Ilha Grande Travel Video Guide

Ilha Grande Travel Itinerary

• Maps and flag of Brazil
• Ilha Grande travel photos
• Ilha Grande travel forum
• Flights to Ilha Grande
• Hotels in Ilha Grande
• Hostels in Ilha Grande
• Buy the guide book!

ILHA GRANDE comprises 193 square kilometres of mountainous jungle, historic ruins and beautiful beaches, excellent for some scenic tropical rambling. The entire island is a state park and the authorities have been successful at limiting building development and in maintaining a ban on motor vehicles, whether owned by visitors or locals. The main drawback is the ferocity of the insects, especially during the summer, so come equipped with repellent.

Islands like this deserve a good pirate story, and Ilha Grande is no exception. According to legend, the pirate Jorge Grego was heading for the Straits of Magellan when his ship was sunk by a British fleet. He managed to escape with his two daughters to Ilha Grande, where he became a successful farmer and merchant. In a fit of jealousy he murdered the lover of one of his daughters and, shortly afterwards, a terrible storm destroyed all his farms and houses. From then on, Jorge Grego passed his time roaming the island, distraught, pausing only long enough to bury his treasure before his final demise. If there is any treasure today, though, it's in the island's wildlife : parrots, exotic hummingbirds, butterflies and monkeys abound in the thick vegetation.

Ilha Grande offers lots of beautiful walks along well-maintained and fairly well-signposted trails, but it's sensible to take some basic precautions. Be sure to set out as early as possible and always inform people at your pousada where you are going, if possible in writing. Carry plenty of water with you and remember to apply sunscreen and insect repellent at

regular intervals. Darkness comes suddenly, and even on a night with a full moon the trails are likely to be pitch-black due to the canopy formed by the overhanging foliage; if possible, carry a flashlight with you - most pousadas will be happy to lend you one. Whatever you do, avoid straying from the trail: not only could you easily get hopelessly lost, but there are also rumours of booby traps primed to fire bullets, left over from the days when the island hosted a high-security prison.

Your Tips For Ilha Grande

• Espirito Santo Brazil Travel Videos
  Brazil Travel Itinerary
  Espirito Santo , a compact combination of mountains and beaches, is one of the smallest states in Brazil (with a population of only 2. - Brazil
  

• Northeast Brazil Travel Videos
  Brazil Travel Itinerary
  The Northeast ( nordeste) of Brazil covers an immense area and features a variety of climates and scenery, from the dense equatorial forests of western Maranhao, only 200km from the mouth of the Amazon, to the parched interior of Bahia, some 2000km to the south. - Brazil
  

• Mato Grosso region Brazil Travel Videos
  Brazil Travel Itinerary
  Very Brazilian, in both its vastness and its frontier culture, the Mato Grosso region is essentially an enormous plain rippled by a handful of small mountain ranges. - Brazil
  

• Minas Gerais Brazil Travel Videos
  Brazil Travel Itinerary
  The French geologist Gorceix summed up Minas Gerais 150 years ago, when he wrote that the state had "a breast of iron and a heart of gold". - Brazil
  

• Rio Brazil Travel Videos
  Brazil Travel Itinerary
  The citizens of the ten-million-strong city of Rio de Janeiro call it the Cidade Marvilhosa - and there can't be much argument about that. - Brazil
  

• Sao Paulo Brazil Travel Videos
  Brazil Travel Itinerary
  The citizens of the Sao Paulo state , Paulistas, never tire of saying that their state is Brazil's economic powerhouse, and they produce a mountain of statistics to sustain the boast. - Brazil
  

• Goias and Tocantins Brazil Travel Videos
  Brazil Travel Itinerary
  Almost 1000km from Rio and located in the barren sertao of the Goias highlands - very much in rural, peasant Brazil - Brasilia is the largest and most interesting of the world's "planned cities". - Brazil
  

• South Brazil Travel Videos
  Brazil Travel Itinerary
  The states forming the South of Brazil - Parana , Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul - are generally considered to be the most developed part of the country. - Brazil
  

• Amazon Brazil Travel Videos
  Brazil Travel Itinerary
  The Amazon is a vast forest - the largest on the planet - and a giant river system. - Brazil