Salvador travel guide
Where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Things to do in Salvador, planned over three days
Best time to visit Salvador
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Dry, warm, lower prices with ensaios restarting: the connoisseur's balanced best.
Lavagem, Iemanjá and ensaios build to Carnival at peak price and crowd: the exciting best.
Post Carnival shoulder: warmest sea, city exhaling and prices dropping before the rains.
Ensaios de Verão and Réveillon: every bloco rehearsing weekly, book Barra and Ondina early.
Transitional: windy, surf up and rain easing, better from late August.
Rainy season, heaviest April to June. Cheapest hotels and São João in June, but risky for a beach first trip.
What's on
- Lavagem do Bonfim second Thursday after Epiphany (mid-January)
Thousands in white process to Bonfim church as baianas wash the steps with scented water.
- Festival de Verão late January
Major music festival with top Brazilian pop and axé headliners.
- Festa de Iemanjá 2 February
Offerings to the Queen of the Sea in Rio Vermelho from dawn, sacred morning then street festival.
- Carnival Friday to Ash Wednesday (Feb/early Mar)
World scale street Carnival on the Dodô, Osmar and Batatinha circuits behind trio elétrico trucks.
- São João 23-24 June
Forró and quadrilha festas juninas with a local family tone in rainy season.
- 2 de Julho 2 July
Bahian Independence processions in the historic centre, deeply Salvadoran.
- Boa Morte Festival mid-August
Black sisterhood Assumption festival in Cachoeira, solemn processions then samba de roda, guided only.
- Dia da Consciência Negra 20 November
National holiday bringing Afro Brazilian festivals in the Capital Afro season.
- Réveillon (Virada Salvador) 31 December
Multi day free New Year festival with major national acts, among Brazil's largest Réveillons.
Worth the trip for
Best things to do in Salvador
Pelourinho
UNESCO historic centre of pastel mansions and drummers, best understood first with an Afro Brazilian heritage guide.
Igreja e Convento de São Francisco
Salvador's supreme Baroque interior, wall to wall gilded woodcarving and Portuguese azulejo tiles.
Catedral Basílica de Salvador
The cathedral on Terreiro de Jesus anchors the historic centre church walk beside São Francisco.
Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Pretos
Church built by and for Black Salvadorans, where masses carry Afro Brazilian rhythm and devotion.
Igreja da Ordem Terceira de São Francisco
The only carved sandstone Plateresque facade in Brazil, hidden under plaster until 1932, beside the main São Francisco church.
Olodum
Inventors of samba reggae rehearsing with 100 plus percussionists, the iconic Tuesday night in Pelourinho.
Praia do Porto da Barra
Small sheltered bay between two forts with calm clear water, beloved for an early local swim.
Farol da Barra
1698 lighthouse fort with a nautical museum and the lawn where Salvador applauds the sunset.
Where to stay in Salvador
Barra
first trip, all round base
Lit promenade, Porto da Barra swim and Farol sunset on foot, with the city's best visitor infrastructure.
Rio Vermelho
food, nightlife and return visitors
Bohemian restaurant and bar quarter where you can walk to late dinner in busy lit streets.
Santo Antônio Além do Carmo
atmosphere with Pelourinho access
Residential calm, coloured houses and bay views minutes from Pelourinho without sleeping in its noise.
Campo Grande / Vitória / Graça
quieter upscale stays and Osmar Carnival
Tree lined residential ridge between Pelourinho and Barra, safe and local, with more Ubers to beach and dinner.
Ondina
Dodô Carnival and resort hotels
Beach strip on the Barra Ondina circuit, perfect for walking home from a camarote, otherwise a hotel row.
Think twice about
- Comércio / Cidade Baixa
Commercial port district that empties at night with poorly lit deserted streets and almost no evening restaurants. Visit by day, sleep up the elevator.
- Itapuã / Stella Maris / Flamengo
Lovely beach days but 45 to 90 minutes from Pelourinho, turning every sight into a commute. Take a beach extension night instead.
- Liberdade and Nordeste de Amaralina as a base
Residential districts with no visitor infrastructure and higher crime than the tourist areas. Go to Liberdade with a guide, for Ilê Aiyê's rehearsals in Curuzu, rather than wandering.
- Rodoviária and airport corridor
Transit, mall and highway zones around São Cristóvão that are unwalkable and 45 minutes from everything. One night maximum for an early flight.
Best restaurants in Salvador
Restaurante Paraíso Tropical
Garden orchard restaurant for some of the city's best moqueca, with fresh juices and a closing fruit platter.
Casa de Tereza
Chef Tereza Paim's art filled casarão elevates Bahian classics like bobó de camarão without denaturing them.
Acarajé da Cira
The safer first call for acarajé, praised for light crisp dendê frying and excellent vatapá.
Acarajé da Dinha
The pilgrimage acarajé stall in Largo de Santana, immortalised in an Olodum lyric.
Acarajé da Regina
Forty plus years at the oil, praised locally as the city's best acarajé with dough that melts.
Restaurante Yemanjá
The big classic moqueca house with a 1960s lineage, with pots for two and grilled fish options.
Restaurante Amado
Fine dining Bahian cooking on the bay, oysters and grilled octopus as the sun drops toward Itaparica.
Manga
Intimate ingredient driven tasting menus putting Brazilian produce through a fine dining lens.
Outdoor things to do in Salvador
Ilha dos Frades
Near perfect cove at Ponta de Nossa Senhora with clear warm water and a hilltop church panorama.
Ilha de Itaparica
Second swim and long lunch stop on the classic schooner day across the bay from Salvador.
Morro de São Paulo
Car free island village of numbered beaches and fort sunset, excellent over two nights, punishing as a day trip.
Ilha de Boipeba
Morro's quieter sister, with better empty beaches, reef pools at Moreré and garden pousadas.
Praia do Forte
Tasteful former fishing village with a swimmable beach and natural pools at low tide, an easy day north.
Projeto Tamar Praia do Forte
Flagship sea turtle centre with tanks, rescues and seasonal releases, genuinely good for adults too.
Praia de Guarajuba
Cleaner open Atlantic beach near Praia do Forte with good restaurants, ideal for the afternoon half of the day.
Fundação Mestre Bimba
Learn the ginga where Capoeira Regional was codified in 1937, with berimbau rhythm and history explained.
Best hotels in Salvador
Hotel Fasano Salvador
Top luxury in a 1930s newspaper headquarters, with a rooftop pool and the definitive bay panorama.
Fera Palace Hotel
1934 Art Deco palace reborn, with a rooftop pool and famous sunset 200 metres from the Elevador.
Hotel Villa Bahia
Seventeen rooms in two colonial mansions in Pelourinho, the sleep inside the postcard option that works.
Zank by Toque Hotel
Small design led hotel with a sea view pool and personal service, walking distance to dinner.
Hotel da Bahia by Wish
1952 modernist grand dame with a huge garden pool at a mid range price outside Carnival.
Aram Yami Hotel
Six suite boutique in a restored mansion with a bay view plunge pool and exceptional breakfasts.
Casa do Amarelindo
Ten room colonial house with a small pool and caipirinha famous bar, owners on site.
Monte Pascoal Praia Hotel
Balconies and a pool directly over the Farol sunset, where the location itself is the luxury.
Is Salvador expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | R$200 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | R$500 a person |
| Splurge | R$1,400 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Pelourinho: a few days ahead
- Olodum: weeks ahead
- Balé Folclórico da Bahia: a few days ahead
- Arena Fonte Nova: a few days ahead
- Ilha dos Frades: a few days ahead
- Ilha de Itaparica: a few days ahead
- Morro de São Paulo: weeks ahead
- Ilha de Boipeba: weeks ahead
- Carnival needs everything booked months ahead, including lodging by October or November.
- Book Olodum Tuesday ensaios, Balé Folclórico, top restaurants, private Frades boats and Morro catamarans days to weeks ahead.
- Book Chapada tours and Morro or Boipeba pousadas weeks ahead in January and around Réveillon.
Is Salvador safe?
- Phone discipline is rule one. Do not walk holding a phone out or leave it on a terrace table edge.
- Use Uber door to door at night, avoid deserted poorly lit streets and never base in Cidade Baixa.
- Never leave belongings unattended on beaches and heed surf and current flags on the Atlantic orla.
- In crowds keep a cross body bag in front, carry minimal valuables and agree a meeting point.
Salvador travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Mercado Modelo as authentic craft: stock is mass produced with tourist starting prices. Buy real craft in Santo Antônio ateliers.
- Morro de São Paulo as a day trip: two to three hours each way on an often rough catamaran for a few hours ashore.
- Half price mega schooners mean crowding, loud sound systems and rushed swims. Choose mid price small group boats.
- Street guides in Pelourinho who attach themselves and bill at the end. Decline firmly at the first sentence.
Getting around Salvador: public transport and more
- Uber and 99 are the default: cheap, abundant and the safety answer after dark between neighbourhoods.
- Walk only where walking is the activity: Pelourinho and Santo Antônio, the Barra promenade and Rio Vermelho's busy squares.
- Airport is about 28km and 45 to 75 minutes to Barra. Pre book a transfer or Uber on arrival, especially at night.
- Do not rent a car for city days. Hire a driver only for Praia do Forte, Recôncavo or Chapada legs.
Who Salvador suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Great |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Great |
Make Salvador your trip
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