Bahia is a state in Brazil's Northeast region.

Regions

Cities

Other destinations

Culture and History

When the Portuguese first arrived in Brazil (April 22nd 1500) they landed on the soil today known as Bahia. In Portuguese (Brazil's Official Language) the word "bay" is translated "baia". Salvador, Bahia's capital, was founded by Portuguese explorers in 1549. The city lays on a peninsula located in between "All Saints Bay" and the Atlantic Ocean. Every time people talked about Salvador, they referred to it as, "the province with the bay in it". Later on, the province would be officially named "The Province of Bahia" (the province of the bay). The spelling of the word "bay" (baia) was changed in order to make the province's name unique. Salvador-Bahia became Brazil's first capital back when the country was one of Portugal's colonies, and remained like that for 214 years (until it was transferred to Rio, and finally to Brasilia).

Talk

Bahians, like all Brazilians, speak Portuguese. The accent, however, is completely different. Today due to tourism expansion there are some people who speak English in touristic areas & hotels, but since foreign languages are not taught in the schooling system you would be wise to bring a small travel dictionary.

Travel to Bahia - Visa Requirements

International Airports in Bahia:

  • Salvador (SSA), connecting flights to Lisbon, Frankfurt and Madrid. Direct service to Miami, starting Nov. 2.
  • Porto Seguro, connecting flights to Lisbon.

Tours and Getting around Bahia

Buses to Bahia

Coach services are comfortable and cheap. Very useful to get around the state. It is ill-advised to travel at night, highway robberies are all too common.

  • Bomfim
  • Aguia Branca
  • Itapemirim
  • São Geraldo

Flights and airtickets to Bahia

From Salvador airport there are connections throughout the state

  • Passaredo (Vitória da Conquista, Barreiras, Brasília and Ribeirão Preto).
  • Abaeté (Bom Jesus da Lapa, Guanambi and Barreiras).
  • Aerostar (Morro de São Paulo)

Bahia tourist attractions and sightseeing

Itineraries

  • The Bay of All Saints, beautiful seen from Salvador, can also be seen from a tourist boat that makes a trip through the bay, passing several Islands. The largest island is Itaparica. It can be reached in about 1 hour by ferry from Salvador. The smaller passenger-ferry departs from near the Mercado Modelo to , while the larger car-ferry goes from about 2km North of here to Bom Despacho
  • On the Coconut coast the sea turtle preservation project at Praia do Forte is a very impressive sight.
  • In October, whales can be seen alongside the whole coast, but the marine reserve on the Whale Coast is the pinnacle.
  • In the Chapada Diamantina, the Fumaça waterfall and the caves are very impressive

Bahia city tours

  • Trekking through the Chapada Diamantina. With a guide, stay with locals while hiking through the park for several days.

Bahia Restaurants: cheap, moderate and expensive

  • Acarajé: dough of beans, baked in Dendê oil
  • moqueca de pitu: fish stew, the Pitu fish is typical
  • vatapa
  • caruru
  • ximxim de galinha
  • bobo de camarao
  • "kimoqueca" is a restaurant chain serving moqueca throughout the state
  • "Carangueijo de Sergipe" is a chain serving mostly sea dishes. Present all over Bahia

Bahia nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs

Bahia cheap and luxurious hotels, youth hostels and lodging

Budget

Mid-range

  • Bahia Beach house Rentals, Atelier do Sobrado Rua Guedes Cabral, 184 Rio Vermelho Salvador -Ba 41950-620, ☎ (+55) 71 9619-2635(info@bahiabeach.net), [2]. Beach houses for rent on the Bahia coast, from the Whalecoast to the Coconut coast.  

Stay safe

  • It is ill-advised to travel at night through the state, by car or bus: highway robberies are all too common.
  • roads can be very bad outside the capital city

Get out

Destinations in Bahia:

This page was last edited by Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel. Based on work by Valtteri Päivinen, David, Nick Roux, Philipp Schäufele, Otto Kakko and Stacy Hall, Wikitravel user(s) Magafuzula and Identidade, Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel and others. - Content on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0 license

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