Florianopolis

Bali for grownups.
It's perfectly safe. I could walk in 95% areas of Floripa at night with my phone taken out without any feeling of danger. Safer than Rio, for sure.
All types of water sport and hikes are available here, so it's a good place for people who are into nature.
Place isn't very trendy and service sometimes isn't that good but it's getting there.
As anywhere in Brazil, people here don't in general speak English. But they're so friendly that they will always try to help you out and smile.
Outside of Centro you usually need a car, even though it's walkable as there are sidewalks, but distances are quite big for walking. Uber works everywhere so that wasn't an issue for me either. There is also a working food delivery.
Weather can be really nice in low season of June-August, in case you don't like when it's too hot.

In short, it's a great place to get familiar with Brazil if you're worried about safety.

Most unfriendly people I met in Brazil. Rest of Brazil average is very friendly and even Rio known for being a bit colder at least still relatively nice. Here they are plain aggressive. Maybe because so many tourists come so they don't care to be nice. Also infrastructure is too small for the amounts of people coming here now. A lot of traffic. And then there's the invisible speed bumps everywhere. The malls were quite nice. The housing also. We got an Airbnb on the lagoon for $150/night for an entire house. Very nice. You definitely need a car yes, Uber hard to get in some places here.

Florianopolis is absolutely beautiful. Amazing beaches and hiking. The seafood here is incredible. YOU NEED A CAR HERE. This place is hard to navigate without a vehicle. Public transportation and uber aren't great.

I think this is an amazing place to go with someone else. I wouldn’t recommend it for a long term solo traveler. The reason for that is I found the people to be a bit cold. I approached a lot of people and the interactions always felt so strange. IMO not a great place to mingle with the locals. They just seemed a bit standoffish and cold (I also have heard from other Brazilians that people from the south are cold. In comparison to Sao Paulo the people are so much more friendly and welcoming). It's much easier to mingle with the other foreigners.

Stayed one month in Floripa in Lagoa de Conceicao in February and March.
To sum up - if you like nature and hikes and tranquility it's gonna be good for you.
But if you're like me, prefer to be in big cities with big city benefits (walking distance to everything etc) there are better places. The distances between the places here are big and you need to get a uber everywhere (it's cheap but then if you take it everywhere it accumulates). There is not a lot of city infrastructure and benefits unless you go to centro. You should also do a research about weather because you might end up in a rainy month.

Pros:
- carnival in Feb - lots of parties and people going wild on the streets (if you like)
- very safe city for Brazilian standards
- more rich and happy people - there is mostly middle class and not a lot of differences between rich and poor like in other cities
- lots of nature - amazing views, hikes, beaches
- very diverse group of people, mostly with european origin
- people are super friendly
- cheap uber
- not a lot of foreigners (expats groups big enough to meet people and make friends but there are not foreigners everywhere)
- lots of gay people (if you're into that)

Cons:
- nature: lots of big insects, cockroaches in houses are normal, pretty humid climate which makes you sweat a lot and some people have respiratory problems
- climate a bit rainy - make sure to do proper research
- relatively small city not much going on
- carnival in Feb - (if you don't like parties) - also high traffic
- expensive for Brazilian standards
- places are spread out a lot - lots of distances to travel
- lots of gay people (as I straight guy and solo traveller I was a bit of tired of being approached by men - maybe it's mostly for carnaval)
- water in the sea is cold - reminds me of European seas

Great place to live!
Florianopolis is such a beautiful city, from the beaches to the buildings in Beira Mar Norte, I loved everything.
I lived in Coqueiros for 7 months and was awesome, quiet place, safe and lots of great restaurants to eat.

Great place to live , except during december, january and february - because it really gets crowded and it is not worthy, but the rest of the year, just go!!

This is a beautiful place with nice sandy beaches. There are plenty of places to go hiking and beaches to go relax at. Even with the pandemic, you can still visit some beaches. You can sometimes find bonfires and parties on Mole Beach. People sometimes rent boats here and take a tour of the other small islands around Florianopolis. Barra do Lagoa is nice if you want to take some surf lessons; the search house (hostel) is a great place to stay. Jurere is more upscale; it's a nice place to get an apartment with a few friends and have cookouts. Lagoa is nice, less expensive, and convenient, but not directly on the beach. In terms of safety, this place is the safest place I've been in Brazil - granted I didn't stay in central Florianopolis

One of the best places in Brazil. Beaches, hiking trails, connection with other Brazilian cities by air and the flights are not that expensive. I stayed there in April-June. No tourists, prices go down, everything is calm. Definitely it's the best in shoulder season (March-April or October-November). It can be noisy and pricey in the summer. People very friendly like everywhere in Brazil. I rented a studio room for 350$ in a nice quiet neighbourhood in 2019.

1Year there: I lived in this beautiful island for one year, and doing short trips abroad. Summer is the best time to visit and live in Floripa, but winter is not so bad.
Sports: If you love surfing and water sports like kitesurfing the island is for you.
Safety: The crime rates in Floripa are low and I never had problems or felt unsafe there no matter the time.
Cost of Living: in the winter I don't go out often and spend around $1000/monthly. But summer time is crazy, too many parties, barbecues, beach days, and countless dates ... I couldn't believe but my expenditure raised to +U$5000/monthly, but as I like to think "we just live once"

First off,the cost of living for Floripa is listed way to high, I rented a whole house for 1200 reais which is around $320 USD per month, food was about $25 a week pending on if you were to go out to eat a couple ti es a week. Beer and liquor were the pricey items. It was around $15 for a 12 pack of craft beers, (32 oz), but other than that, I got by on $500 a month for two months and still had more than enough money to live well, surf, party and meet tons of great people. Everytime I go to Floripa, I end up stayingfor at least a month or longer. People do speak English, butithelps if you can speak Portuguese orhave google translate. Not hard at all toget around either by car or by bus. They have all the modern tech you have at home there. Instead of staying in centro explore the other sides of the island you can find very inexpensive living outside of centro on the western shores and still be a stone throw away from the beach. My house was located in Rio Travieso, SC or the otherside of the mountain from centro. Tons of brew pubs, acia stands, gastro pubs, sushi and traditional resturants. Someplace chill, safe, andcost effective.

It is a good city, one of the bestest of Brazil because of the advanced respect in the city.
With a rich culture and respect, the city goes on.
You need to be careful just with manifestations, which occurs seldom.