Bahia – Bespoke Brazil Itineraries

Travelers who want to jump feet first into Brazil’s richest cultural experiences should beeline for the state of Bahia.

Unlike Rio’s glitzy beachfront and Mina Gerais’ prim colonial towns, Bahia thrums, shouts, and dances. It is loud, spicy, colorful, and frayed at the edges. Simply put, Bahia is vibrant. And it all falls squarely on those who call it home: the country’s largest Afro-Brazilian population. Start your journey through Bahia in Salvador. The city holds two major distinctions. It was the first capital of Brazil—assuring visitors plenty of fascinating history to chew into—and is the Blackest city outside of Africa. When it’s time for a city break, head into Bahia’s lesser-visited wild places: Trancoso, Cerrado, and Chapado da Diamantina.

Colorful colonial buildings in shades of yellow and green line a cobblestone street in Salvador.

A tropical beach in Bahia is fringed by tall palm trees with calm green water and white sand.

A person plays a traditional berimbau instrument on a sunlit terrace in Salvador, Bahia.

Why visit Bahia?

Afro-Brazilian influences are born everywhere. Sample spicy stews, watch in awe as dancers perform capoeira (a martial art), feel your hips move as samba fills the streets, and learn about the roots of Carnival. In the UNESCO-designated city center, you’ll learn how Salvador was the New World’s first slave market. With widened eyes, you’ll better observe and appreciate how the echoes of this dark past add vibrancy to modern Brazil.

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Afro-Brazilian influences are born everywhere. Sample spicy stews, watch in awe as dancers perform capoeira (a martial art), feel your hips move as samba fills the streets, and learn about the roots of Carnival. In the UNESCO-designated city center, you’ll learn how Salvador was the New World’s first slave market. With widened eyes, you’ll better observe and appreciate how the echoes of this dark past add vibrancy to modern Brazil.
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In a country famous for golden sands, it’s hard for Bahia’s beaches to compete but Trancoso carves out a niche as a boho beach town. This history-laden enclave charms with its simplicity. Despite its A-list rolodex, it’s a barefoot-salty hair type of luxury where the vibe is more Montauk than Hamptons. Active travelers might nip into nearby Pau National Park, go rafting, hiking or mountain biking.
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Away from the coast, inland Bahia boasts spectacular natural beauty. Spend some time in the Cerrado (savannah), the second-largest biome in Brazil. You can experience a bit of a wildlife safari in Grande Sertão Veredas National Park, spotting resident tapir, macaw, pampas deer, maned wolf, giant anteater, rhea, toucan, jaguar, and armadillo. Bahia travelers can also explore the wonders of Chapada da Diamantina National Park, an off-the-beaten-path gem containing canyons, hundreds of waterfalls, sandstone and quartz caves, caverns, and red rock mesas. Hike, swim, go caving, and gaze upon the 1,120-foot-tall Fumaça Waterfall.

Highlights of a Bahia tour

Attend a capoeira class to learn about this transfixing Brazilian martial art form that combines acrobatics, dance, music, and song.
Tour the Carnaval Museum to learn about the celebration’s African roots and influences.
Visit the studio of a renowned percussionist.
Sway along to the rhythm of samba.
Art and Brazil are synonymous, so take a guided tour of the Museum of Modern Art of Bahia, Bahia Museum of Art, and Palacete Das Artes Rodin Bahia.
Snap photos of colorful buildings in the Pelourinho neighborhood.
Tour the ornate Convento e Igreja de São Francisco where gilded interiors mingle with Candomblé shrines.
Save your appetite for dusk, joining an expert guide for a savory food tour of Salvador.
Take a cooking class to make and then sample Bahian specialties such as moqueca or vatapá (seafood stews).
Scuba dive some of the historic wrecks off Salvador’s coast.
Appreciate and admire Afro-Brazilian culture (capoeira, samba, and more) during a Bahian Folk Dance Show.

Three women in bright dresses and headwraps walk beside a church square in Bahia, framed by colonial facades.

Other areas to explore

A visit to Bahia puts you within easy reach of many other beautiful and fascinating parts of Brazil.

Minas Gerais

Translating to “General Mines,” Minas Gerais is an inland state due north of Rio de Janeiro.

Aerial view of the Lençóis Maranhenses shows endless white dunes interspersed with blue lagoons.

Lençóis Maranhenses and Jericoacoara

Remote, extraordinary, and unlike anywhere else in South America, northeastern Brazil's dune coast is one of the continent's great undiscovered journeys.

Sailboats anchor in calm turquoise water beside a densely forested green island at Ilha Grande.

Costa Verde

Tucked between lush Atlantic Forest and hemmed by emerald waters, Brazil‘s Costa Verde (Green Coast) boasts a string of charming beach towns.

Pantanal

The Pantanal is the world's largest tropical wetland and an area of incredible biodiversity that shelters some of the most extraordinary wildlife on Earth.