Búzios consists of three main settlements, each with its own distinct character. Manguinhos, on the isthmus, is the main service centre with a tourist office (24hr; phone  0800-249-999), a medical centre, banks and petrol stations.

Midway along the peninsula, linked to Manguinhos by a road lined with brash hotels, is Armação, an attractive village where cars are usually banned from the cobbled roads. Most of Búzio's best restaurants and boutiques are concentrated here, along with some of the resort's nicest pousadas (B&B), and there's also a helpful tourist office on the main square, Praça Santos Dumont (daily 9am-8pm; Phone 024/623-2099). A fifteen-minute walk along the coast from Armação, passing the lovely seventeenth-century Igreja Nossa Senhora de Sant'Ana on the way, you reach Ossos, the oldest settlement, with a pretty harbor, a quiet beach and a few bars, restaurants and pousadas.

Within walking distance of all the settlements are beautiful white-sand beaches, 27 in total, cradled between rocky cliffs and promontories, and bathed by crystal blue waters.

It doesn't matter which you choose - Brava, Ossos, Ferradura, Geribá - as each is charming, the ocean offshore studded with little islands. There are good minibus services between Armação and the beaches, and hitching lifts is also widely accepted. The Brava, Ferradura and João Fernandes beaches all have barracas, which sere cold beer and expensive fried fish. You can rent kayaks or pedalos, or indulge in a little windsurfing or diving.

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