Ilhabela:

Without a shadow of a doubt, Ilhabela is one of the most beautiful spots on the coast between Santos and Rio, though it’s best avoided during the crowded summer tourist season. Of volcanic origin, the island’s startling mountainous scenery rises to 1370m and is covered in dense, tropical foliage. Its dozens of waterfalls, beautiful beaches and azure seas have contributed to its popularity; old or new, most of the buildings are in simple Portuguese colonial styles, as far removed from brash Guarujá as you can get.
The island is a haunt of São Paulo’s rich who maintain large and discreetly located homes on the coast, many with mooring facilities for luxury yachts or with helicopter landing pads. The hotels are expensive and are often fully booked, so many people choose to stay in São Sebastião instead – not a bad idea, since transport connections are good. Ferries (24 hours a day; pedestrians free, cars $3) depart from São Sebastião’s waterfront every half an hour and the crossing takes about twenty minutes. If you’re driving, be prepared for a long queue for the ferry during the summer unless you book in advance (tel 0800-555-510). The ferry is met by a bus, which goes to Vila Ilhabela at the northwestern end of the island. VILA ILHABELA
Almost all of the island’s 6000 inhabitants live along the sheltered western shore, with the small village of VILA ILHABELA the only population centre. A few kilometres before you enter the village, look out on the right-hand side of the road for the grand eighteenth-century main house of the Fazenda Engenho d’Agua. This was one of the largest sugar plantations on the island, famous for its high-quality cachaça. Today there’s virtually no agricultural production on the island, its economy completely geared to tourism. The village has a few pretty colonial buildings, and is dominated by the Igreja Matriz, a little church completed in 1806. Apart from the church, there’s little to the village apart from a branch of Bradesco bank (with an ATM), a few grocery stores, some excellent snack bars and boutiques selling overpriced T-shirts and yachting gear. In the evenings, people congregate on the pier, catching swordfish with remarkable ease. Around the island
Getting around the island can be a problem as the only bus route is along the island’s western shore north as far as the lighthouse at Ponta das Canas and south to Porto do Frade – the limits in both directions of good-quality roads. The beaches along this mainland-facing shore are small, but pleasant enough, and are popular with windsurfers; the water’s calm but of questionable cleanliness. Far more attractive are the small beaches in the coves along the northern coast, such as the Praia do Jabaquara, but access is generally difficult, involving clambering down steep trails hidden from view from the road. It’s along this stretch of coast that some of the island’s most exclusive villas are located, and their owners have an interest in making sure the road remains in a poor condition and that the beaches are difficult to reach. The road is also poor along the southern shore, where some of the best beaches are located: after the road ends at Borifos, it’s a two-hour walk along an inland trail to the tiny fishing hamlet at Praia do Bonete, with a couple of other fine beaches just beyond. Along the way you’ll pass an impressive waterfall, the Cachoeira do Late, beneath which a natural pool has formed.

Eating, like everything else on Ilhabela, is expensive. Restaurants come and go rapidly, but most are concentrated in and just south of Vila Ilhabela and at Praia do Perequê. When it’s time to move on, you can take the twice-daily bus to São Paulo from near the pier in the main village of Vila Ilhabela, or from São Sebastião there are buses in both directions along the mainland coast