Ilha Grande

Ilha Grande needs 2 days: walking around Vila do Abraão, the island's only settlement, car-free, on one, and trekking to Praia de Lopes Mendes -repeatedly voted one of Brazil's best beaches- or Pico do Papagaio, on the other. September-March brings the driest weather. It's mid-priced, with everything from hostels to luxury pousadas. It was a penal colony until 1994 -the Cândido Mendes prison, demolished after closing, held some of Brazil's most dangerous criminals-, which held back development and left almost 100% of the island covered in Atlantic rainforest, with over a hundred beaches.