Florianopolis

Riozinho do CampecheLagoa da Conceicao

1. 

   Riozinho do Campeche

   sea

   Riozinho is the kitewave end of Praia do Campeche, an exposed Atlantic beach on the south-east side of Florianopolis with shorebreak on entry and exit.

   intermediateadvanced

   In seasonSep to Apr

   The model here carries the month's average wind rather than a count of windy days: it reaches 14.2 kt in September, the strongest month it models for this spot.

   Riozinho do Campeche: the long version, the launch and the rules

   More on Riozinho do Campeche

   It works best on S/SE days: the wind is sideshore at Riozinho and the swell lines up, so that is where you go when the Suli blows. On N/NE you move to an east-facing beach such as Novo Campeche. NE runs 14-25 kt through spring and summer; the S/SSE frontal winds of fall and winter come in at 14-35 kt and drag the air temperature down with them. Water is 25.3 C in summer and 18.4 C in winter, so a 3/2 comes out on cold-front days. Summer is beach-busy. After Carnaval through May you get the wind, still-warm water and far fewer people. The dunes and restinga behind the beach are a protected park; rig on the sand, not in the vegetation.

   Getting on the water

   Open sandy beach launch along Praia do Campeche, clear soft sand with room to lay out lines, around the Riozinho/Point do Riozinho and Novo Campeche sectors. In peak season the launch moves beyond the small river the sector is named after, to get clear of the crowd on the main stretch.

   If it goes wrong

   No kite-specific rescue and no boat cover; rescue does not appear among the facilities listed for this beach, unlike the showers, toilets, parking and compressed air that do. Water emergencies go to the state fire brigade on 193, which also runs the beach lifeguard service and its civil volunteer scheme, and which can be reached at 193.cbm.sc.gov.br when you have no phone signal. Whether the Riozinho stretch has a staffed lifeguard post outside the summer season is unconfirmed.

   Room to rig

   Wide beach, but usable space changes with the summer crowd, the surf and which access you pick. There are several possible base points; the Quiosque do Badejo area between the main entrance and Riozinho is one.

   Rules and access

   1985 Decreto Municipal no. 112/85 protects the Campeche dunes/restinga, later folded in 2018 into Parque Natural Municipal das Dunas da Lagoa da Conceicao under Lei Municipal no. 10.388/2018; kitesurf is listed among the activities practiced on the beach and no kite-specific navigation or launch-zone restriction was found.

   Everything on Riozinho do Campeche

2. 

   Lagoa da Conceicao

   lagoon · beginner ok

   Lagoa da Conceicao is the salt lagoon in the middle of Florianopolis and the city's main school base.

   intermediateadvanced

   In seasonSep to Apr

   The model here carries the month's average wind rather than a count of windy days: it reaches 12.5 kt in September, the strongest month it models for this spot.

   Lagoa da Conceicao: the long version, the launch and the rules

   More on Lagoa da Conceicao

   No surf inside, water flat to choppy, big shallow areas where the schools teach. The wind is not a trade wind and it does not blow every day: N/NE sea breeze in the warm season, usually afternoons, and S/SSE/SE when a cold front comes through, sometimes past 35 kt in winter. September to April is the season, November to February the strongest for the NE. The lagoon has many accesses and which shore you rig on depends on the direction that day; get it wrong and you are launching offshore or into dirty wind. Sailboats, jet skis and learner traffic share the water, and it gets gusty on the stronger days. Water is 27 C in summer and 18 C in winter, so a 3/2 mm for the cold front days. FLN is 15 to 17.5 km away, 20-35 minutes by taxi, and whether the Capitania dos Portos has any kite-specific restriction inside the lagoon in 2026 is unconfirmed.

   Getting on the water

   Public accesses and school day-use kitepoints around Lagoa da Conceicao; pick the shore for the day's wind direction.

   If it goes wrong

   Lessons run with a support boat at the school kitepoints and schools cover their own students. Nothing public exists for independent riders, and no paid rescue outside lessons was found.

   Room to rig

   Varies by access; some northern and school entries are small. The main school kitepoint is a wide lawn with parking, a toilet, a shower, a compressor and camera surveillance, and charges day use.

   Rules and access

   2026: no kite-specific municipal or port-authority restriction inside Lagoa da Conceicao is published, and the Marinha and municipal legislation registers are not readable online. What binds in practice is local: several shoreline kitepoints are private school grounds that charge a day-use fee, other accesses around the lagoon are public and free, and school lessons run between 09:00 and 17:00. Offshore-wind launches are discouraged locally in favour of onshore or side-shore accesses.

   Everything on Lagoa da Conceicao

• Hercilio Luz International Airport (FLN), about 12 km from downtown Florianopolis, with routes to Sao Paulo, Porto Alegre and other south/southeast Brazilian hubs, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and, from September 2024, Lisbon

Kite bag rules for your airline

Type the carrier you are flying: what it charges for a kite bag, and the year of the policy that says so.

Every carrier, with limits and what riders report at the counter →

1. The wind here comes in fronts, not trades, and riders say so bluntly: it can be on for ten days straight and then dead for ten days straight. Each front arrives from the west and rotates round over roughly six or seven days before the next one, which is why locals plan by direction rather than by the calendar. Nobody here promises a session a day the way the northeast does.

   consensus×5 riders

2. The windy months and the crowded months overlap badly. November gets named as the windiest and near-empty month; the real tourist season is January and February, when the road to the beaches jams, a thirty-minute drive becomes forty-five or worse, and lesson prices jump because it is high season. One rider reports the beach run taking up to three hours in summer.

   consensus×5 riders

3. This is not one spot, it is four or five spots for different wind directions, and you need wheels. The lagoon in the middle of the island works on north, northeast and south; the ocean side at Campeche wants northeast or south and is the wave and strapless side; Riozinho is the south-wind wave option opposite the island; Praia da Daniela and the flat mainland spots want north. Riders check the direction first and then decide where to drive.

   consensus×4 riders

4. The water is properly cold by Brazilian standards and the two sides of the island are not the same temperature. The ocean side wants a shorty or a 3/2 even in December, colder again on north wind and after a southern front, while the lagoon and the sheltered west-side beaches are warm enough to skip a suit. People coming straight from Ceara are the ones who get caught out.

   consensus×4 riders

5. The recommendation riders keep adding unprompted is to leave the island. Ibiraquera, a drive south, comes up again and again as stronger, steadier wind and the better waves - several people who were asked about the island answered by pointing south instead.

   consensus×4 riders

6. Bring your own kit. Rental exists at the lagoon and nowhere much else, so if the direction sends you to the ocean side you may be standing on a good beach with nothing to fly. Some ocean-side spots have no school or rental at all.

   majority×2 riders

7. The lagoon is where the schools and the rental are, and it is also the part most argued about. It gets sold as flat water; riders describe it as choppy, with the wind weaker and gustier along the sides, and one visitor who spent three weeks on the island wrote it off entirely as too gusty to bother with. Others ride it happily two days running and only complain some days.

   contested×3 riders

• The Hercilio-Luz Bridge, opened in 1926 after four years of construction, is Brazil's longest suspension bridge and a protected heritage structure still under restoration.
• Florianopolis is nicknamed 'Ilha da Magia' (Island of Magic).

What we could not settle. Ride here? These are the gaps worth filling.

• Is 'Florianopolis' the name riders actually use for this area?
• Which nationalities need a visa for Brazil?
• No named rider bars/hangouts around Lagoa da Conceicao were confirmed beyond the general nightlife description.
• Which SIM should you buy in Florianopolis, and which day trips are worth the drive?