Best beach and view in Floranopolis
So first of, a little tip! Don’t make the mistake I did and stay at the complete opposite side of the island. Little did I know that it took over an hour to drive across the island. So make sure to stay where you want to explore! In my case this was the most beautiful place to explore so I wish I had stayed in one of the nearby towns instead.
How do you get to the viewpoint in Florianópolis?
It has to be said that it’s more of a strenuous hike than I thought it would be. I saw people embarking on this trip in flip flops and I really reccomend wearing some more solid footwear. Bear in mind that people were wearing actual hiking shoes to get to the viewpoint. You dont ned that in my opinion, but it makes you understand what kind of trek you are embarking on.
To get to the start of the trail just add «Inicio da Trilha da Lagoinha do leste» to your Google maps and it will show you were to start. From here you walk up a small hill from the city and enter the forest. From there it’s about an hour walk, mostly uphill.
Which trail should you follow?
When you get to the top you can see that the trail splits in two (se picture above). Here you can choose to either walk directly to the beach or head toward the lookout point first. I didn't know this and went towards the beach first and spent some time there. This is also a good option as you can walk up to the lookout point from the beach, but had I done it again I would have saved myself from having to walk up the hill twice and rather headed toward the beach after the lookout point since I already knew I wanted to go there.
Another reason for this is that the trek to the lookout point feels more isolated and tricky, and with less people than the one to the beach so I would do that first and just hike back from the beach later on. We were at risk of having to do the hike back in the dark which I really don’t recommend.
However if you don’t want to go to the top and just hike a bit up the hill to get some good views I recommend just following the trail towards the beach and take that same one back again. The beach in itself is definitely worth the hike!
We hiked from the beach to the lookout point and there were so many people who turned and walked back down because they could not find that path at the top. It got us a little concerned but we found it in the end and it was a clearly visible path with yellow arrows on the rock making sure you did not stay of the path. So just make sure to find these and you will be fine. Do not enter into the forrest at any of the smaller paths unless you have found the arrows. So many people did this and wandered around and later coming back down.
Are there amenities at the Lagoinha do Leste?
When I travelled there in January 2024 there was a guy selling water along the trail and also a small restaurant/ kiosk selling simple food and drinks at the beach. I dont know if its like this every day of the year, but its nice to know that you probably dont have to bring a full days worth of food and drinks up the trail with you.
Even though it was slightly more adventurous than I thought it would be, I highly reccomend it. The beach is beautiful and secluded and the lookout point was super stunning!
After our hike we had a huge burger at the end of the trail and took an uber one hour back to our Hotel.
Hope you found this helpful!
Until next time,
Ingrid :)