Ilha Itaparica | Lovely Island A Few Minutes From Salvador

Beautiful Island only 25 minutes from Salvador by boat, Ilha Itaparica.

Itaparica Island (Ilha Itaparica) is Brazil´s largest island in the sea (there are bigger islands surrounded by fresh water in the Amazon estuary).  It is one of two islands you should definitely visit when coming to Salvador, Bahia, Brasil.  The other one is Morro de Sao Paulo, covered in another post here.  Ilha Itaparica, located in the All Saint's Bay is not the only island in the bay.  Actually the bay is filled with interesting islands, however Itaparica is the largest.  If interested we can help arrange a schooner to take you on a tour of the islands in the bay including Ilha Itaparica.  Click this Bahia Tours link to arrange your trip.

Ilha Itaparica is one of the many magical places located  in Bahia, Brasil.  If you head out to the island during the daytime in the low season (April - October) you can pretty much get the entire beach to yourself.  Many Brasileiros (Brazilians) like to head to Ilha Itaparica on the weekends, especially during the high season.  There are some nice restaurants, pousadas, and even a cool night scene during high season.

There are plenty of boats that leave to go to Ilha Itaparica all day long, however many people just take the ferry boats that come back and forth between Itaparica and Salvador every hour.  You can even take your car.

I included some info about Ilha Itaparica as well as pictures and video footage from a family trip out there a few years back.  The history of the island is very interesting.  This was one of the first points of contact for the European explorers into the Western Hemisphere.

Ilha Itaparica | A Stone's Throw From the City

taken from wikipedia

Ilha Itaparica is a Brazilian island in All Saint's Bay (Portuguese: Baia de Todos de Santos), about 10 km from the city of Salvador, Bahia. It is known for hosting the Sul America Open tennis competition. In the island, there are two cities: Itaparica and Vera Cruz.

Itaparica can be reached in about one hour by ferry from Salvador. The smaller passenger-ferry departs from near the Mercado Modelo, while the larger car-ferry goes from about two km north to Bom Despacho.

It is the former home of the tennis tournament, the ATP Itaparica.
Ilha Itaparica has 40 km of beaches suitable for tourists and exuberant tropical vegetation.

 Here is some video footage of my family's last trip to Itaparica Island:

Meet the genuine Brazil on Itaparíca Island next to Salvador. Enjoy a holiday in the sun on beaches that seem not to have an end. This is a place that Brazilians themselves choose for their holidays. The sea breeze comforts, and it is never cold. Itaparica Island offers a peace and calm in a lush green landscape, and Salvador offers everything that you can expect from a city with 2.6 milliion inhabitants.

Ilha Itaparica and Salvador: Climate

Salvador da Bahia, the state capital, is situated at 13 degrees south of the equator. Traveling eastward across the Atlantic you will reach Angola. The climate is tropical, hot all year round.