The best-preserved historic district on the island, a small fishing village on the sheltered west coast facing the mainland. The 18th-century Portuguese colonial architecture here is more intact than anywhere else in Florianópolis, with whitewashed churches, cobbled lanes, and low houses with painted window frames. The waterfront is lined with oyster restaurants — Santa Catarina is Brazil's oyster capital, and the ones here are farmed locally and served fresh. A calmer, more reflective side of Floripa, best visited at lunch on a weekday.