Salvador

💡 About Salvador

Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia, is the soul of Afro-Brazilian culture and one of the most vibrant and colourful cities in Brazil. The country's first capital, founded in 1549, it was the main port of the Atlantic slave trade, and this history forged a culture of extraordinary richness, rhythm and spirituality.

The city's historic heart, the Pelourinho, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site — a spectacular cluster of pastel-coloured colonial mansions, cobbled squares and baroque churches, one of which drips with gold inside. Music and drumming seem to echo constantly through its steep, atmospheric streets.

Salvador pulses with African heritage in every aspect of life: in the martial-art dance of capoeira practised in its squares, in the spicy palm-oil cuisine sold by white-robed vendors, in the Candomblé religion brought by enslaved Africans, and in the thunderous drumming of its music. Its Carnival is the largest street party on the planet.

Set on a bay of golden beaches, Salvador combines cultural depth with tropical joy. Passionate, spiritual and endlessly rhythmic, it offers the most powerful and authentic experience of Afro-Brazilian identity anywhere in the country.

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