Vale da Utopia - Praia do Maço
Vale da Utopia (Utopia Valley) is a place of great beauty. It is surrounded by native jungle and rural environment. It has a beautiful view of Praia do Maço and is crossed by a creek with small sweet water lagoons.

Praia do Maço (Maço Beach) has 50mt of extension, but its beauty is unmeasurable. It has the Utopia valley on its back, a view of Praia dos Naufragados, which is located on the extreme south of Florianópolis and view of other islands on the region.

Mema's Bar is the only building on the beach and it is open only during the high season. It serves a nice variety of food and drinks and has one of the best view of the region.

In the Utopia Valley there are some caves. The most known of these caves is where Vilmar Godinho lives. He has been living there for more than a decade, choosing simple life and nature.
There is also a non official camping without any infrastructure. It is visited by handcraft makers and alternative people that choose the nature to camp. A few meters from this camping there is a rock cliff over the sea with a rare beauty, well worth it visiting.

From Pinheira there are at least two ways for reaching the Utopia Valley and the Praia do Maço. The most simple is to follow the main road of Praia de Cima, going the opposite direction of the Praia de Baixo. Once the hill is reached it's necessary to go up for about 200mt and take a left on the first trail. At the end of this trail a path will be encountered and a left has to be taken. There is a small stop that can be made on the way to the Valley and Praia do Maço, taking a left on a 20mt trail that appears a few meter after finding the path. This trails ends on top of a big rock that has a view over Pinheira, Ponta do Papagaio, Florianópolis, Maciambú, etc. Continuing with the description of the walk to the Valley, one option is to go directly to Praia do Maço taking a left on the trail right before the curve the path makes to the right. The other option is to continue along the path, making the curve and going downhill. The path will end on a grass field. To the left there is a new trail that goes to the Valley, Praia do Maço and the cliff. The other way of getting to the Utopia Valley and Praia de Maço from Praia de Cima is surrounding the Ponta das Andorinhas. The trail starts on the right side of Praia de Cima and goes until the end of the point, later turning right and going over the rocks by the outer part of it. This trail is recommended for persons in good physical shape since there are some point where jumping over rocks is needed and it can be dangerous.

See the interactive map below for instructions on how to reach the place.