*The Foreigner’s Perspective
I have this asterisk because 9 of every 10 visitors on the island were Brazilian.
And it makes sense. If I were an international tourist in Brazil, I would heavily prioritize Rio and other beautiful cities in the South. This was my 3rd trip to Brazil, and I was ready to explore different parts of Brazil.
Basic Information
Fernando de Noronha is a secluded island – technically an archipelago – located off the Northeast coast of Brazil.
I had an entire week off work, so I knew this was the perfect time for me to visit the island because the internet is not very good (but does it need to be tho).
Of the ~100 people I interacted with on the island, only about 3 of them asked me what I do for a living, which was a really nice change of pace for me. This place is truly for vacationing.
How Did I Get to Fernando de Noronha?
As usual whenever I travel, I either take a United flight or search for the cheapest flight on kayak.com. I wrote an article about how I stick to flying on United as much as possible to cash out big with my miles.
For this trip, I booked a nonstop flight from Sao Paulo – Congonhas (CGH) airport to Fernando de Noronha (FEN) on kayak.com. It’s about a four hour flight from CGH. There are also nonstop flights from Recife, a city in Northeastern Brazil.
How Much Did the Trip Cost?
Just because my income is in US Dollars, that doesn’t mean the trip was cheap. Just to breathe the air on the island costs $75R a day, and I had to pay the tax at the airport upon arrival ($75R*5days = $375R = $66USD).
Additionally, to enter the National Parks, I had to pay $330R because I was a foreigner (whereas Brazilians paid $165R. Ok, ok, how is THAT fair.)
Where I stayed
I stayed at Casa Swell and I would strongly recommend it. The staff spoke perfect English and were very helpful. It was very easy to make friends at the hostel as a solo traveler. Casa Swell helped me book all of the tours that I needed to book to enjoy the island for 5 days.
Because I booked a private room over New Years (I can’t stand sharing rooms these days…), the cost per night was approximately $150USD/night. A bed in a dorm room would have been around $70USD over New Years. On non-holidays, all rooms should be much more affordable.
Highlights of the Island
As I mentioned above, if you stay at Casa Swell, they should help organize tours for you. Here were my highlights:
Full Day Island Tour
This trip includes a roundtrip tour of the entire island, which was perfect for a first day because it gives you a taste of everything. You can decide for yourself which parts you liked the most and you can choose to spend more time on a later day.
The full island tour includes Baia do Sancho, Praia do Leão, Museo do Tiburão, Cachimba do Padre, Baia dos Porcos.
The famous two gorgeous rock formations are called “Morro dos Dois Irmãos”.
Boat Tour with Travao dos Mares
On this tour, we take a tour around the archipelago. We stopped by the Dois Irmãos and saw dolphins on the way.
Trilha do Piquinho
This was a ~30 minute hike to the top of what Noronhans would describe as the best sunset on the island.
Praia da Conceição
This a very centrally located beach that has a fantastic view of this mountain peak. Bar Do Meio, and bar/restaurant, is also around the area that has the same view.
Final Remarks
It gives me incredible joy that multiple contacts have personally reached out to me and have said “Whoa, what is this place?” and “I had never heard of this place, but your pictures are beautiful and I have added Noronha to my bucket list”.
I never let myself get “married” or overly-obsessed with a single country because I think it’s very important to keep an open mind, be adventurous, and explore different places in this world. But of the 47 countries I’ve visited to date, Brazil has been the single country that has me keep coming back, and Fernando de Noronha was the next best place in Brazil to visit.
I’m happy to provide more insight about the island, and I hope I can do that through this blog post. Please also feel free to just directly contact me with questions.
