Every beach property site in Brazil shows you maps and photos. None of them tell you how long it actually takes to get there from where you live.
That number matters more than price per square meter. A property you can't get to conveniently becomes a property you stop using. A property you stop using becomes a burden.
The standard comparison for São Paulo buyers is Santos — 70km on the map. But São Paulo has 22 million people and one coastal mountain range between it and the ocean. On a Friday afternoon in July, that 70km takes three hours. Sometimes more. Ask anyone who tried it during the last school holiday.
Compare: GRU to Ilhéus (IOS) is a 2h15 flight on LATAM or Gol. The Ilhéus airport sits in Pontal, on the peninsula, directly on the coast. From the gate to any of the condominiums in this index is ten minutes by car. No ferry. No mountain highway. No Saturday traffic jam on the way back.
On a bad Friday, you will spend less total time getting from inside São Paulo to the beach in Ilhéus than you will driving to Santos.
The honest tradeoff: fewer daily flights than Santos has roads. You're scheduling around an airline, not a whim. That matters for spontaneous weekend trips. For a property that generates rental income most of the time and gets used six to eight times a year on planned visits, it changes nothing.
This is the argument behind beachburbs.com — a Beach Walk Score index I built for Pontal condominiums. The score weights what actually matters for a beach town: beach access, restaurants, bars, daily needs. Not transit stops or office supply stores.
Five condominiums scored so far. The tool is live. If you have a view on the methodology or the market, I'm at alan@alanhalley.com.