7-Day Rio, Ilha Grande & Paraty Itinerary: Transport Included

The shape of the week

Four transport legs. Three full days with nothing to do but enjoy where you are. That is the honest ratio and it is why the box above exists.

Day 1 — Arrival

Leg: airport to your Rio hotel. Uber if you land in daylight without much luggage; a booked transfer if you arrive after dark, with several suitcases, or as a group of five.

Do not attempt to push on anywhere on day one. On a seven-day trip the instinct is to save time by going straight to the coast; it does not work, because you would be adding a five-hour road journey and a boat to a long-haul arrival.

Stay in the South Zone — Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon or Botafogo. Walk, eat, sleep early.

Day 2 — Rio, one full day

You have exactly one. Choose two things, not five.

The realistic pairing is one viewpoint plus one neighbourhood: Sugarloaf or Corcovado in the morning, then Santa Teresa, or the beach and Ipanema in the afternoon.

Transport: Uber and the metro. The metro along the Copacabana–Ipanema–centre corridor is often faster than a car. Do not hire anything. See the Rio comparison.

Before you sleep: pack a small bag for the island and leave the rest at your Rio hotel if you are returning through Rio at the end. Most will store it for returning guests. This single decision improves days 3 and 5 more than any transport upgrade.

Day 3 — Rio to Ilha Grande

The first hard leg. Leave in the morning.

Road to a mainland port — usually Conceição de Jacareí, roughly 2½–3 hours — then a boat of 20–30 minutes to Vila do Abraão.

On a seven-day trip, book this through. Normally we would tell two travellers with light bags to take the Costa Verde coach and buy a boat ticket at the pier, and on a longer trip we still would. Here there is no slack: if the road leg is late and you miss the last useful boat, you lose a night of a seven-night trip. A through-booked road-and-boat product puts that risk on one company.

Arrive in the afternoon, walk to your pousada, swim, eat. That is the day.

Full options in the Rio to Ilha Grande guide.

Day 4 — Ilha Grande, one full day

No transport to arrange. There are no cars on the island.

One full day means one thing. Either:

• A boat trip around the bay to Lagoa Azul and the smaller beaches, or
• The walk to Lopes Mendes, the island's best-known beach — a two-hour hike each way, or a shorter walk combined with a boat one way.

Do not try both. The island rewards doing one thing properly.

Day 5 — Ilha Grande to Paraty

The trickiest leg of the trip, and a morning departure is not optional.

Departures off the island are concentrated in the morning and early afternoon. Three routings — a through-booked boat-and-van combination (2–3 hours, from around US$44 per person), a DIY boat-to-Angra plus Colitur bus, or a direct speedboat where one is running (reported around 90 minutes).

On seven days, take the through-booked combination. The DIY route is cheaper and genuinely fine when you have a spare afternoon. You do not.

Arrive in Paraty in the afternoon with the evening to walk the historic centre, which is at its best at dusk. Detail in the Ilha Grande to Paraty guide.

Day 6 — Paraty, one full day

Choose one:

• The town and a boat trip. The historic centre in the morning — it is small, cobbled and closed to traffic — and a schooner trip around the bay in the afternoon. The easiest and most popular combination.
• Trindade or the waterfalls. Better with a car or a tour, and it means seeing less of the town itself.

For one day, we would take the first. The centre is the reason Paraty is on the itinerary.

Day 7 — Departure

Leg: Paraty to the airport. This is the one to get right.

Roughly 250 km, four and a half to six hours by road, plus a further connection if you travel by coach — the bus terminates at Novo Rio, not at an airport.

Work backwards from your flight, not forwards from breakfast. Plan on three hours at GIG for an international departure and at least two hours of road contingency. For anything departing before about midday, the honest answer is that a seven-day trip should have ended with a night in Rio instead.

This is the leg where we most consistently recommend a private transfer, for the reasons set out in the departure-day guide — not comfort, but the fact that a missed international flight costs more than every other saving on the trip combined.

The two-stop alternatives

If the box at the top made sense to you, here is what to do instead.

Rio (3 nights) + Ilha Grande (3 nights). The simplest version. One hard connection instead of two, and the island is where the seven-day trip's best days are anyway. Return to Rio via Conceição de Jacareí or Angra.

Rio (3 nights) + Paraty (3 nights). The easiest logistically — one road leg each way, no boats, no cut-offs. Best if you want restaurants, architecture and day trips rather than beaches, or if you are travelling with small children.

Both give you three genuine days in each place instead of two half-days and a lot of luggage.

If you can find three more days

Ten days is not seven days plus three. It is a different trip: the cheap routings become safe to use, the island gets the time it deserves, and Paraty's surroundings come into range. That version is the 10-day itinerary.