lagoon and the ‘macacos’ island, although there are many other locations all over the island. In addition to the underwater flora and fauna you’ll glimpse (and stumbling across dolphins seems to common, too), the Ilha Grande’s bay has many shipwrecks: the total number discovered and registered to date is 16. During the aforementioned months, due to the peacefulness of the waters you are able to see up to 15 metres in front of you - ideal conditions for snorkelling. When we stopped at the blue lagoon on our boat trip, the boat photographer took lots of photos of us underwater swimming among the fishes, and these photos are a great momento of the fantastic trip we went on that day.

http://ilhagrande.org/Mergulho-Ilha-Grande

So…where can I stay?

Without a doubt, the Vila do Abraão is the best place to stay on the island. You’ll find everything there you could possible need during your stay: from bars and restaurants to supermarkets. The Vila do Abraão is also the centre of activity on the island, where you’ll find the tourist information centre, and where the majority of the island trails and boat trips start and depart from.

Another area of the island which also offers accommodation and is the starting point for several trails is Arçaitiba. It’s very peaceful there by day and by night. If you’re having trouble deciding where to stay, why not split your stay in two: enjoy complete rest and recuperation in Araçaitiba, and enjoy a bit more life, excursions around the island and socialisation in Abraão. There is also a a medical centre in Arçaitiba in case of emergencies. Generally, no vaccinations are necessary for a trip to the island, since it’s free of yellow and dengue fever, but in the case of small medical emergencies, this medical centre is at hand.

Here’s a link to a site giving you more details on the different accommodation options on the island.

http://www.alojamientoenbrasil.com/hoteles-y-posadas-en-ilha-grande

Here’s a link to the island’s official website, where you’ll find all the information you need and the answers to any questions you might have. The website is in Brazilian Portuguese, but you can view it in Spanish or English, too.

http://www.ilhagrande.com.br

In my next post, I’ll tell you in detail about how to get to the island, about what the different travel options are and give you some advice, such as the answers to some questions we had before our trip.