How the Albatroz Hostel da Vila works
Most articles on this blog are about places. This one is about a boat, and the boat is ours. The Albatroz is the boat hostel of the Hostel da Vila group, and the people writing this are the people who run it. So do not expect a neutral review: expect what we answer every day on WhatsApp, organized into one text. How life on board works, where you sleep, what you eat, what it costs, what the rules are and who this trip is not for.
The short version for anyone in a hurry: the Albatroz is a 23 meter schooner that leaves from Marina Píer 46 in Paraty on expeditions of 2, 3 or 5 nights through the bay of Paraty and around Ilha Grande. You sleep on board, you eat on board (there is a chef in the crew) and the boat carries the toys: a transparent kayak, SUP boards, snorkel gear, fishing rods. The entry rate starts at R$ 990 in 2026, payable in up to 10 interest-free installments. The rest of this guide is the detail.
The boat
A schooner is a two-masted sailing vessel, and ours is 23 meters long, with a wooden hull and room for 24 guests plus 4 crew. The ratio matters: one crew member for every six people is what allows someone to be cooking while someone else drives the dinghy and the captain decides where to anchor. In the wheelhouse, the wooden helm and the bronze bell are not decoration: the boat is steered from there, and guests are welcome to watch.
The deck splits between the covered area, with the dining tables and the hammocks, and the open bow, with mats for the classic lie-down-and-watch-the-sky. There is a bar on board, a jacuzzi on deck and Starlink Wi-Fi that works underway, in the middle of the bay. We installed the antenna for people who need to say hi to family or send off an email; if you want to spend the whole trip offline, nobody will complain.
The Albatroz wheelhouse: wooden helm, bell and the bay dead ahead. Photo: Hostel da Vila Group archive
Where you sleep
There are 10 cabins, set up with either a double bed or two singles. All of them have air conditioning, blackout curtains and a USB socket by the pillow. The headroom is boat headroom, not hotel headroom: anyone 1.90 m tall will duck at the door, and a hard suitcase does not fit under the bed (hence the soft bag rule, which I explain further down).
The entry-level option is a hammock on the covered deck, the cheapest way to board and, for a loyal share of our guests, the best spot on the boat: falling asleep in the breeze and waking with the first sun. It is the floating version of a hostel dorm, and it is where the from-R$ 990 rate comes from.
The bathrooms are shared, with hot showers. There is no cabin with a private bathroom on the Albatroz, and we would rather say that in the third paragraph block of this guide than let you find out at boarding.
The galley and the bar
Full board starts on day two: breakfast, lunch and dinner come out of the onboard galley, cooked by the crew’s chef (on the first night the boat stays docked in Paraty and you have dinner in town, more on that shortly). The menu is sea and Brazil: there have been nights of octopus rice brought out on a platter for the whole table, caiçara lunches after a swim, a barbecue on the beach on the Cajaíba route. The bar runs through the day, with caipirinhas and cold beer paid separately.
The chef’s octopus rice night, served on a platter for the whole table. Photo: Hostel da Vila Group archive
What travels in the hold
The transparent kayak (an acrylic bottom turns any paddle into an aquarium), SUP boards, snorkel kits and fishing rods go along on every departure, at no extra cost. Activities follow the day: a hike and a waterfall when the boat anchors near one, squid fishing at night, and on moonless nights the crew points out the bioluminescent plankton sparking in the water. None of it is mandatory. Some guests paddle, snorkel and climb hills; some spend the same three days between the hammock and the jacuzzi. Both come back happy.
How the trip begins
Check-in opens at 6 pm at Marina Píer 46 in Paraty, and the boat spends the first night docked. That solves two problems at once: you can arrive by bus at the end of the day (or even in the small hours, boarding stays open) without missing anything, and you get a free evening in Paraty’s historic center, a few minutes from the marina. Dinner on the stone streets, back to the boat, asleep in your cabin. Navigation starts early in the morning, often with guests still waking up: breakfast is served with the boat already moving. If you are planning the logistics, we have a guide on how to get to Paraty by bus and by car.
The three expeditions
Cajaíba and Mamanguá, 2 nights, from R$ 990. Departs on weekends (Friday to Sunday). After the night in Paraty, the big day passes Ilha dos Meros (breakfast and snorkeling), then Praia Grande da Cajaíba, with the chef’s barbecue, a waterfall and Dona Dica’s ray pastel, and ends in Saco do Mamanguá, the tropical fjord south of Paraty, with dinner and a bonfire gathering on the beach at the foot of the Sugarloaf peak. The boat sleeps at anchor inside the fjord. On the last day, a morning of mangroves or trail, a caiçara lunch and arrival in Paraty around 5:30 pm.
Paraty to Ilha Grande, 3 nights, from R$ 1,491 (holidays around R$ 1,992). Departs Tuesday to Friday. Day two dawns underway toward the bay of Ilha Grande, with a morning at Praia do Dentista or the Lagoa Azul and a free afternoon in Vila do Abraão. On day three the boat drops you early at Praia do Pouso for the 20 minute trail to Lopes Mendes, before the day-trip schooners arrive, and the afternoon ends at the Lagoa Verde. The last day returns through the bay of Paraty with breakfast at Praia do Jurumirim and arrival at the marina around 10 am.
The combined route, 5 nights, between R$ 2,481 and R$ 2,635. Joins the two above with a free day in Paraty in the middle, sleeping at the marina. It is the trio of the Rio side of the Costa Verde without changing beds, and the format we recommend for anyone coming from far away: we explain how it fits into a longer trip in our guide to Ilhabela, Paraty and Ilha Grande on one trip.
In July, August and September 2026 there are 14 confirmed departures on the calendar, and private group dates exist on request.
When to go
The calendar sails year round, and each season delivers a different bay. Summer is the classic: warm water, long days, late-afternoon rain that usually passes fast. Winter is the repeat guests’ secret: from May to September the sea gets calmer and clearer, the trails dry out, the golden light stretches through the day and the night sky, without summer’s humidity, becomes the most starred of the year. It is the season of movie nights on deck and of the hot jacuzzi against the cold air. The busy months are December to February and the holidays; anyone free to choose aims for May or June and gets the coves nearly empty. The season-by-season picture for the whole region is in our guide to the best time to visit the Costa Verde.
The rules, said upfront
Minimum age 7: the boat is safe for children who already follow instructions, but it has no setup for babies. No pets, however much it hurts (on land, our hostel does not take them either). Luggage in a backpack or soft bag, because hard suitcases do not fit in the cabin lockers and become loose furniture underway. Shared bathrooms, as said, with hot water. And the route belongs to the captain: the order of the stops can change with wind and sea, because safety decides before photography.
Who the Albatroz is not for
An honest measuring stick, because the wrong guest on board is bad for them and for everyone else. If you need a private room with a bathroom inside, the boat will frustrate you. If the idea of three days without setting foot in a mall or a restaurant of your own choosing tightens your chest, take a land base with day-trip schooners instead. And if your travel pleasure is controlling every hour, an expedition where nature has the final word is not your format. We wrote a deeper analysis of that decision in is a boat expedition through the Costa Verde worth it?
The questions that always come in
What if I get seasick?
The entire route runs inside protected bays, with no open-ocean crossing. The motion exists, but it is sheltered-water motion, and the bumpier stretches are short. People who know they are sensitive board with a seasickness pill taken an hour before and usually do fine. In the group’s ten years of hosting travelers, the pattern we see is this: the worry about seasickness is almost always bigger than the seasickness.
I can’t swim. Can I come?
Yes. There are life jackets for everyone, water activities are optional and always accompanied by the crew, and a good share of the stops are in shallow cove water. You decide how far in you go.
What do I pack?
Two swimsuits (one is always drying), sunscreen, repellent, a light jacket for nights on deck, footwear that can handle a wet trail and the seasickness pill if you know yourself. All of it inside a backpack or soft bag, which is the only luggage requirement. The general rule: you will spend the days in swimwear and the nights in a hoodie, and the bag that felt small at home will come back with half its contents unused.
I’m traveling alone. Will I feel out of place?
The Albatroz is a hostel: the table is communal, there is one deck, and 24 people inside 23 meters become a group fast. Solo travelers tend to be exactly the ones who step off the boat with the most new numbers in their phone. If you want to feel the atmosphere first, the day-by-day account is in what living aboard between Paraty and Ilha Grande is like, and the format itself, cabin, hammock, power and etiquette, is explained in how staying aboard a boat works.
What stays with you
A wooden schooner, ten cabins, a chef, a bay with centuries of caiçara history and three routes we designed to fit a weekend, a short week or the middle of a longer trip. The Albatroz exists because we believe the best way to know this sea is to sleep on it, and this guide tried to give you everything you need to decide whether that belief is yours too. The next departures and current prices are at albatroz.hosteldavila.com.br/pacotes, and the onboard videos are on Instagram at @albatroz.hosteldavila.