Guides ·Itineraries

48 hours in Santa Catarina

A honest 2-day plan built around Florianópolis, with 6 concrete stops, one ferry hop, and one seafood dinner under R$90.

Guide

Itineraries

Length

7 min read

Region

Santa Catarina

Praia Mole beach curve at sunrise, Florianópolis

Day 1: North Island and Lagoa

Land at Hercílio Luz (FLN), grab a Catarina Transportes bus to Centro for R$5.90, and drop bags in Lagoa da Conceição — the sweet spot for walkable pousadas with fair prices, most doubles R$180 to R$260. Walk the Avenida das Rendeiras boardwalk, order a pastel de camarão at Ponto do Pastel (R$14), then taxi to Praia Mole for the afternoon (R$25 one way). Sunset belongs to the wooden deck at Bar do Deca in Lagoa, chopp Brahma R$9.

Before dinner, walk the extra 20 minutes to Barra da Lagoa and cross the canal on the hand-pulled canoa ferry (R$5 per person, running roughly 8:00 to 22:00) instead of looping the long bridge — it is the closest thing on the island to a proper ferry hop and saves 15 minutes each way. If Lagoa's pousadas are full, Pousada Native and Costa Solar Lagoa both sit within a 10-minute walk of the boardwalk and hold rooms in the R$190 to R$240 range outside the December-to-February peak. Skip Barra's beachfront pizza places after 21:00 in high season — the queues run 40 minutes long and the pasteis back in Lagoa are better value anyway.

Day 2: South beaches and Ribeirão

Rent a car through Localiza at Beiramar Shopping (R$140/day) or take bus 843 south. Head to Praia da Armação for a quiet swim, then continue to Pântano do Sul for lunch at Bar do Arante — grilled fish for two runs R$150 and the walls are papered with 40 years of handwritten notes. Loop back through Ribeirão da Ilha for oysters at Ostradamus (R$85 the dozen) before returning your car by 20:00 to skip the late fee.

Book a table at Bar do Arante a day ahead in January and February, when turnover slows and the wait can stretch past an hour; the rest of the year walk-ins are fine. If you would rather sleep near the quiet south beaches than backtrack to Lagoa, Pousada Moquirido and Pousada Ancoradouro's both sit closer to Armação and Pântano do Sul, with doubles generally under R$220. Ribeirão's oyster farms follow the tide, not the clock — call Ostradamus ahead (open from 11:30, closed Mondays) or you will find the dozen sold out by mid-afternoon on a summer weekend.

One splurge, one save

Save on transport by buying a Cartão SIM público for R$3 flat rides across Florianópolis buses. Splurge, if you must, on a schooner tour to Ilha do Campeche from Barra da Lagoa — around R$120 per person, with a landing fee of R$29 collected on the beach. Skip the Beira-Mar Norte tourist restaurants; the same dishes cost 40 percent less in the neighborhood spots off Rua João Pio Duarte Silva.

A cheaper route to Campeche is the plain boat shuttle from the Barra da Lagoa pier, running continuously through summer for about R$60 return, dropping you on the same beach without the guided commentary or the towel service. For a real save, shop the Sunday feira on Lagoa's central praça and picnic at Praia Mole instead of paying beach-kiosk prices, which run 30 to 40 percent above what the same coconut water or grilled cheese costs in town. Reserve the splurge budget for the oysters at Ribeirão instead of the schooner — the food is the better memory.

Where to sleep for two nights

Lagoa da Conceição is the right base for this itinerary: it puts the boardwalk, the pastel stand, and the bus to Praia Mole all within 15 minutes on foot, and Pousada e Camping Lagoa da Conceição is the known budget anchor, from around R$150 for a simple double. One step up, Costa Solar Lagoa and Pousada Native both sit closer to the water and the nightlife strip, typically R$190 to R$260, worth the extra R$40 to R$80 if you plan on walking back from Bar do Deca after dark.

If beach access matters more than nightlife, Cabanas da Praia Mole puts you two minutes from the surf break and one of the island's better sunset bars, with simple cabins from around R$220 — a fair trade if you are happy to taxi into Lagoa for dinner rather than walk. Avoid booking anything in Canasvieiras or Jurerê for this particular weekend; both are excellent bases for a longer north-island trip, but they add 40 minutes of driving each way to every stop in this plan, which defeats the point of only having 48 hours.

Getting around without your own car

Florianópolis's bus network runs from Terminal de Integração Centro (TICEN), and the two useful lines here are 330/333 to Lagoa da Conceição and 843 south toward Armação and Pântano do Sul, both around R$5.90 with the Cartão SIM público. Uber and 99 cover the island reliably and are the fastest way to close short gaps — Lagoa to Praia Mole runs R$25 to R$35, Lagoa to Barra da Lagoa closer to R$18. A rental car only earns its R$140 daily rate on day two, when the south loop through Armação, Pântano do Sul, and Ribeirão da Ilha covers close to 60km of driving that buses handle slowly and with long waits between departures.

Bicycles are a genuinely good option inside Lagoa itself: the flat loop around the lagoon and out to Barra da Lagoa is under 8km, and several pousadas including Pousada Native lend or rent bikes for around R$30 a day. Skip renting a scooter for the south-island roads — Estrada Geral da Costa de Dentro has enough blind curves and loose gravel that the R$20 saved over a taxi is not worth the risk for a visitor unfamiliar with the route.

If you have a third day

With one more day, head north instead of repeating the lagoon: a boat from Canasvieiras out to the Fortaleza de Santa Cruz on Ilha de Anhatomirim runs seasonally (roughly September to April) for around R$70 to R$90 return and lands you at an 18th-century Portuguese fort with well-preserved cannon emplacements and a small on-site museum. Base yourself near the dock at Costa Norte Ingleses or Jurerê Beach Village if you want to walk to the boat rather than taxi from Lagoa, which adds about 35 minutes each way.

Before or after the fort, stop in Santo Antônio de Lisboa for Azorean stone houses along Rua Cônego Walmor Castro and a plate of pirão at one of the waterfront kiosks, then finish back in Centro at the Mercado Público de Florianópolis (built in 1898, open Monday to Saturday) for oysters and cachaça at one of the internal bar counters. This is the better use of a third day than a repeat trip to Campeche — it shows a side of the island the standard beach-hopping weekend skips entirely.

Frequently asked questions

What people ask before they set off on this one.

Is 48 hours enough for Florianópolis?

Enough for one beach cluster (north or south) plus Lagoa. You’ll miss the mainland side and the north tip — but the itinerary above hits the essentials without rushing.

How do I get from FLN airport to Lagoa da Conceição?

Take the executive bus to TICEN (R$5.90), then bus 330 or 333 to Lagoa (R$5.90). A Uber runs R$45 to R$60 direct, quicker at night.

Do I need a car for two days?

Only if you want the south beaches on day two. Day one works fine on buses and short taxis.

What should I budget per day?

R$220 to R$350 per person covers a fair pousada bed, three meals, and local transport, without cutting corners on the seafood.

What is the canal ferry in Barra da Lagoa?

It is a small hand-pulled canoa that crosses the narrow canal linking Barra da Lagoa to the ocean side, running roughly 8:00 to 22:00 for R$5 a person. It saves a 15-minute detour over the road bridge and is the closest thing on the island to a genuine ferry crossing. Locals use it daily to reach the beach bars on the far bank.

When is the best time of year for this itinerary?

October, November, March, and April give warm water with far fewer crowds than the December-to-February peak, when Lagoa's pousada prices rise 20 to 30 percent. June through August is cool and quiet, fine for the Ribeirão oyster run but too cold for most people to enjoy Praia Mole. Avoid Carnaval week entirely unless that is specifically what you are chasing — bus queues and restaurant waits triple.

Where to stay