Getting to Boipeba in Bahia, Brazil is not so easy. It’s made easier if you’re accessing it from Morro de Sao Paulo as I was. It’s an island off the coast of the state of Bahia in Brazil & is just south of Morro’s island of Tinhare. When I was done playing in Morro, I simply hopped aboard a small boat bound with Morro day trippers for Boipeba & abandoned the trip halfway through to stay put there. Many of the folks I met in Salvador Bahia & Morro suggested I skip Boipeba. It felt akin to the relationship between Arraial do Cabo & Buzios. Boipeba gets no mention in either my Lonely Planet or Rough Guide but I came across it searching online for best undiscovered spots in Brazil as well as best beaches… bc I must be honest, I needed Brazil to satisfy my fix at the end of my trip.

Boipeba certainly fit the bill. It was quiet & tiny with very few people around when our little boat cruised up on shore. One guy did run over to meet our boat donning an “Uber Boipeba” homemade tee-shirt as he was the island’s clever wheelbarrow taxi service. I paid him $3 to carry my backpack & lead me on a winding 15-min walk to my pousada in the jungle. After I settled in, I went exploring & ended up on a beach running into the same uber driver, asked him where the center was & he kindly walked me there & gave me a brief 15-min tour.

The locals are lovely & welcoming, always greeting you with a smile & a “bom dia”. The atmosphere is super chill. No shoes needed. The days are spent lazily wandering & hiking (in flip flops) through the jungle & along the shore from one ridiculously perfect deserted crescent-shaped palm-fringed wide white sand beach to another as well as snorkeling in cool offshore shallow pools formed by rocks & coral.

Once again, the tiny, off-the-beaten-path, lesser known locale vs. a still small, off-the-beaten-path locale turns out to be my fave destination.