South America : Brazil : Northeast : Bahia

Bahia

Table of Contents:
Regions / Cities / Other destinations / Culture and History / Talk / Travel to Bahia, visa requirements / Get around / Bahia attractions and sightseeing / Itineraries / City tours / Good restaurants and cheap meals / Bahia nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs. / Stay safe / Get out

More from Northeast (Brazil):
Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte, Sergipe

More from Brazil:
Central West (Brazil), Northeast (Brazil), North (Brazil), Southeast (Brazil), South (Brazil)

More from South America:
Amazonia, Andes, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Falkland Islands, Guyana, Los Roques, Pantanal, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Tierra del Fuego, Uruguay, Venezuela

Bahia [1] is a state in Brazil's Northeast region.

Regions

All Saints' Bay (Baía de Todos os Santos)
Chapada Diamantina
Cocoa Coast (Costa do Cacao)
Coconut Coast (Costa dos Coqueiros) - where the Costa do Sauípe complex is located
Dende Coast (Costa do Dendê)
Discovery Coast (Costa do Descobrimento)
Reconcavo (Recôncavo)
Salvador
Sao Francisco Lakes (Lagos de São Francisco)
Sertao (Sertão)
Western Bahia (Caminhos do Oeste)
Whale Coast (Costa das Baleias)

Cities

Salvador - the state's capital
Bonito
Caravelas – if your destination is Abrolhos, then you will start here...
Ilheus
Itaparica
Porto Seguro
Vitória da Conquista

Other destinations

Abrolhos
Chapada Diamantina - fantastic green filled canyons and mountains, and a waterfall so high that it doesn't hit the ground
Itacare - an 'up-and-coming' / trendy vacation spot with amazing beaches, surf, capoeira, and plenty of culture

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 in 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.

Travel to Bahia, visa requirements

Get around

Another good guy is Marcus. Marcus speaks English (not fluently, but well-enough; he took a one-year course and worked hard at it). His cell phone number is 9994-1074.