How to see Ilhabela, Paraty and Ilha Grande on the same trip
Anyone who works the front desk of a hostel in Ilhabela, the last stop on this route, learns to spot from a distance who got the order of the trip right: the traveler steps off the ferry tired in the good way, still carrying salt from Ilha Grande in their backpack, telling stories about the tide rising through the streets of Paraty, with breath left over to ask about tomorrow’s waterfall. Whoever got the order wrong arrives talking about bus schedules. We receive both types all year, and the difference between them is almost never money: it is the sequence of the stops and one single connection that needs solving in advance.
So yes, you can join Ilhabela, Paraty and Ilha Grande in a single itinerary, by bus, by car, or with a small child in tow. The three destinations make for very different trips, and that is why the trio pays off. Ilha Grande is the wild stage: not one car on the entire island, numbered trails, open sea beach. Paraty is the historical stage, with colonial townhouses, the tide invading the streets and evenings of cachaça bars and bookshops. Ilhabela closes with the middle ground: town infrastructure on one side of the channel, deserted beach and waterfall on the other. This guide shows which end to start from, how many days to set aside in each stop and how the connections work in practice, with real prices and times. At the end, two ready plans: an 8 day one for short vacations and a 12 day one for anyone who can take it slow.
The geography plays in your favor
All three hang on the same corridor: the 294 km of Rio-Santos between Mangaratiba and São Sebastião, the stretch we break down in the definitive guide to the Costa Verde. Coming from Rio, they appear in sequence: first the boarding points for Ilha Grande (Conceição de Jacareí, Angra, Mangaratiba), then Paraty and, already in São Paulo, Ilhabela. There is no possible or necessary zigzag. The trip is going down (or up) the coast, stopping.
Which means the most important decision comes before you buy any ticket: where to enter and where to leave.
Which end to start from
The rule that avoids backtracking: arrive through one capital and leave through the other. Anyone flying can buy the legs separately or a multi-city ticket, landing in Rio and returning from São Paulo. The price difference against a traditional round trip is usually small, and you save a full day of road.
Between the two directions, we prefer starting from Rio, for two practical reasons. First: Ilha Grande is the destination with the most rigid schedules of the trip (the return ferry from Abraão leaves at 10 in the morning, and the flex boats stop running by late afternoon), so it is better to face it at the start, while the itinerary still has cushion to absorb surprises. Second: finishing in Ilhabela means finishing without anxiety, because the ferry crosses the channel all day long and the return to São Paulo depends on no tide and no boat ticket window.
In the opposite direction the itinerary works the same, just mirrored. And if you have no choice and must enter and leave through São Paulo, start with Ilhabela, finish with Ilha Grande and return through Rio, chaining the Costa Verde bus to the station with a Rio → São Paulo leg. It is a long day of road, so leave the flight for the evening or the next day.
How many days in each destination
The honest minimum is two nights per stop. Less than that becomes proof of attendance.
Lopes Mendes, the full day Ilha Grande asks for. Photo: Rafael Vianna Croffi, CC BY 2.0, Flickr
On Ilha Grande, two nights let you arrive, explore the beaches near Abraão on the first day and give the second to Lopes Mendes, the beach that justifies the crossing. A third night opens room for Pico do Papagaio, a hard climb to 982 meters, or the long walk to Dois Rios, home to the ruins of the old prison. The options are in our guide to things to do in Ilha Grande.
In Paraty, two nights cover the essentials: one day for the historic center, including the late afternoon when the lamps come on, and one day of sea, by schooner or in Trindade. The third night is for anyone who wants Saco do Mamanguá, the still-water fjord south of town, which asks for a full day of boat or canoe. And here comes this guide’s main recommendation for the Rio side of the trio, with the declared interest of people who belong to the group: if the choice were ours, Ilha Grande and Paraty would be joined without changing beds, aboard the Albatroz, the house’s 23 meter schooner. On the five night Combinada expedition, she stitches Ilha Grande, Praia Grande da Cajaíba and Mamanguá itself into one voyage: the Ilha Grande day brings snorkeling at Lagoa Azul and a late afternoon in the streets of Vila do Abraão; the next morning, the Lopes Mendes trail waits right there, hours before any day-trip schooner appears. The boat becomes the lodging: the chef cooks on board while the day winds down, the anchor drops in still water and you wake up at a beach that can only be reached by sea. Anyone who prefers to build the leg independently will find all the connections, with prices and times, in the table further down.
In Ilhabela, two nights handle the channel beaches and a waterfall, and the base we recommend is the one we would choose as travelers, with the difference that it is ours: Hostel da Vila, the group’s eco lodge in the historic center since 2016, close to the ferry, the bars and the restaurants, with 8,000 m² of Atlantic Forest climbing behind the yard, a pool heated to 32°C and the night ending on the deck of the Floresta Bar.
The third night on the island opens room for the full day programs, which sit on the other side, facing the ocean: Castelhanos (by 4x4 or boat) or Bonete (by speedboat or a long trail). Our Ilhabela guide helps you choose.
Adding it up: six nights as the absolute minimum, eight days counting the transfers. With twelve, the trip breathes.
The connections in practice
The 2026 numbers, the service information for anyone building the connections independently, by public transport:
| Leg | How | Approx. price | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rio → Conceição de Jacareí or Angra | Costa Verde bus | R$ 53 to 117 | 3h to 3h30 |
| Conceição de Jacareí ↔ Abraão | flex boat | R$ 45 to 150 each way | 20 to 25 min |
| Mangaratiba or Angra ↔ Abraão | ferry | R$ 20.50 | few departures per day |
| Angra ↔ Paraty | Colitur, line L101 | R$ 27.50 | about 2h |
| São Paulo → coast (Ubatuba) | Pássaro Marron | R$ 126 to 142 | 4h |
| São Paulo → Ilhabela | Pássaro Marron + ferry | R$ 101 to 123 | 4h30 plus 20 min ferry |
| São Sebastião ↔ Ilhabela ferry | pedestrians free; car R$ 19 to 28.50 | 20 min |
The weak link of the trio is the Paraty → Ubatuba jump. That is where the trip changes states, and the intermunicipal buses on that stretch run few times per day. Confirm the timetable at the Paraty bus station the day before, no exceptions. From Ubatuba, other intermunicipal buses continue to São Sebastião, where the ferry crosses to Ilhabela in 20 minutes, free for anyone on foot. The details of each connection, plan B included, are in the guide to the Costa Verde without a car.
By car, the logic barely changes: the Rio-Santos threads everything together, but it is single lane for almost the whole route and the times double on holidays. On Ilha Grande the car does not enter (the island has no streets for it), so you leave it in paid parking at the departure port and collect it on the way back.
Plan 1: 8 days, fast pace
For anyone with one week of vacation who accepts early mornings. Arrival through Rio, departure through São Paulo.
- Day 1: Rio → Conceição de Jacareí bus, flex boat, afternoon at the beaches near Abraão. Sleep on Ilha Grande.
- Day 2: full day at Lopes Mendes, by boat to Pouso and finishing on foot.
- Day 3: early boat to Conceição, bus to Angra, Colitur L101 to Paraty. Arriving mid-afternoon leaves the end of the day for the historic center.
- Day 4: the sea of Paraty, by schooner, or a day trip to Trindade. Night in the center.
- Day 5: transfer day Paraty → Ubatuba → São Sebastião → ferry. Reward: sunset over the Ilhabela channel.
- Day 6: Ilhabela’s channel beaches plus a waterfall.
- Day 7: full day at Castelhanos, by 4x4 across the island, or a boat day trip to Bonete.
- Day 8: ferry and bus to São Paulo.
It works, and plenty of people do it this way. The cost is that no hammock day survives.
Plan 2: 12 days, comfortable pace
The same backbone, with slack for rain, laziness and discovery.
- Days 1 to 3: Ilha Grande with three nights. Abraão and surroundings, Lopes Mendes and, on the third day, Pico do Papagaio or Dois Rios.
- Day 4: crossing to Paraty, late afternoon in the historic center.
- Day 5: schooner through the islands and beaches of the bay.
- Day 6: Trindade all day, Cachadaço natural pool included.
- Day 7: Saco do Mamanguá, by boat or paddling.
- Day 8: free morning in Paraty, bus to Ubatuba, night in Ubatuba.
- Day 9: beach morning in Ubatuba, road to São Sebastião, ferry, first night in Ilhabela.
- Day 10: Ilhabela’s channel, a waterfall and the little center of the Vila.
- Day 11: Castelhanos or Bonete, all day.
- Day 12: ferry and back to São Paulo.
End of day on the São Sebastião channel: the trip’s final stage. Photo: Vitor Camilo, Unsplash
When to schedule this trip
April, May, September and October are the months with the least rain, the fewest people and the best prices. Winter is worth a lot: from May to August the sea gets clearer, the trails dry out and humpback whales pass through the São Sebastião channel, peaking in June and July. Just watch two 2026 dates that fill everything up: FLIP in Paraty, July 22 to 26, and the Ilhabela Sailing Week, July 24 to August 1. The full calendar is in the guide to the best time to visit the Costa Verde.
On budget, the 2026 reference: hostel bed between R$ 46 and 165, mid-range guesthouse from about R$ 200, schooners between R$ 49 and 109, and a full backpacker day in the R$ 150 to 250 range. The detailed math, with three spending profiles, is in the article on Costa Verde travel costs.
One last tip from people who live here: if your days will not stretch to the whole trio and the choice gets tight, read the comparison Ilhabela or Ilha Grande before cutting either of the two. Cutting Paraty is something we will not recommend even in writing.