São Sebastião

Montão de Trigo Island, in São Sebastião: a caiçara community, trail to the summit and a natural pool with turquoise waters, accessible by boat departing from Barra do Una.

Montão de Trigo Island is the highest and most intriguing island of São Sebastião — a volcanic peak between 276 and 300 meters high that rises from the ocean about 10 to 13 km off the coast, opposite Barra do Una, roughly halfway between Bertioga and São Sebastião. Its pointed silhouette, seen from the mainland, looks exactly like a heap of flour — but according to residents, the name’s origin is not the island’s shape but a centuries-old shipwreck of a vessel loaded with wheat, whose sacks were brought ashore and stacked on the beach.

The Caiçara Community
What makes Montão de Trigo Island truly unique on the São Paulo coast is that it is inhabited by a centuries-old caiçara community — families who have lived there for over 200 years, largely self-sufficient and surviving almost exclusively on artisanal fishing. The most abundant species in the surrounding waters are groupers, snooks, squids and billfish — the island’s most traditional catch. In 2012, in a landmark for Brazilian legislation, residents obtained the first Sustainable Use Authorization Term granted to island inhabitants — the official recognition that the land is theirs by right of use, even though it formally belongs to the Secretariat of Union Heritage.

Landscape and Nature
The island is the result of past intense volcanic activity, which explains its rugged relief, the impressive cuts and notches in the coastal rocks — sculpted by millennia of sea and wind — and the dense Atlantic Forest vegetation that covers almost the entire surface, making inland exploration difficult. There is no conventional beach: what serves that role is a natural pool between the rocky outcrops, with a white sandy bottom and crystal-clear turquoise water that amazes any visitor.

Trail to the Summit
The island’s great adventure is the trail to the summit, which takes approximately 40 minutes to 2 hours depending on pace — a steep climb through dense forest that rewards hikers with one of the most spectacular panoramic views of the northern São Paulo coast: on clear days you can simultaneously see the full stretch of São Sebastião’s beaches, the São Sebastião Channel and, in the distance, Ilhabela. On the top, transmission towers contrast with the untouched landscape around.

Practical Information

Distance: ~10 to 13 km from the coast — largest oceanic island of São Sebastião

Access: By boat only; departures from Barra do Una, Barra do Sahy, Juquehy and Boiçucanga — ~40-minute ride

Arrival: Requires calm seas and low tide; landing on the rocks demands skilled boatmen

Combined itinerary: Montão de Trigo Island + The Islands (classic shared boat tour departing from Maresias)

Overnight stay: Not permitted for visitors — the island is a day-trip only

Visiting: Allowed, but it is recommended to ask permission from a local resident

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