Falling for Floripa
The incredible view to Lagoinha do Leste
What do you think of when you think of Brazil? I’d guess pristine beaches, beautiful people and lush green rainforest. How about currywurst at a Christmas market?
An overnight bus from Foz do Iguaçu had brought us to Blumenau, Brazil’s German enclave, just as I was ready to get into the Christmas spirit!
Blumenau itself is a lot larger than we were expecting, but the Vila Germánica - the German village that draws visitors - is tiny, only a few streets. Those streets are filled will timber-framed houses, shops selling lederhosen and beer houses serving up German speciality dishes.
Each year, over 700,000 people descend on the town for one of the largest Oktoberfest celebrations outside of Germany, but we arrived to tinsel and trees, just before the opening of the traditional German Christmas Market. Although it was close to 30 degrees, the grey sky and driving rain did recall a Northern European winter scene… if only we weren’t wearing shorts.
We didn’t do much other than wander through the shops, eat and drink, but it was the perfect stop over to break up our journey as we made a beeline for the Atlantic Coast.
Finally… a beach!
If Blumenau offered the unexpected, our next stop on Ilha Santa Catarina served up exactly what we wanted from our time in Brazil.
The island is better known as Florianopolis - or Floripa to locals - after the main city and gateway. The draw? Over 40 pristine beaches, from tiny coves to surfers paradise, party destinations and playgrounds for the rich and famous, Floripa has it all.
The island appeared in our plans quite late in the day - we never had our sights set here, instead we intended to head to Paranagua and on to the less-popular Ilha do Mel for our first dose of Brazilian beaches. However, less popular comes at a cost. The lack of traffic meant that bus and ferry times didn’t align and it would take us two days to get on to the island, and two days to get away, taking up precious time we don’t really have at this stage.
Perhaps it’s now we are paying for taking longer routes to lesser-travelled destinations in Colombia and Peru. We don’t have any regrets! But we are looking forward to getting to Central America and being able to travel with a bit more freedom from time pressures, for the chance to get a little off the beaten track again.
Once we had given up on the idea of Ilha do Mel, Florianopolis seemed the obvious, and much easier, choice. A little reading up on the destination and we were positively excited about it, particularly one stand out location.
Floripa’s secret beach: Lagoinha do Leste
Lagoinha do Leste is widely known to be the nicest beach on the island, yet it remains relatively uncrowded, with no development or even beach sellers tramping the golden sand. Why? Because it is reached by hiking an hour through Atlantic Rainforest. You have to really want it to get there. Exactly the kind of thing we love!
The trail to the beach was fairly straightforward but incredibly beautiful. From our base in Lagoa it was a 2 hour bus ride to the trailhead, which we felt would leave us hiking through the heat of the day - never a good idea - so we opted for the more direct route and took an Uber there in just 40 minutes.
The path was well marked but narrow, so we could quite literally feel nature all around us as we walked. After about 50 minutes, first uphill then downhill, we came to a clearing and all of a sudden there was only sand in front of us.
The beach itself is around 1.5km long, and scattered across it were less than 100 people. We pulled up an expanse of sand for ourselves and settled on our towels to watch the people around us. Groups of friends playing football, families, and surfers… it was a real mix.
The beach being so empty allowed us to do something we don’t often get to do… we got to go in the sea at the same time!
It’s a little thing, but as a couple on crowded beaches someone usually has to stay behind to watch the bags, so it was nice to share this experience for once. The waves were pretty strong so we didn’t venture too far, but enough for the cool waters to provide relief from the heat of hiking. After 5 months hugging the pacific coast, this was our first dip into the Atlantic.
After a few hours spent between beach towels and the sea, we decided to head back on a slightly different route, via a lookout point over the bay.
I had said to Graeme on the way in to the beach that it had been more of a walk than a hike… well, the way back was definitely a hike!
The route up to the lookout was almost vertical, half an hour scrambling and climbing up rock. But my god, it was worth it. On this occasion I will let the pictures do the talking.
After a rest at the top, we followed the trail back into the rainforest. Unlike the way in, there wasn’t really a marked trail on the way out. We were jumping over tree roots and climbing over rocks, following some very helpful yellow arrows as we fought through the jungle. It was a lot of fun! But much harder work than two people who forgot to bring their lunch to the beach needed. It was 3.30pm by this point, our breakfast cornflakes long forgotten, so we called an Uber to take us from the end of the trail back to our base in Lagoa.
The next day we made our way to Praia Mole, a lovely strip of beach with hostels, bars and restaurants all around - we wouldn’t make the mistake of skipping lunch again! We had grand plans to walk to a couple of other nearby beaches, a route recommended to us by a friendly local who had invited us to her table after dinner the previous night. Unfortunately we lasted only a couple of hours on the sand before the fresh breeze and persistent rain forced us into a bar. It was still a beautiful scene… but we enjoyed it under cover with a beer in hand.
We watched the rain get heavier and decided to call it a day. Our visit to the island in late November was very much springtime in Brazil, and shoulder season brings with it some unpredictability in weather. We would find that every sunny day came with three grey days, so we counted ourselves lucky to have had at least one good day.
For two people who say they aren’t “beachy” and like seek out solitude, we enjoyed Florianopolis a lot more than we expected. In fact, we wished we had enough time to stick around and wait for another sunny day on the island! But with the forecast for the week ahead looking bleak and our flight off the continent fast approaching, there was no choice but to pack up and continue our journey along the Atlantic Coast.
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