What's actually included
Lunch on Ilha Grande: what's included, and where it happens
A buffet lunch is part of this booking — here's what that means in practice, why not every Ilha Grande boat trip includes it, and what's still worth carrying cash for.
See Angra dos Reis & Ilha Grande tickets on GetYourGuide ↗Lunch at a glance
| Detail | |
|---|---|
| Where | Praia do Japariz, Ilha Grande |
| Included on this listing | Yes — buffet, vegetarian option available |
| Style | Rustic beachside buffet — fish, rice, beans, salad |
| Drinks | Usually a separate cost — carry some local cash |
| Other Ilha Grande boat trips | Some sell lunch as a paid extra — check before booking |
What's actually included
On the booking this site is built around, lunch is included in the price — a buffet served at Praia do Japariz on Ilha Grande, with a vegetarian option available. That's a meaningful inclusion on a day this long: you're not budgeting a restaurant stop into an already expensive excursion, and you're not relying on snacks brought from the hotel to get through a twelve-hour day. Drinks beyond what's served with the meal are typically a separate cost, worth a small amount of local cash rather than assuming everything is covered.
Why this isn't true of every Ilha Grande boat trip
Confusingly, not every schooner trip around this bay includes lunch. Shorter, schooner-only excursions that depart from Angra dos Reis itself — aimed at people already staying in the area rather than day-tripping from Rio — commonly sell a buffet lunch as a paid extra rather than folding it into the ticket price. If you're comparing listings and the price looks unusually low, check the inclusions before assuming lunch is covered; it's the single detail most likely to differ between two similarly named products.
What Praia do Japariz is like as a stop
Japariz functions as the day's proper land stop rather than a quick call — a beach on Ilha Grande with a rustic, beachside restaurant set-up rather than a formal dining room. Expect simple, generous food: grilled or fried fish, rice, beans, salad, the kind of buffet built to feed a boatload of hungry, sun-tired travellers rather than to impress a food critic. It's also the longest single stop of the day, which makes it a natural point to swim, dry off in the sun, and reset before the return crossing.
Dietary needs and what to check before booking
A vegetarian option is confirmed as part of the standard buffet, which covers the most common request. Anything more specific — allergies, other dietary restrictions — is worth raising through the listing before you book rather than at the buffet table, since this is a set catering arrangement for a group rather than a restaurant taking individual orders. If you have particular requirements, message the operator via GetYourGuide ahead of the date and get a clear answer while you can still change plans.
Budgeting for the rest of the day
Beyond lunch, the main things worth carrying local cash for are drinks — water, soft drinks or beer, generally sold on board or at the lunch stop — and any snorkel gear rental if you didn't bring your own mask. Neither is usually expensive relative to the cost of the tour itself, but neither is guaranteed to be included either, so a modest amount of Brazilian real covers the gaps a fixed-price ticket doesn't.
How Japariz compares to the other stops
Where Freguesia de Santana is a brief, almost archival stop — look at the church, take a photo, get back on the boat — Japariz is built for lingering. It's the one point in the day with no schedule pressing on it beyond the general need to be back on the water by mid-afternoon. Families with young children tend to find it the easiest stop of the day for exactly that reason: solid ground, food, shade if you find it, and no rush.
If lunch matters more than the swim stop does
For travellers choosing between two similarly priced Ilha Grande excursions, whether lunch is included is a genuinely useful tie-breaker — a decent buffet folded into the price is worth more than it looks on a comparison spreadsheet, because the alternative on a twelve-hour day is going hungry or bringing your own food onto a boat with limited space for it. Read the inclusions line on any listing you're comparing this one against, not just the headline price.