Ilha do Mel 360° Tour by Boat: My Honest Experience
When visiting Ilha do Mel in Paraná, Brazil, the best tour to join is a boat ride called Ilha do Mel 360° tour. In half a day, a local guide takes you around the entire island on a boat ride that features incredible landscape views, an encounter with dolphins, and local food!
My fianceé and I spent a whole day on this tour and are excited to share all the details and our experience going on the best tour at Ilha do Mel.
For additional information about visiting Ilha do Mel, check out my full guide with tips on accommodations, tours, restaurants, and transportation!
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Ilha do Mel 360° tour overview
General tour information
- Tour operators: The Ilha do Mel 360° tour is the best and most famous tour, so it is offered by several operators in the villages of Encantadas and Nova Brasilia. I went with Juliano and Bábara from Jojuba Turismo out of Encantadas and enjoyed the experience!
- Price: R$110 per person
- Duration: 10:30 AM to ~3:00 PM
- Availability: Group tours every day on weekends and holidays if weather conditions allow. On other days, check for availability!
Ilha do Mel 360° tour route and itinerary
The Ilha do Mel 360° tour offers a complete journey around the island. During the boat ride, a local guide points out the best hiking trails and beaches on the island. During the tour, visitors can disembark and explore three unique stops: Fortaleza, Ilha das Peças, and Ponta Oeste. Let’s deep dive into the different parts of this tour!
Important to note: Although I enjoyed learning about the best things to do in Ilha do Mel during the tour, my Korean boyfriend was quite bored because no English translation was available!
1. Embark on the Ilha do Mel 360° tour
The tour starts at 10:30 AM, and after meeting with the agency at the beach all visitors head towards their respective boats. Upon boarding, tour operators focus on safety and are strict on the use of life jackets for the duration of the tour!
Important to note: The first leg of the tour, the ride from Encantadas (or Nova Brasilia) to Fortaleza goes through open waters, making the boat ride quite shaky. To be honest, during that section, I was regretting joining the tour as I was getting very wet. It was the craziest boat ride of my life, the boat was almost surfing on the waves!
2. Stop at Fortaleza Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres
After a wavy ride, we arrive at the ruins of a fort! The Fortaleza de Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres was built between 1767 and 1769, during the Portuguese colonial period. The fort was built to protect the Brazilian coast from potential invasions, particularly from the British and Spanish. There, visitors can explore several rooms and go on a ~15-minute hike to enjoy a nice ocean view and see old cannons!
The tour of the fort is not guided, visitors are left to wander there for ~45 minutes at their own pace!
Mini hike important information
- Length: 463.5 meters (0.3 miles)
- Highest point: 66 meters (216 ft)
3. Head to Ilha das Peças and meet many dolphins on the way
Going to Ilha das Peças was the best thing in the Ilha do Mel 360° tour!
On the way, we spotted dozens of dolphins and our guide Juliano was kind enough to stop the boat multiple times to allow us to enjoy this sweet encounter! According to Juliano, the dolphins are naturally at this spot every day, and in his many years as a guide tourists never left without seeing a dolphin!
At Ilha das Peças, we are dropped off at Restaurante Ilha das Peças, a restaurant from the local women’s community. They offer a buffet-style plate for around R$60, and everyone who tried the food had great things to say! Because I am a picky eater, I chose to have lunch in Encantada after the tour, where I could order my favorite dishes for the same price.
While everyone had lunch, I sat by the pier and was able to spot lots of dolphins, fish, and birds! This was my first time seeing dolphins from the coast, which made me genuinely fall in love with Ilha das Peças.
Pro tip: Bring a baseball cap and a long-sleeved UV shirt to comfortably watch the dolphins. Although this spot is gorgeous, most people spent less than a minute enjoying the view because the lunchtime sun was burning them alive!
4. Have Oysters at Ponta Oeste
While heading to Ponta Oestes, we pass through the dolphin area again and respectfully observe them a bit more!
Ponta Oeste at Ilha do Mel is a unique spot, being one of the last villages on the island still without wired electricity. There, you’ll find a local restaurant called Restaurante da Vó Leonor that offers fresh oysters at great prices! Despite the lack of wired electricity, they still serve cold drinks, kept chilled with generator power.
The Oyster menu includes three cooking varieties: raw, baked, and smoked. To taste all three, you can order 4 of each for R$60, an option that is not written down on the menu! If you’re planning to try local oysters at Restaurante da Vó Leonor, be sure to bring cash, as they don’t accept card payments. Alternatively, they accept Pix, a popular payment system in Brazil that can be challenging for foreigners to use.
Fun fact: Although Brazil has a long coast, oysters are not part of the local cuisine! Many of the Brazilian visitors at Ponta Oeste were tasting oysters there for the first time, and I don’t recall any of them liking it.
If oysters are not your thing, you can also purchase fries, shrimp, and fish.
Not hungry? Just hang out by the beach and take a look at the local art made with recyclables. It is not every day that you come across a havainas tree!
5. Head back to Encantadas or Nova Brasilia
On the way back, our guide felt adventurous and did a number of tricks with the boat. Some of us were completely soaked, but it was definitely fun!
There you have it, the best tour in Ilha do Mel! Check out our full Ilha do Mel guide to learn more about the other amazing things to do other than the Ilha do Mel 360° tour.
