For starters we must say that Salvador is a very large city(more than 3 million inhabitants), and although it is much smaller in size than Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro, it is a great city and like any Brazilian city of more than 1 million inhabitants should pay attention to not spend bad times, the basics in this case is not show, take the money for the day, and take care of access to pockets and wallets, especially in agglomerations.
Playa de Ondina - Salvador de Bahía
Foto de Fernando Dall'Acqua - CC 2.0 By
Carnival, is a good example of this, if we do not pay for entry to cabins or the famous abadá (shirt that gives access to follow the Trios eletricos from inside some laces franked by security employees) will be at the public party, surrounded by thousands of people and sometimes among the crowd is a common type of robbery called arrastao , generally featuring bands of underage children they group themselves to destroy what they find as quickly as possible: the ideal is to pay attention and by common sense not to put at risk things of value that later it costs us to recover.
Carnaval de Salvador de Bahía
photo by sameffron - CC 2.0 by-sa
For the rest, Salvador is a city whose tourist spots have a good police presence, I have lived in the Pelourinho and I know; but the police presence has also caused the marginals to have to resort to ingenuity in order to steal from the tourist: if they see a lot of people dancing near an entrance door to a Pelourinho bar, take care of the pockets when entering, it has happened to me to feel that they put their hand in my pocket from behind and when one turns around to see who it was, another one that we now turn our backs to do the same from behind.
Vista del centro de Salvador desde la Bahía
photo by fhmolina - CC 2.0 by
Something I've seen also especially in carnival, are guys who are going to crouch simulating that they dance walking backwards until they reach the height and distance of our pockets, in summary any problem of this kind can be easily avoided by paying due attention , and when seeing situations of this type around to move towards another part of the party.
This type of theft is based on distraction, so it is easily avoidable if due attention is paid and certain precautions are taken. In my case, I always try to keep the money in places that are not easily accessible, such as zippered pockets or buttons, for example, or better carry values that can be worn under clothes.
Salvador de Bahía, like many other big cities in Brazil, is a city with enormous social inequality, and in tourist places it is common and sad to see the number of people who live in the streets of begging for those who look like foreigners, and Even Brazilians from other states, if you are staying at Pelourinho for example, you will see this daily and after a while it becomes uncomfortable insistence if you are not able to give money to everyone all the time . Unfortunately there is a widespread prejudice among natives to think that everyone who comes from abroad has a lot of money, it does not matter if it is an independent traveler who is with the right budget for his itinerary or if he is a millionaire tourist, in his head All foreigners have money and nothing will take away that idea.
The same goes for street vendors, so if you do not want the service or object they offer, it is best to be cordially grateful and keep walking, not stopping unless you have time, once someone pays attention to them they tend to be very insistent.
With regard to the beaches, it can be said that they are safe by day, but it is not convenient to stay in them after dark, many times tourists go to drink in a beach bar and lose track of time, and when they want remember it is already night, it is good to remember that in the northeast of Brazil it gets dark very early and in Salvador(even in Summer) at 6 o'clock in the evening it is almost night , this is taken advantage of by some marginal who are waiting for this type of careless situations to steal without being seen. I've heard first-hand anecdotes about this, told by people who live in Salvador, and on one occasion, we had to leave the beach quickly because one of the waiters came to the table to warn us that there were a couple of boys watching us from behind. a coconut tree waiting for darkness to come.
Like any large city with social inequality, in Salvador de Bahía attention should be paid and not be exposed to free, as I have clarified before, the police presence is usually abundant in places of major tourist importance, but keep in mind that the total security and absolute does not exist.
More about Salvador de Bahía and related:
The articles published on this website are the intellectual property of their respective authors, who reserve all rights to them.
The images contained in this site are subject to the respective license and accreditation that accompanies them.
This website use Cookies Learn More