First night out in Florianopolis? Start at Confraria das Artes. Excellent club with annex lounge bar and restaurant. This is where Brazil discovered live Booka Shade, Phonique and many others…
The restaurant Stark is a perfect spot for a fine meal.
~Confraria das Artes
João Pacheco da Costa 31
Lagoa de Conceição
Florianopolis
Tel: ( 48 ) 3232.2298
Location on the Florianopolis map of restaurants.
Florianopolis municipality has 406.564 habitants, which is comparable to Antwerp city in Belgium. The city offers everything you desire from a city, yet remains of a very human size, contrary to many other Latin American cities. The metro area of Florianopolis has 821.423 habitants.
The below video from Gabriel Sandalo, a Brazilian skater gives a very good feel of the citymood of Florianopolis.
Florianopolis received quite some press coverage in 2008, but also 2009 kicks of well with Florianopolis being voted as one of the 44 places to go to in 2009; Floripa ranks nr. 24.
The Brazilian Ironman is organised in Florianopolis every year. It takes places on the last day of May. The race course is beautiful: the 3,8km swim is on the beach of Jurere International, then the 180km on bike existing of 2 laps going all the way down to the Southern part of the island and the 42,19 km run to Canasvieras. If it were not for the swimming part…
Florianopolis is undoubtedly one of the finest surfing spots in the world. You’ll be able to read reviews on all the beaches of Florianopolis on this website under the tag “beaches”. For now a video of Bruno Maya at Campeche Beach:
1. Hotel Mercure Apartments Florianopolis Lindacap
The location of this Mercure hotel is excellent, especially when you are for work/business in Florianopolis: in the center of Florianopolis, close to the Hercilio Luz Bridge.
We tend to like Accor hotels and decided to give the Mercure a try this September. The street is a quiet and safe one, the building OK and the staff is extremely friendly and helfpful.
However, the rooms are horrifying. The interior must date of the late 80s, completely worn out and cold. The bed matrass was equally old and just had a sheet on it (it gets below 10° in September in Floripa). We decided not to stay there (even though it was 10pm) and decided to check out again and look for another hotel. The staff was again very friendly and helpful. They said renovations were planned and that the architects already made a mockup room for the revamp. They even offered us to change to this room, which we kindly thanked for (and regretted afterwars, even only for the sake of having checked it out).
Conclusion: avoid until interior renovation completed.
The price was competitive at 150 R$ a night (negotiated price) for a double (Accor ‘hot deals’). However, chances are this rate will no longer exist after renovation.
2. Pousada da Vigia
The site of Pousada da Vigia will make you dream. The reality however is different. At the rate of 230 R$ in low season and 750 R$ in high season for a double room, it is seriously overpriced for the experience offered.
For that price you ought to get a much better experience. To avoid at all cost !
~This post will be frequently updated~
Our office is just a block away. When we want to have an excellent, yet quick lunch in a very enchanting modern place, we come here. I’ve visited dozens of kilo restaurants in Brazil and absolutely love the concept. But this one is probably one of the best. The place can cater a big capacity of people and even when busy, the (self) service is extremely quick.
~ Restaurante Central
Rua Esteves Junior, 242 – Centro
Florianopolis, SC 88010-000
Tel (48) 3222-8808
This time a raving article on Florianopolis in the Australian Times:
If Floripa is a potential Punta del Este, the centre of the “scene” is Lagoa da Conceicao, a village set around the main lagoon in the heart of the island, beneath the wooded hills. Kite surfers skim the glassy water, dodging wooden boats ferrying tourists to seafood restaurants on the far shores, and the sidewalks have the air of a hip southern Californian beach town: bustling surf shops, trendy coffee bars and an excellent gourmet “kilo restaurant” called Um Rosa, where regulars pile up huge portions of fresh fish, mussels, salads and organic meats from a buffet bar for 22 Brazilian reais ($A12.70) a kilo.
Florianópolis is the hottest beach resort in South America right now – a playground for Gisele and the gang. So why haven’t we heard of it? Dominic Sutcliffe finds out.
Excellent article in The Guardian on Florianopolis, after reading it, you won’t be able to resist.
Ms Bündchen comes from the neighbouring state of Rio Grande do Sul, but since she was unleashed on the world Santa Catarina has been gripped by model mania. As with Rio Grande do Sul, and unlike the rest of Brazil, the interior was settled by German and Polish farmers in the early 19th century, and over the generations their DNA has mixed with Portuguese and Brazilian blood to produce that distinctive dusky, dark blonde look. There are now five international model agencies in Floripa alone.
The hippest hangout of all remains the Confraria das Artes back in Lagoa, opened in 2002 by textile designer Rico Grunfeld, another São Paulo transplant. “When I first came here, there was nothing except kitschy discos,” he says. “I knew from visiting Paris, London and Miami that what this town needed was a lounge!” So, with somewhat bemusing logic, he created a sprawling nightclub with its own clothing boutique and four indoor-outdoor spaces decorated with vintage furniture, clocks, antique cameras and oil paintings – all of which are for sale along with the cocktails.
