Florianópolis in Brazil

Halfway along the coast of Santa Catarina is the state capital Florianópolis, founded in 1726 as the gateway to Ilha de Santa Catarina. The natural beauty of the island, beaches and bays make it a magnet for holidaymakers in summer. The southern beaches are good for swimming, the eastern ones for surfing (but be careful of the undertow) and many visitors choose to stay here rather than in the city centre. 'Floripa' is accepted as a shortened version of Florianópolis, with the people known as 'Floripans', although they like to call themselves 'Ilhéus', or islanders. Getting there

International and domestic flights arrive at

Hercílio Luz airport

. There are car hire booths, shops, cafés and a small tourist information office in the airport. Aeroporto/Corredor Sudoeste buses run between the airport terminal and the

local rodoviária

The main bus station Rita Maria rodoviária

, is served by buses from all major cities in the south and southeast, with frequent connections to Curitiba, Porto Alegre, São Paulo, Rio and Santos. There are also buses between the city and Joinville, Blumenau, Gramado, Foz do Iguaçu and connections to Uruguay and Argentina

Getting around

The city is fairly small and compact, quite hilly, but easy and safe to walk around. Standard buses, and more expensive yellow microbuses, run to nearly every important point on the island. There are buses to the eastern and southern beaches (beaches and sights like Joaquina, Lagoa, Lagoa do Peri and Pantano do Sul) from the local

rodoviária

on Rua Antônio Luz 260. Buses to the north of the island leave from another local

rodoviária

on Rua Francisco Tolentino immediately in front of the long-distance

rodoviária

. There are also

combis

to the beaches leaving from Praça 15 de Novembro in the city centre.

Tourist information

The main tourist office is

SETUR

, www.visitefloripa.com.br

. There are also information booths in the

rodoviária

, at the

airport

, and in the

Mercado Público

. All have maps and some pamphlet information in English. Useful websites include www.guiafloripa.com.br.

Sights

Florianópolis is a pleasant, clean, safe and well-organized city linked to the mainland by a picturesque little suspension bridge. It has few sights but is a good base for exploring the Ilha de Santa Catarina, which has many fine beaches. The 19th-century port area, the

Alfândega

, and

Mercado Público

, have been restored and now house cafés, shops and little arts and crafts stalls. The

Catedral Metropolitana

was built in 1773 on the site of the first chapel erected by the founder of the city, Francisco Dias Velho. Inside is a life-size sculpture in wood of the flight into Egypt, originally from the Austrian Tyrol.

There are a few museums to while away a rainy day. The Forte Sant'Ana (1763) houses a Museu de Armas Major Lara Ribas, with a collection of guns and other items, mostly post Second World War. The Museu Histórico de Santa Catarina

, in the 18th-century Palácio Cruz e Souza, has a lavish interior with highly decorated ceilings and contains furniture, documents and objects belonging to governors of the state. The Museu de Antropólogia

, has a dusty collection of stone and other archaeological remains from the indigenous cultures of the coast. It is also possible to visit the former home of Imperial Brazil's foremost propaganda painter, A Casa Victor Meirelles. The Catarinense painter was responsible for various apotheoses of colonization, such as Primeira Missa no Brasil (the First Mass in Brazil) and the war against the Dutch in Pernambuco, A Batalha de Guararapes.

This is edited copy from Footprint Handbooks. For comprehensive details (incl address, tel no, directions, opening times and prices) please refer to book or individual chapter PDF

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