Florianópolis, or Floripa as locals call it, is a beautiful island with lots of good beaches, which is all most people think of when they visit. But, with its small size and range of topography, Floripa is also ideal for hiking and biking.

For that, I can recommend from my own experience a guy named Eduardo Cruz who lives near Campeche beach. He has a little company doing bike and hike tours, and will show you places and trails all over the island (www.bikesetrilhas.com), also reachable by phone (48) 3237 9118 and (48) 9967 0762. His site is currently just in Portuguese, but he speaks fluent English and pretty good French.

He can pick you up wherever you are on the island and do the hike/bike thing, plus he provides biking equipment where necessary. Great deal and good way to see more of the less touristy parts of Floripa.

Matt