Walking with toddlers - three great walks in Florianópolis

We love to walk. Both boys (now 3.5yrs and 21 months) enjoy clambering up hills, trekking through woods and scrambling over rocks. But, as they are still very young it's hard to find places to take them that are safe yet leave them free enough to experience on their own. This post brings you three walks that have brought us a lot of fun and exciting moments and which we will repeat again. 

The first walk is in Barra da Lagoa. This beach is always packed in summer and sees a lot of fishing and penguins during the winter. It is a lovely place to go but there is also a trail that is perfect for little feet. The trails starts after crossing a large blue bridge over the canal and ascends up the hill. There are narrow paths, interesting houses and great views as you walk. At the end of this path you reach a hidden beach with great boulders and if you continue on a little further there is a tiny collection of trees (or a great big forest if you're three) which lead to giant rocks which you can sit on to look out to sea.
This walk would take an adult around five to ten minutes but for two small children it was a decent hour of adventures!

The second walk was to praia de açores in the south of the island. Crossing the beach there is again a bridge to cross (this time it's green) to reach another small island. The island has many rocks for climbing and interesting vegetation including huge cactus plants. There are rock pools below where you can find interesting shells and urchins and the waves often splash high enough to get you a little wet. There are spectacular views and plenty of short grass for the boys to run across.

Again this is a short walk for an adult but for those little legs over an hour of trekking and exploring was had. The added benefit was that this walk is circular so other than crossing the bridge to come back to the beach, the route is continuous.


The third walk is a footpath and cycle path on the via espresa sul. There are places to park along the way so ideal to take the children out for an evening stroll. This path leads into the fishermen's huts where there are piers to walk along and much wildlife to see. We once came across a large sea crap and usually there are some owls nesting in the surrounding grassland. Sometimes we take the boys bikes so they can have a cycle and it is a great place to watch the sun set behind the mountains. 

We love walking with our sons. There is so much to learn and experience and its a free activity. These are just a few of a lifetime of adventures we plan to have with our children.