# Ilha Grande: map, what to do and when to go

A car-free island off Angra dos Reis, with protected Atlantic Forest, numbered trails and beaches reached only on foot or by boat. The base is Vila do Abraão, and the island forms a UNESCO World Heritage site with Paraty.

Canonical: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/ilha-grande/
Language: en. Extended author commentary and itinerary notes may remain in Portuguese. Dates below belong to individual sources; this is not live availability.

## Direct answer
- **Ilha Grande: How do you get there from Rio?** There is no airport on the island.
- **Ilha Grande: What if you fly into Rio?** There are van and speedboat transfers, sold by agencies, that pick up at Galeão, Santos Dumont and hotels in the Zona Sul and Barra and cross via Conceição de Jacareí; the trip takes about 3.5 hours, depending on traffic.
- **Ilha Grande: Do you have to pay a fee to visit?** Yes, the TTS voucher, issued on the Viva Angra website: most people pay R$ 50, valid for 30 days, and visitors from another city who cannot show two nights in registered lodging in Angra pay R$ 100 (October 2026).

## Arrival and the Abraão Circuit
Issue the Sustainable Tourism Fee voucher on the Viva Angra website before leaving home, and withdraw cash on the mainland.
- Lazareto Ruins
- Aqueduct

## Lopes Mendes
Set out with all the day's water and food: there is no bar or kiosk at Lopes Mendes, and at Pouso there are only simple restaurants and vendors.
- Praia de Lopes Mendes

## The north-coast lagoons
Board the half-island speedboat tour at 10:30 a.m. at the Abraão pier, with about 50 minutes at each stop.
- Lagoa Azul
- Lagoa Verde

## Dois Rios or Pico do Papagaio
For Dois Rios, leave Abraão early in the morning on trail T14, a dirt road of about three hours on foot, with steep climbs, carrying water for the round trip.
- Cachoeira da Feiticeira
- Vila Dois Rios
- Pico do Papagaio

## Praia de Lopes Mendes
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/ilha-grande/#g-lugar-praia-de-lopes-mendes
Angra dos Reis · Half a day or more
The island's best-known beach has about 3 km of fine white sand on the ocean side, with no houses, no permanent bars and no kiosks, sea-almond trees in the restinga and little shade. The sea has surf, sought out by surfers, and in high season boards can be rented; on a calm day, the shallow water is fine for swimming. Most people arrive by schooner at Praia do Pouso, which has simple restaurants and vendors, and continue about half an hour on foot along trail T11. Those who want to walk leave Abraão on T10 to Pouso, in 2.5 to 3 hours, and add T11: 3 to 3.5 hours one way, with no source of drinking water on the way. Bring all the day's water and food from the village: on a cloudy day or in low season, the beach may have no vendors at all.
Check access

## Lagoa Azul
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/ilha-grande/#g-lugar-lagoa-azul
Angra dos Reis · One to two hours
A natural pool of shallow, transparent water in a small archipelago on the north coast, the most popular stop on the boat tours that leave from Abraão. It can only be reached by boat, and the tours stop there for about 50 minutes.
Check access

## Lagoa Verde
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/ilha-grande/#g-lugar-lagoa-verde
Angra dos Reis · One to two hours
A shallow natural pool between Ilha Grande and Ilha da Longa, with corals and lots of fish. It is usually the first stop of the half-island tour, before Lagoa Azul.
Check access

## Lazareto Ruins
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/ilha-grande/#g-lugar-ruinas-do-lazareto
Up to half an hour
The remains of the imperial lazaretto of 1886, which became a prison in 1942 and was blown up in 1962, lie next to Praia Preta, a dark-sand beach, on trail T1, the Abraão Circuit. There is no museum: just walls and foundations between the forest and the beach, which help explain why the island stayed closed off for so long.
Check access

## Aqueduct
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/ilha-grande/#g-lugar-aqueduto
Angra dos Reis · Up to half an hour
Granite and brick arches built in 1893 to carry water from the forest to the Lazareto, on the same Abraão Circuit. From the village to the aqueduct and the poção (natural pool), the walk takes about an hour.
Check access

## Cachoeira da Feiticeira
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/ilha-grande/#g-lugar-cachoeira-da-feiticeira
One to two hours
A waterfall in the forest, reached by trail T2, which continues from the aqueduct, or by a trail from Praia da Feiticeira. From Abraão, estimates range from 40 minutes to 1.5 hours, because there are climbs: plan for the longer one. From the beach to the waterfall it is about 30 minutes each way, more than fits in the 50-minute stop of the half-island boat tour; to see it, walk from the village.
Check access

## Vila Dois Rios
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/ilha-grande/#g-lugar-vila-dois-rios
Half a day or more
The village on the ocean side where the Cândido Mendes Penal Institute operated, blown up in 1994. UERJ maintains the Ilha Grande Ecomuseum there, with the Museu do Cárcere in the prison ruins, and the long beach lies between the mouths of two rivers. You get there on trail T14, a dirt road of about three hours on foot from Abraão, of medium difficulty and with steep climbs. The museum has been closed for months at a time; confirm that it is open before you go.
Check access

## Pico do Papagaio
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/ilha-grande/#g-lugar-pico-do-papagaio
Angra dos Reis · Half a day or more
The peak is 982 m high. Trail T13 is 5.5 km and takes about six hours; Inea describes it as one of the most challenging on the island. Leave early in the morning, turn back if the peak is clouded over or rainy, and carry water and food. Under Inea Resolution 273/2023, access is limited to 90 people a day, and at night, from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m., you can climb only with a guide or conductor accredited by the park. An accredited guide is also recommended by day for anyone with little trail experience.
Check access

## Praia do Aventureiro
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/ilha-grande/#g-lugar-praia-do-aventureiro
Half a day or more
The ocean beach of the caiçara village of Aventureiro, inside a sustainable development reserve where about 50 families live. Most people arrive on the round-the-island tour, which depends on the sea; staying overnight requires registration at a campsite or lodging accredited by Inea, and on year-end holidays the places sell out weeks ahead.
Check access

## Igreja de São Sebastião
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/ilha-grande/#g-lugar-igreja-de-sao-sebastiao
Up to half an hour
The 19th-century church of Vila do Abraão is a passing visit of a few minutes, on the way to the trails.
Check access

**Ilha Grande: How do you get there from Rio?**
There is no airport on the island. From the Novo Rio bus station, the Viação Costa Verde bus drops you at km 455 of the BR-101 in about 2 hours, 5 minutes from the Conceição de Jacareí pier, where speedboats take 15 to 30 minutes to Abraão.

**Ilha Grande: What if you fly into Rio?**
There are van and speedboat transfers, sold by agencies, that pick up at Galeão, Santos Dumont and hotels in the Zona Sul and Barra and cross via Conceição de Jacareí; the trip takes about 3.5 hours, depending on traffic.

**Ilha Grande: Do you have to pay a fee to visit?**
Yes, the TTS voucher, issued on the Viva Angra website: most people pay R$ 50, valid for 30 days, and visitors from another city who cannot show two nights in registered lodging in Angra pay R$ 100 (October 2026). For a day trip, check the amount in the simulator.

**Ilha Grande: Who is exempt from the tourism fee?**
Children up to 12, people 60 or older, people with disabilities, Angra residents and relatives up to the second degree, and service providers. Even when exempt, they issue the voucher, free, on Viva Angra; confirm the child's age in the simulator.

**Ilha Grande: How many days should you stay?**
Three days, sleeping in Vila do Abraão: the Abraão Circuit, Lopes Mendes and Lagoa Azul and Lagoa Verde. On a fourth, Dois Rios on foot or Pico do Papagaio with a clear summit; on a fifth, the round-the-island speedboat tour, with a calm sea. A day trip from Rio, without staying overnight, fits only part of this.

**Ilha Grande: Can you pay for everything by card?**
Don't count on it: there is no bank branch on the island, guides mention only one ATM, and power outages and weak signal take down the card machine. Withdraw cash on the mainland before boarding.

**Ilha Grande: How do you get to Lopes Mendes?**
Most people take the schooner from Abraão to Praia do Pouso and walk about half an hour along trail T11. On foot from the village, on T10 and T11, it is 3 to 3.5 hours one way, with no drinking water on the way and no kiosk on the beach.

**Ilha Grande: When is the best time to go?**
From April to November it rains less; June to August are the driest and coolest months, good for long trails, but cold fronts can cancel speedboats. December to March is summer, hotter, rainier and crowded.

**Ilha Grande: What should you take on the trails?**
Water, a flashlight and a downloaded map: the trails cross dense forest with patchy signage, no guaranteed source of water and rare cell signal. Tell someone where you are going and, if you get lost, go back to the last known point.

**Ilha Grande: What is the round-the-island tour like?**
The speedboat leaves the Abraão pier at 9:30 a.m. and returns at 6 p.m., for about R$ 220 per person at an agency in Abraão (October 2026), through open sea to Aventureiro. It is the tour that depends most on the sea and wind: save it for the first good-weather day and confirm the day before.

## From Rio and São Paulo to Abraão


| Route | Time | Price |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Rio → Angra dos Reis · Costa Verde bus | about 3 hours | price not given |
| Rio → Conceição de Jacareí · same bus, km 455 of the BR-101 | about 2 hours | price not given |
| Rio → Abraão · van and speedboat transfer | about 3.5 hours | price not given |
| São Paulo → Angra dos Reis · Reunidas Paulista bus | about 8 hours 20 minutes | price not given |
| Conceição de Jacareí → Abraão · speedboat | 15 to 30 minutes | R$60 one way, R$100 round trip, plus a R$10.30 boarding fee (undated) |
| Angra dos Reis → Abraão · speedboat | about 30 to 50 minutes | price not given |
| Angra dos Reis → Abraão · public ferry | one departure a day, at 3:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. on weekends and holidays) | R$20.50 per leg |
| Mangaratiba → Abraão · public ferry | one departure a day, at 8 a.m. | R$20.50 per leg |

## In the Nilo app
- Plan these 3 days on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/guide/ilha-grande/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-itinerary
- Mark your hotel on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/map/ilha-grande/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-stay

## Full editorial guide (Portuguese)
https://nilopelomundo.com/llm/ilha-grande.md