Ilha Grande
Ilha Grande has no cars anywhere, and luggage moves by hand cart. It was a prison island until 1994 and is now half of Brazil's first mixed World Heritage site.
Ilha Grande in a nutshell
Ilha Grande: what to expect
What follows sits on 71,000+ stops planned in Brazil on Stippl.
Ilha Grande has no cars on it, so you move on foot or by boat and your luggage moves by hand cart. Vila do Abraão is the only real village and where every boat lands. Lopes Mendes, over the ridge or by boat to Pouso and the last stretch walked, is the beach everyone names among Brazil's best, and there are more than a hundred others. Dois Rios is two hours across the island to a prison village the forest is taking back.
Almost nobody gives Ilha Grande a single night. Barely one stay in eight is one night and under two stops in a hundred carry none at all, the lowest we measure anywhere in this knowledge base. It also needs the longest Brazilian itinerary of any destination here, and three in five of its trips carry Paraty, which is the strongest relationship in the country and one UNESCO site read from both ends.
3 nights, and the island barely varies from it. The trails are the transport and the beaches are at the ends of them, so the walking is the point rather than a way of getting somewhere. Leave the wheeled suitcase behind, because it is sand, cobbles and dirt from the jetty onwards. And do not come if you need to be reachable: the signal drops away from the coast and the power cuts are routine.
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Walkers
The island is a trail network with beaches at the ends of it, and the trails are the transport.
Anyone wanting no resort
No cars, no chains, no strip, and most people give it 3 nights.
People already going to Paraty
Three in five Ilha Grande trips carry Paraty, and the two are one UNESCO site.
Divers and snorkellers
The Lagoa Azul reefs on the sheltered north side are the clearest water on the island.
Maybe not for you: anyone planning a single night, since almost nobody passes through and the boat alone makes it a commitment; anyone who needs to be reachable, because signal drops away from the coast and power cuts are routine; and wheeled luggage, given the sand and cobbles.
The best time to visit Ilha Grande
Wet summer
December to March
Hot, wet and the island full, with the boats from Angra and Conceição de Jacareí packed and the pousadas in Abraão at their most expensive. Lopes Mendes is still worth the walk.
Dry winter
May to September
Cooler, drier, clear trails and thin crowds. The best value and the best walking; the sea is cool but swimmable on a sunny afternoon.
- January is the month most travellers plan Brazil for on Stippl, and Ilha Grande is planned about 95 days ahead. 13.4% of Ilha Grande plans are made inside a fortnight; in January the boats still go but the rooms in Abraão do not exist.
- The island has no cars and no cash machines, and the boats stop for bad weather. A rough day in the summer cancels the fast boats from Conceição de Jacareí; a plan with a flight the next morning needs a night on the mainland.
- The trails close after heavy rain. The walk to Lopes Mendes and the longer circuits become mud and river crossings in the wet months; the boat taxi to the beach is the fallback and it runs when the sea allows.
- Ilha Grande's winter is its walking season. The Pico do Papagaio climb and the round-the-island circuit are for the dry months, when the trails hold and the views come out.
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Things to do in Ilha Grande
Lopes Mendes
Walk over the ridge from Abraão, about two and a half hours, or take the boat to Pouso and walk the last twenty minutes, to the beach no boat lands on. Free, and carry water; there is nothing on the sand.
The Lagoa Azul boat day
Take the schooner or speedboat circuit of the sheltered north coast with snorkelling stops in the blue lagoon, about €20. The speedboats are quicker and the schooners are the day.
Pico do Papagaio at sunrise
Climb with a guide from a night start to the island's highest viewpoint, 982 metres, about €35, for the sunrise over the whole bay. Dry-season only, and real shoes.
Dois Rios and the prison museum
Walk two hours on the island's only road through forest to the village the jungle is taking back and the museum in the old penitentiary, free. The beach at the end is empty.
Kayaking the bay
Paddle out from the village in one of the kayaks several pousadas lend, or rent one for about €8 an hour, along the coves either side of Abraão. Mornings, before the boats.
The beach trails
Walk the signposted trails between the beaches, the island's real point: Abraão to Praia Preta and the aqueduct in an hour, or on to Palmas and Lopes Mendes. Free, and the walking is the holiday.
The neighbourhoods of Ilha Grande
Abraão west
Cobbled village, the pier
The cobbled half of the village: pousadas, restaurants, the pier and the trailheads, where suitcases are manageable. For first visits and comfort who want the boats and the trails on foot.
Everything on foot and the boats, and the village's noise at weekends.
Abraão east
Sandy streets, cheaper beds
The unpaved sandy half of the village that floods in rain, which is why the beds are cheaper, a few streets from the same pier. For budget travellers and hostels.
The cheapest beds in the village, and wet feet in the rain.
The near bays
Small pousadas, own beach
Abraãozinho and the bays a short walk or boat hop from the village: small pousadas facing their own beach, quiet in the evening. For couples who want the sand outside the door.
A beach at the door and quiet, and a walk or a water taxi for dinner.
The far side
Boat-only pousadas, silence
The pousadas on the bays reached only by boat, on the way to Lopes Mendes and beyond, with the island's darkest nights. For seclusion and for people who bring their own evening.
The island to yourself, and the last boat before dark.
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Where to stay in Ilha Grande
Stay on the cobbled west side of Vila do Abraao if you have a suitcase: the pousadas, the pier and the trailheads are there, and the sandy east half floods in rain, which is why it is cheaper. Most people give Ilha Grande 3 nights on Stippl. Pack a power bank, since short daytime power cuts are routine, and ask about Starlink if you need to work.
Abraão west
Family-run pousadas with breakfast, €50 to €120, and a few hostels from €15 a bed.
Abraão east
Cheaper pousadas and hostels on the sandy streets, €12 a bed to €70 a room.
The near bays
Small pousadas facing their own beach, €70 to €150, a short walk or boat hop from the village.
The far side
Boat-only pousadas on the outer bays, €80 to €200 with meals, and the island's darkest nights.
What to eat in Ilha Grande
Fish or seafood stew with coconut milk and dendê palm oil
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Ilha Grande customs and what not to do
The history is not decoration
Enslaved Africans were landed here in thousands, the plantations became a prison, and the prison ran until 1994; the Dois Rios museum is university-run and the ruins are a memorial.
People live inside the listing
Caiçara and Quilombola communities do, and their presence is part of why the site was listed; the villages on the trails are homes, so ask before photographing.
Pack out what you carry
The island is a state park and most of it has no waste collection; what you carry to Lopes Mendes comes back with you, and the boat crews check.
No free camping, no fires
Both are prohibited in most of the park and the rangers act on it; the campsites in Abraão are the option, and the beaches at night are for turtles.
Do
- Take the ferry from Conceição de Jacareí; it is the fast door
- Walk the trails by nine with water and repellent
- Visit the Dois Rios museum and read the panels
- Carry your rubbish back to Abraão
Don't
- Camp outside the designated sites
- Light a fire on a beach
- Photograph the village houses without asking
- Swim at Lopes Mendes outside the calm end; the rips are real
What a Ilha Grande trip costs
Budget
€39
Hostel bed or camping, eating along the Abraão beachfront, though the island's own operator prices a genuine budget day nearer €34 (R$200), since everything arrives by boat.
Mid-range
€105
Simple to mid-range pousada, restaurant meals, day-boat tours.
High-end
€340
Beachfront pousada (from €118 (R$700)), the same operator's "comfortable" day runs nearer €134 (R$800).
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Fun facts about Ilha Grande
Ilha Grande is half of Brazil's first mixed World Heritage site. It was inscribed with Paraty in 2019 for culture and biodiversity together, one of the last large intact blocks of Atlantic Forest.
Ilha Grande was a prison island until 1994. Before that it was a slave-landing site, and the two histories sit 200 metres apart at Dois Rios, where the prison is now a museum.
There are no cars on Ilha Grande. No roads for them and no vehicles of any kind; you move on foot or by boat, and luggage moves by hand cart from the pier.
Ilha Grande gets more rain than Rio or São Paulo. About 1,900 mm a year on an island of rainforest, which is why the trails between the beaches are mud after every storm.
Almost nobody gives Ilha Grande a single night. On Stippl it has one of the lowest shares of no-night stops in the country, tied with Paraty; neither is a place anyone passes through.
The island has more than a hundred beaches. Lopes Mendes is the one regularly named among Brazil's best, reached by boat and a walk over the hill from Abraão.
Local tips for Ilha Grande
Fast door, cheap door
Conceição de Jacareí is twenty-five minutes across for about €10 to €25; Angra dos Reis is eighty minutes for about €4. The Rio coaches do not list Conceição; book to Angra and tell the driver.
Buy the return outbound
It is usually cheaper and it guarantees a seat on the Sunday boat, which sells out first. Angra charges a tourism tax of about €9, valid thirty days, as a QR voucher.
There is no land transport
Everything is a walk or a boat, and Lopes Mendes is protected so no boat lands on it; the boat option ends at Praia do Pouso with the last stretch on foot.
How long to stay
Most people give Ilha Grande 3 nights on Stippl, and the lowest last-minute share in Brazil: Lopes Mendes, a boat day and a trail day. Book three months out.
Trails are long and unlit
Two hours each way to Lopes Mendes or Dois Rios and no signal for most of it. Start by nine with water and repellent, and take a guide on the Papagaio night climb.
Abraão has a health post
Two pharmacies and a 24-hour health post, free to use including for visitors. The risk here is the terrain, not crime; the island has no theft story to tell.
Ilha Grande questions, answered
Around the boats. Ilha Grande carries 7.8% of everything planned in Brazil on Stippl, and there are no cars and no roads on it: you arrive by ferry from Angra dos Reis or on the faster crossing from Conceicao de Jacarei. Put three nights into Stippl and pair it with Paraty.
Three nights. People who plan Ilha Grande and the single most common plan on Stippl give it 3 nights, because Lopes Mendes takes a day, a boat trip round the island takes another, and the last one is for doing nothing at all.
Not really. Only 12.8% of Ilha Grande stops planned on Stippl are a single night, the lowest share in Brazil, because the crossing eats a piece of each end and the good beaches are a walk or a boat ride beyond the village where you land.
Two hours on foot over the T10 trail from Abraao, or a boat to Praia do Pouso and twenty minutes' walk over the headland. No boat lands on Lopes Mendes itself, which is part of why it stays as empty as it does. Take water, because very little is sold there.
None at all, beyond a couple of service vehicles. The village of Abraao is sand streets and footpaths, and everything past it is reached on foot or by boat. That single fact is what makes the island feel like a different country from the mainland coast an hour away.
No. There are no machines anywhere on the island, so bring what you need over from the mainland. Cards and Pix are widely accepted in Abraao now, which softens it, but the boatmen and the smaller kiosks still want notes. Take more than you think and you will spend it.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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