t The palm-fringed coastline of Ilhabela
t The palm-fringed coastline of Ilhabela
experience São Paulo State
t Which is dotted with picturesque churches
One of Brazil’s largest islands, Ilhabela rises steeply out of the Atlantic, a short distance offshore from São Sebastião. With a coastline sculpted by dozens of bays and beaches, it is covered in rainforest, much of it bisected by fast-flowing mountain streams. Visitors from São Paulo throng here during weekends, but during the week (outside of holiday season) the island is all but deserted. Much of the forest is protected as part of the Parque Estadual de Ilhabela and there is plenty of wildlife, including ocelots and several species of primates. The presence of biting flies, or borrachudos, on the island make insect repellent essential.
Ilhabela has just two roads. One is paved and runs the entire length of the western, leeward coast. Most of the numerous pousadas and guesthouses lie here, as do the villages of Perequê (where the ferry arrives), Borrifos, São Pedro, and Vila Ilhabela. The latter has a few colonial remains. Rusting 18th-century cannons adorn its waterfront and there is a little avenue of Portuguese buildings, including a 16th-century church, the Matriz de Nossa Senhora d’Ajuda.
The island’s other road is a dirt track, usable only by 4WDs, which cuts across the interior from Perequê into the park and to the windward beaches. The most spectacular of these is the Baía de Castelhanos, a perfect half-moon of sand backed by rainforest-covered slopes. The island’s longest beach, and the best for surfing, is Bonete, which is 9 miles (15 km) south from Borrifos village, along a rough forest trail.
Numerous shipwrecks off Ilhabela also make the island a popular scubadiving destination, despite the murky water.
experience São Paulo State
Ilhabela’s forests are full of waterfalls, but many are either completely inaccessible or reachable only by trail. A short distance inland from Perequê beach, Cachoeira da Toca waterfalls plunge in a series of little cascades into swimming pools, replete with natural waterslides. Água Branca is larger, with more pools. It is an hour’s walk along a trail that begins at the entrance to the state park, just beyond the turnoff to Cachoeira da Toca.