Without a doubt one of the most unique and relaxing places I have stayed. The whole island is without cars or roads. Travel on the island is walking on sand trails and across the many beaches. Lodging is primarily small pousadas of varying quality, camping, and a few more developed resorts. Days were filled with walking the beaches to some of the fantastic views and playing in the surf.

The beaches are huge and beautiful, the sand is fantastic, the lack of development refreshing.

We came before high season (arrived Dec 9th 06) and spent most of our time there during the week. The beaches were wide open. The only down side was often things closed up early. Bring a flashlight of some sort since after dark the paths are mostly unlit. I highly recommend walking out on to the beach after dark with some drinks and watching the stars.

English comprehension is low here (so if you get all pissy because they don't understand English don't come here) but the people living and working here are extremely friendly and work with you on communicating. As long as you try to speak to them in Portuguese you should not have any problems.

If arriving from Curitiba I highly recommend taking the Serra Verde Express train that runs through the mountains. It is extremely beautiful.