# No Cars, No Crowds: Brazil's Ilha do Cardoso Is the Ultimate Escape > Discover life on Ilha do Cardoso, an island with no roads or cars, where children ride a boat to school. The perfect escape from civilization in Brazil. - URL: https://langandtrip.com.ua/en/article/brazylskyy-ostriv-illya-du-kardozu/ - Language: en - Published: 2023-12-09 - Categories: Leisure, Beaches, Brazil, Relaxation, Seas & Oceans, National Parks --- There are no roads and no cars here. There isn't even a school bus; children are picked up and taken to school by boat. Electricity comes from solar panels, and the generator shuts off at 10:30 p.m. Ilha do Cardoso is a nature reserve in Brazil, and only those born there can live on it, unless you marry a local. Just 480 people live in a handful of villages across the island, making their living from fishing. Ilha do Cardoso sits at the southern tip of Sao Paulo state, more than 170 miles southwest of the giant city of the same name, home to over 12 million people. The pace of life on the rugged island of Ilha do Cardoso is a world apart. The island's 33,000 acres of mangroves, beaches, wetlands and wildlife are protected as a state park. Getting there for an overnight stay isn't easy. First you have to reach Cananeia, the southernmost town in Sao Paulo state, and then cross the waters of Mar Pequeno by ferry. The trip from Cananeia to Marujá, a village on the island's southern edge, takes about three hours. But the islanders rather like being a little off the grid. It's a tight-knit community. The few visitors who make it here gather alongside locals in one of the island's handful of restaurants or in the bar of a pousada, a family-run guesthouse. German photographer Ralf Hentze has visited the island time and again for its "simple life and happy people." "Of course they could move to the mainland, but this is a life where you need to own less, to not have it and not be materialistic," Hentze says. ## Room to Breathe ![](/storage/image/prev/Brazil-1-Ilha-Cardoso-1024x683.jpg) Anyone can visit the island, but it's important to book a room ahead, since there aren't many to spare. From Cananeia, a boat can take you to Pereirinha beach, just six kilometres from town, where you can spot dolphins, fish and other sea life. A few minutes' walk from the beach is the state park headquarters, Nucleo Perequê. The small building, opened in 2010, houses an enormous whale skeleton. It offers guided tours through the mangroves, and you can also hire private boats here. A trail winding for almost a kilometre through dense thickets of trees with sprawling roots that twist and turn through the pale-blue salt water ends at Pereirinha beach. The beach has a single family-run restaurant called Quiosque Raiz Caiçara, a small hut serving fish, salad and rice. This little spot also rents out umbrellas and, on special occasions, roasts a whole pig. Thanks to the visitor cap set by Ilha do Cardoso State Park, the sand dunes never get crowded. Bird lovers will be thrilled by the island's abundance of feathered residents: red-tailed parrots, black-hooded berryeaters, black-billed tanagers and the restinga tyrannulet are just a few of the endangered species endemic to Brazil that you might come across. For a deeper experience, head to Marujá, a village on the island's southern edge, about 37 km from Cananeia by boat. Ask at the mainland port or at the visitor centre in Nucleo Perequê about how to get to Marujá by boat. This Jurassic Park-like setting is where the guesthouses stand and where most of the island's residents live. The village is home to members of the caiçara community, the traditional inhabitants of southern Brazil's coastal areas, descended from Indigenous peoples, Europeans and Africans. A small canal leads into the village, lined with low, brightly coloured houses from which the gentle hum of island life drifts out. "I like disconnecting from modern life," explains Hentze, who lives in Campinas, a municipality in Sao Paulo state. "And here I can do just that. The calm lets you unwind from everyday stress, though you definitely shouldn't come here if you need the internet!" (At best it works only sporadically.) ## A Welcome Break From Modern Life ![](/storage/image/prev/Brazil-2-Ilha-Cardoso-1024x688.jpg) The villagers live on the fish they catch, along with the fruit and vegetables they grow themselves, usually corn, rice, sugar cane, bananas, beans and cassava. Their farming relies on the "coivara" system, a sustainable technique in which a forest clearing is burned and planted for three years. After that, it's left fallow for 10 years before being used again. Anything they can't produce themselves, they have to buy in Cananeia. It's the traditional caiçara way of life, but one under threat from real estate speculation and dwindling fish stocks. Ecotourism is a valuable source of income, so it's worth choosing one of the tours offered by the locals. A 24-kilometre hike around Laje beach on the island's southern side leads to a hidden natural pool; a boat trip takes you to a stunning cascading waterfall; a night tour offers the chance to watch alligators and phytoplankton; and a visit to a sambaqui, a mound in the Tupi language spoken by the fisher-gatherers who inhabited Brazil before the Europeans arrived. These vast mounds, built from shells, are among the only evidence of these populations, known as sambaquieiros, or shell-mound people. In Marujá, just five minutes from the pousada, there's a long sandy beach where you can swim and snorkel, and with a bit of luck spot dolphins, or rent a bike to ride the trails that cross the dunes. At night, a very different kind of show awaits: fearsome storms often rage over the Atlantic Ocean and the island's hills. The Brazilian government plans to privatise the management of many of its parks, which critics say will lead to deforestation of the delicate Atlantic Forest biome. So it may be best to visit the island sooner rather than later. Ilha do Cardoso isn't for everyone, but it's a rare chance to witness a way of life that may one day cease to exist, and to truly disconnect from the hustle and noise of modern living. ## If You Go The ferry that used to run from Cananeia to Ilha do Cardoso no longer stops at the island, so travellers now have to either hire a private boat from the mainland or hop on one of the boats already making the crossing. Either ask your pousada to recommend a captain who can take you to the island, or, as Rodrigo, the manager of Pousada Villa Verde, advises, "ask for Alex at the port; he usually does the crossings." The crossing by speedboat for four people takes about an hour and costs around $60. For getting around the island, including from Pereirinha to Marujá, you can use the Perequê tourist centre, which is run by the state park. Accommodation is modest and inexpensive. A stay at the beachfront Pousada Ilha Do Cardoso in Marujá costs around $19 per person a night. There's a restaurant on site, and breakfast is included. Pousada Villa Verde sits on the same beach, with prices starting from $18 a night for a double room. The guesthouse is geared toward family holidays and offers internet and free breakfast.