Salvador/Rio/Ilha Grande April 2015

Depends where you are coming from but I'd give myself a good two to three hours if it's an international flight. That will allow for some lateness in arrival as well as the prospect of hitting the airport and getting multiple inbound flights doing customs and immigration at once. It's impossible to predict, usually it's quite quick but it depends on the volume of passengers at the time. In theory, unless you bags are checked through you are meant to check in at least one hour prior to the domestic flight. You may well suffer a longer delay checking in on the domestic leg than clearing immigration. BTW, you should definitely book before and not on the day.

Seems like a waste of time going all the way to Ilha Grande for one night. It will take you the best part of a day getting there, when you factor in check in/check out transit to and from the bus station, ferry etc. Use the additional day in either Rio or Salvador, there's lots to keep you occupied in and around both.

I definitely agree with corisco about Ilha Grande. We had a great time and spent 5 nights there, but even taking the easy transfer shuttle, and not the regular bus and boat, we left Rio at about 10:30 and got there at about 3. Returning was also long; the boat was on time, the bus was on time but the traffic in Rio was so bad that it took five hours back too. It really did take the better part of both days.

And, by the way, corisco, you were right about my question of bus or rental car from Belo Horizonte and return to Rio from Ouro Preto. We took the bus and were glad we did. Roads were not bad, but route finding would have been a nuisance.

Going over the Easter holiday buses will be full, so unless you can book the bus trip to Ilha Grande in advance, you may struggle to get a seat.

It's impossible to predict

Agree. I've come in three times in the afternoon. Two times, its taken 2 hours to get through. The last time, it took 20 minutes through immigration. Go figure.

Skip Ilha Grande - spend the extra day in Rio and perhaps explore something else like head down to Barra or the further beaches like Prainha etc...

Thanks for the responses.

I will be flying in from New York. Just in case the flight is delayed I will book the 3.05pm flight to Salvador. I have also decided to skip Ilha Grande and spend another night in Rio.

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