Daniel Macak
Google
The island is really beautiful but I can't shake off the feeling that it's beautiful only to look at.
The only activity on this island I found wholesome is diving and animal watching, because there is huge amount of marine life, and I highly recommend it. Snorkeling is definitely a good idea too. Vegetation-wise it's basically no different from other places in Brazil.
The beaches are visually stunning and it's indeed pretty easy to find a spot just for yourself, but they are not that great to relax due to the lack of bars with normal prices or even places where you can resist the waves, wind and airborne sand. Once you see handful of beaches and make that obligatory sunset photo, the beaches start to look the same. The sun is really aggressive so I found the best strategy is to find a palm tree or rock and hide in it's shade for most of the time.
Transportation is a chapter on its own. There are places where one has to needlessly walk around a whole neighborhood to reach a beach or anything really. One can rent a buggy but I felt like what this island needs less is more tourists on buggies. Bikes aren't a great option due to the heat. Taxis are very expensive if used regularly and buses go sometimes in unforseen intervals and are unusable if you lack cash. Which happened to me and I found it absolutely impossible to withdraw cash on this island on Sunday, which is a shame for such a touristy place.
Prices are soo high here for almost everything. 1.5l water bottle for 12 reais is not an exception in groceries. Restaurants overpriced, serving mediocre food. I recommend Tapiocaria de Archipelago which serves great food and drinks for decent prices. The preservation tax, which was 370 reais for 4 nights is high, but still understandable, is made worse by the 358 reais entry fee for the ever present national park. The latter was too much for me so we avoided entering it. If you go diving, I recommend Maravista or other agency that offers diving away from the park, because most do it inside and then you have to pay the enter fee anyway.
All in all Fernando de Noronha is a place that's good to see at least once, but is overpriced and its services are lackluster.