My trip to Ilhabela - A simply wonderful place, amazing for family trips, I went and loved the place, the food, the beaches, ALL It's simple but a divine place to appreciate

Beautiful Brazil! - I had a wonderful experience. The guide was amazing, it was like going on a getaway with a dear friend. The trip was a great balance of activities and rest. Brazil and Ilhabela are beautiful and I highly recommend.

Excellent multi-day trip with an amazing tour guide! Very long review. - First time in Brazil. Had a wedding to attend in Sao Paulo, I arrived several days early. Decided to take this private tour to Ilhabela tour with my teenage boys. We arrived Sunday, 5:40am. Gregtur Tourism had someone waiting at the arrival area with my name on a sign. We were then escorted to the pickup curb where we waited for our tour guide (Denis) to pick us up. GRU airport reminded me of Honolulu airport but bigger and busier. Denis loaded our suitcases in his SUV and off we went. I will say this, our tour guide Denis, made the trip incredible. He was very informative and very accommodating to our travel needs. I brought along my two teenage boys and it felt like I was traveling with my cousin, who was showing us his hometown. We had almost every meal together, as Denis was great at recommending the restaurants and dishes. He did not drink, as he was driving and guides are not permitted, so it was nice to have a designated driver, while I enjoyed adult beverages. Ilhabela is approximately a 2 1/2-3 hour drive from GRU airport. We drove through the city and onto the freeway that takes you to San Sebastian City, across from Ilhabela. During the drive, our tour guide Denis was very informative of all that was Brasil. As it was early morning, Denis suggested we stop at a farm, for breakfast. The farm had farm animals for kids and a breakfast buffet. Brazilian breakfast is heavy on pastries and bread. The buffet was very good and we got to sample some local Brazilian breakfast dishes. As I found out on my whole Brazilian trip, the fresh fruit (mostly pineapple, papaya, melons, and grapes) is always perfectly ripe and delicious. The freshly squeezed juices do not have added sugar, so they are not as sweet, but they taste so fresh. Passion fruit juice is very common at most restaurants. Brazil even has passion fruit Gatorade. After breakfast, we headed off to San Sebastian City. Throughout the drive, you could see the vegetation and wildlife along the freeway. We got to San Sebastian and had no wait at the car ferry. As this was Sunday, the traffic was going out of Ilhabela. Ilhabela can be very busy on the weekends. Ilhabela has one main road through the local downtown and through the tourist town center. We drove along the main road, seeing many of the small beaches adjacent to the road. We arrived at the hotel around noon and the hotel allowed us to have a early check-in time around 1pm. The hotel is small, rustic and charming. The staff was very friendly and helpful. The only thing I did not like were the locks on the room doors. When you lock the dead bolt lock, if you don't have the key, you are locked in the room. This can be a safety issue if there is a fire and you have children alone in the room, they can easily panic. As I paid for 3 adults, I could have gotten 3 rooms. But traveling with my 2 teenage sons, I elected to stay in one room. After check-in, Denis took us to Bell's Rocks beach. The beach has hollow rocks that ring when struck. We ate a late lunch on the beach, on tables and chairs. A 10% standard tip charge is included on the bill but many of the restaurants in Ilhabela charge 15%. Service is always excellent and I gave servers more than the 10% or 15%. ONE MAJOR WARNING! Use mosquito repellent on the second day. Your tour guide should bring his local mosquito and black fly repellent, but you should also bring a lemon eucalyptus oil repellent. You will need to pre-apply it every time you come out of the water or when wading your feet in the water. The mosquitos and black flies love to bite at the ankle areas. Also apply sun tan lotion. The sun did not seem strong, but I got sun burn. IMHO, the second day is the best day of the trip. Denis takes us to a tour company that drives a speed boat along the coast, stopping in small coves with small sandy beaches. We stopped at 3 beaches, the last beach (heart shaped) is where you will have lunch. Each beach is great for swimming. Along the way, our group (there could be other people in the party) saw a pod of 30-40 dolphins, including many babies. There are 3 restaurants to choose from for lunch. I chose the one that had the most people. The place had mostly seafood dishes with some meat options. Food was excellent. At 4pm, we met up with our off-road driver for the island 4x4 mountain crossing. The drive is through the jungle, with several lookout and waterfall stops, for picture taking and swimming. The temperature in the rain forest can drop 10 degrees. We ate dinner at the tourist town center. The area is filled with restaurants and small shops. It's a nice area to eat and have an after dinner walk around. There are also good dessert shops. Coffee in Brazil is excellent and many restaurants offer free shots of coffee at the entrance, on your way out. The third and last day, I decided to check out of the hotel first before going on our hike to the waterfalls and other destinations. I felt we would need to leave very early to make it back, before the 12 noon check out time. I wanted to take it slow and Denis was very accomodating. I can't emphasize how important it is to have a great guide for this trip. The hikes to the destinations can be a bit strenuous if you are out of shape and it can get wet and muddy. After the hikes, we had a late lunch before heading to the car ferry. For whatever reason, there was a long line for the ferry. We waited a bit over 2 1/2 hours, which is unusual for a Tuesday crossing. There are shops and food carts along the line but you need at least 2 adults, in case the line starts moving while the other is buying something. Denis drove us directly to our hotel in Sao Paulo. The drive to our hotel was very imforative, as Denis reviewed many restaurants near our hotel in Itaim Bibi. Itaim Bibi is a very vibrant area of Sao Paulo with many shops and excellent restaurants and bars. It was a great 3 day private tour and I would use Gregtur Tourism, and especially Denis again. There is one negative on this trip and it is the mosquitos and black flies that bite you everywhere on your body, in the cove beaches and hikes. Use a repellent generously and consistently and you should be okay. I believe I tipped Denis more than the norm but he really made our trip to Ilhabela memorable. Lastly, I know some people have concerns with safety. But not once did I feel unsafe for myself or my boys in Ilhabela. Of course you don't go walking late at night in the worst part of town, but if you stick with the tourist areas and hotels, you should be okay.

It was truly a great experience, I loved it - It's truly a great experience, I love it, I'll probably come back here many times. The beach here is very clean and cool

Amazing weekend getaway to the beach - Took a boat and visited most of the beaches of Ilhabela then visited waterfalls in the jungle and a hidden swimming spot. Can grab food and drinks and relax on the beach in warm weather. Just make sure to bring citronella oil based mosquito repellant.

Exuberant island - Impressive island... exuberant nature and hundreds of waterfalls. Beautiful beaches (Castelhanos, Fome, Caveira, Bonete, Eustáquio, etc.) with yellow sand and very friendly people. We didn't have a better time because of the rainy and windy weather. There are some very good restaurants, but most are expensive for the quality of the food. The problem with the island is that there are lots of mosquitoes. Don't go there if you're allergic to them