Porto Seguro, day and night

Porto Seguro is the most popular tourist city in the south of Bahia, it stands out for its festivities, its Bahian carnival, the miniature clone of Salvador, and for the number of its own attractions or in its surroundings. It is the access point to the discovery coast, with excellent beaches towards the south between Arraial d'Ajuda and Caraíva , and towards the north until Santa Cruz de Cabrália and Santo André.

Vista de Porto Seguro

photo by nany mata - CC 2.0 by

The beaches of this entire region are characterized by the predominance of the reefs, it is rare to find beaches with waves, this makes them ideal for those who enjoy swimming in the sea as if it were a swimming pool. However, due to the influence of the Buranhem River, on the beaches of the city and its vicinity, the sea water is definitely brown. These beaches, although with many coconut trees and of Caribbean aspect dreamed by the rest, are not too pleasant for the baths of sea because of the color of the sea that leaves the sensation of bath in river. To avoid this, we recommend those who stay in hotels or inns in the center, go several kilometers to the north coast to enjoy good beaches and blue-green sea.

Axé Moi

photo by lelik - CC 2.0 by

The offer of restaurants and beach huts is really impressive in the first kilometers of the north coast, some very popular both day and night, as Axé Moi , Toa Toa and Barramares , these huge barracks, called here Complexos de Lazer (resorts dedicated to leisure) are open access during the day and only charge entrance when they perform parties at night. Those who want less crowded beaches should do a few more kilometers before reaching Coroa Vermelha ( View on satellite map ) in the neighboring municipality from Santa Cruz de Cabrália ) there are lonelier and really beautiful beaches. Renting a buggie is the ideal way to travel the route between Porto Seguro and Coroa Vermelha and enjoy the view offered by Avenida Beira Mar, this journey is almost entirely on the seafront.

Río Buranhem

photo by nany mata - CC 2.0 by

During the day the attractions go through the walks, among the boat trips the huge reef on the high seas stands out Recife do Fora ( View on satellite map ) and Coroa Alta. Other interesting walks begin after crossing the raft towards Arraial d'Ajuda, Trancoso and Caraíva. It is also interesting to visit the indigenous villages of the Pataxó tribe, the Reserva da Jaqueira(near Barramares) and the Aldea de Coroa Vermelha with an indigenous museum and a huge artesanato on the seafront( See on satellite map ).

Museo - Centro Histórico Porto Seguro

photo by opimentas - CC 2.0 by

The nightlife is the other great attraction of Porto Seguro, in high season, there are parties and discos open almost every night, there are the famous Luaus(parties on the seafront) that alternate between Axé Moi( View on satellite map ), Barramares( View on satellite map ) and Tôa Tôa( View on satellite map ), and in the center itself several d iscos in which the music Axé predominates, there is also a lot lambada as it is said that this dance was originally invented in the region, although it is very common for dancing here French variant called Zouk (pronounced zuki), so do not be surprised to hear a lot of Bahians dancing lambadas sung in French. It is also very popular among the natives the forró(Northeastern music par excellence), the forró dances are usually very pleasant when it comes to acoustic lining, and are usually unbearable when it comes to the most popular variant played with synths and electric guitars , and with quite explicit lyrics.

Praia do Espelho - Costa del Descubrimiento

© Papu Bell

To this variety of night options you can add the Disk ( View on map ) and Fine Mistura and the Ilha dos Aquarios , private island on the river Buranhem near the coast of Arraial d 'Ajuda , during the day it is a leisure complex and during the nights of Fridays it organizes very interesting parties with all kinds of music.

The nightly meeting point of Porto Seguro is the Praça do Relógio (square of the clock, View on map ) set of bars at open air with live music together and the famous Passarela do álcool ; the translation is the catwalk of alcohol and as soon as you enter through the path of barraquitas filled with bottles of all kinds you will understand why.

In carnival, it is a city of just over 100,000 inhabitants, doubling that amount in the streets to the rhythm of the most important artists of the Axé bahiano, its street carnival similar to Salvador's, which on a much smaller scale , it summons crowds in the streets between which the natives, the tourists and the inhabitants of the nearby towns are mixed, this carnival has as particularity that it does not end on Ash Wednesday( Quarta feira de Cinzas ) as is usual in all the carnivals of the world, but extends until the following Friday, this is called extended carnival, there are also closed carnivals that are accessed by paying a pass for a certain number of days or during the full carnival , in Axé Moi, for example, also in the complex Parracho , in Arraial d'Ajuda, it is common for the great diva of the Axé to play in these carnivals, Ivete Sangalo .

For those who must change dollars or euros here(forget to bring Argentine pesos) currently there are no more options than a couple of stores in the shopping Avenida ( View in map ) and Oceania ( View on map ), the price they pay is usually about 10 cents below the official price, although this may vary according to supply and demand and the time of year. It is recommended to use the credit card in these cases since the quote is almost equal to the official one of the day, in case you want to withdraw money from the ATMs, it is advisable to consult the bank that issued the card about the cost(in case that there is) of withdrawal of money in ATMs abroad.

How to get there

The Airport( View on satellite map ) is located in the upper part of the city on a cliff, as is common in many places on the Bahia coast. save the taxi to leave the airport, they must walk between two and three hundred meters and wait for the buses before the descent, it is not recommended to do this at night and much less to go down the ravine walking with the luggage, since in the low areas close to the descent there are some favelas.

The bus terminal( View on satellite map ) is very close to the airport a couple of kilometers away.

By bus from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo you can reach us through the São Geraldo (prices are around the 180 R $ from São Paulo) and from Salvador de Bahía through the company Aguia Branca .

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