Santa Catarina Island (Portuguese: Ilha de Santa Catarina), which can be reached through a bridge, is located very close to the South American continent. Florianopolis , the capital city of Santa Catarina state of Brazil is situated mostly in the island, though there's also a part of the city located in the continent. It's undoubtfully one of the most beautiful places in the whole country.

Understand

The island is known as "Ilha da Magia" or Magic Island probably because of its incredible natural beauty, more than 100 beaches with 42 being well-known, rocks, mountains, lakes, lagoons, waterfalls, bays, inlets, rich houses and buildings and young population and visitors. Florianópolis is also known for its high standards of living since it is located in the rich area of Brazil. Since the attraction is also heat, the best months to visit the island are December-March. The winter in South Brazil might be cooler than tourists expect.

The place is largely visited by people from the four southernmost states of Brazil, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná. Argentinians, Uruguayans and Chileans can be even more present than Brazilians in some beaches. Recently Europeans, North Americans and Eastern Asians began to appear as well.

The only problem is that tourism is growing too fast and the population remains similar to what it was some years ago. As a result the local infra-structure sometimes is not enough. Besides there is a sort of fear among South-Brazilians that "Floripa" might become too polluted and unpreserved like many other big coastal cities (42% of the island area remains preserved until now). Controlled tourism is incentivated.

Cities

• Florianopolis