Travelling up the Brazilian coast to Rio we stopped off in Florianopolis and Paraty, I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful the coast is. Florianopolis is in Santa Catarina state and has 42 different beaches, I wish we had more time here I would have hired a car and bummed around for a couple of weeks. With only a few days we visited Centrinho da Lagoa, Praia Mole and Praia doe Ingleses. Mole was our favourite beach and is considered to be one of Brazil most beautiful, you walk over sand dunes and there is ocean stretched out in front of you. The beach is fairly quiet due to there being a deep drop off right at the waters edge. Florianopolis we will be back one day to explore some more.

Paraty has the feel of a Caribbean island even though it’s on the mainland, UNESCO considers the city to be one world’s most important examples of Portuguese colonial architecture with its cobbled streets and churches. We were a little disappointed  with Paraty on the whole, it was very touristy and not as naturally stunning as some of the places we had passed through on the coast on the way there.

Next stop Rio for the Carnival!