Where to stay in Fernando de Noronha
(a guide for all sorts of budgets)
Noronha it’s quite a pricey place to visit, so you might find yourself trying to save some money on your accommodation. So, where to stay in Fernando de Noronha? From cheap to luxurious places, this guide will help you to decide what’s the best accommodation for you, depending on your budget, your goals with the trip and your physical activity level!
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The different villas
The island is fairly small, and you can walk from one side to the other in about 2h, but most attractions are within 1h walking distance. The most popular area to stay is “ Vila dos Remédios”, since it offers a better access to shops, restaurants and night bars, it’s close to the three beaches that are not covered in the “Ilha Tour “ ( Praia do Cachorro, Praia do Meio and Praia da Conceição), and you can easily get to the harbour by food in 30min. Next to the main Vila (dos Remédios), you will find other good areas to stay: “ Vila Floresta Nova”, “ Vila Floresta Velha”, and on the way to the harbour, “ Vila do Trinta”.
There are also two less popular locations: “ Vila do Boldró” and “ Sueste”
“ Vila do Boldró” it’s about 30min walk from the main Vila, has one restaurant, and no shops. If you decide to stay there, some restaurants can do delivery, but you will need to phone them and pay in cash upon arrival. You can always ask your hosts to phone them and order food for you. Just remember Wifi and mobile signal suck at the island so it might be hard for you to find information online.
You might be asking “Why would I choose this Vila then?”. Vila do Boldróis close to the most beautiful beaches in the island according to many people (the ones you need the ICMBio card to access), and it’s also close to Tamar Project if you fancy to attend one of their seminars. No only that, sometimes you might be able to find really good accommodation deals in this area.
Sueste is the furthest away from the harbour you can stay, and it’s close to the beaches in the south of the island (Sueste and Leão). It’s very far from the main Vila (over an hour walking), and there are no restaurants apart from the ones in the hotels and no shops.
Where should I stay?
As I mentioned previously, everything is kind of close, and getting a taxi or bus it’s pretty easy, so when you have to decide where to stay, it all comes down to the price you can afford and how much are you willing to walk from point A to point B during your time in the island.
Also, remember that most places will offer transportation from and to the airport, and tours generally include picking up and dropping off at the place you’re staying at, so your location won’t matter in those cases.
To facilitate your decision, I put down some steps to follow when finding out where is your perfect stay:
Steps to follow for accommodation in Fernando de Noronha
- BUDGET
What is my budget? Which places can I afford?
2. ACTIVITIES
Which and how many activities am I going to do?
- Do I have many days where I am on my own and have to commute to beaches or Vila? — Location is important
- Or am I always taking tours that pick me up and drop me at my accommodation — Location is irrelevant
- Or maybe I want to spend most of my time at my hotel — Location is irrelevant
3. LOCATION
Where do I want to be located?
- Next to shops, restaurants and night bars🡆Vila dos Remédios and surrounding Villas (Vila Floresta Nova, Vila Floresta Velha and Vila do Trinta)
- I prefer to stay close to beaches, and order food or take a taxi/bus/walk to the main Vila — continue below
🡇🡇🡇
- I would rather be close to Morro do Pico and the three beaches up north: Praia do Cachorro, Praia do Meio, Praia da Conceição (including Buraco do Galego and Lasca da Velha in low tide) 🡆 Vila dos Remédios and surrounding Villas (Vila Floresta Nova, Vila Floresta Velha and Vila do Trinta)
- I would rather be close to Morro Dois Irmãos and the three most beautiful beaches in the island (obviously arguable) at west: Praia do Sancho, Praia de Baía dos Porcos and Praia de Cacimba do Padre 🡆 Vila do Boldró
- I would rather be close to the beaches down south (which I personally wouldn’t recommend) — Praia do Sueste and Praia do Leão (no swimming) 🡆 Sueste
My experience
While in Noronha, I stayed at Boldró Surf House , a hostel located in the Vila do Boldró. The main reason why I chose this place was because of it’s amazing price comparing to other places, and also because it seemed very new and friendly. On top of that, it was close to the beaches on the west where I was planning initially to spend more time. Since I only had two days, I ended up filling those days with activities and my location didn’t matter much anyway.
This place is a really good choice if you are on a budget and don’t mind walking a bit to the centre or taking a bus! The host is very friendly and helpful.
There are washing machines, a shared kitchen, a shared living room, a beautiful garden and you will be sharing the bedrooms. I actually found some foreigners in this hostel, which is something quite rare in Brazil as most of the time I only heard Portuguese.
Couchsurfing in Fernando de Noronha
The population in the island is quite small, as you can guess, and it’s hard to find hosts on Couchsurfing . That being said, you can actually find some people who have received surfers in the past, and one or two hosts might be currently active. It’s worth giving a try!
I decided to go for a hostel as my trip to Brazil was all done in hotels and hostels, and I didn’t have the time to look for a host as I was too busy planning the trip.
Originally published at https://trips.danielazzip.com.
