Salvador
Brazil
Brazil’s first capital, and the most African city outside Africa
Photo by Matheus Seiji Goto on Unsplash
Photos by Edson Junior, Marcus Alves, Marcus Alves and Mr. Söbau on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Brazil
September to March
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 202mm in May
Where it is
12.97°S, 38.51°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Walk Pelourinho in the late afternoon and stay for the drumming
- Eat acarajé from a street baiana
- Tie a ribbon at the Igreja do Bonfim
- Watch capoeira properly, not the tourist version
- Take the boat to Morro de São Paulo
- See a Carnival bloco if you are here in February
Salvador travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Brazil
Good valueBrazil runs on cards and on Pix, the instant bank transfer that everyone from taxi drivers to coconut sellers accepts — but Pix needs a Brazilian account, so as a visitor you are on cards and a little cash. Change money in the city rather than at the airport, and keep small notes for the market and the buses.
ATMs & cards
Use Banco do Brasil, Bradesco, Itaú or Santander machines inside branches, shopping centres or the airport, during the day. Avoid standalone Banco24Horas kiosks on the street at night. Withdraw modest amounts, decline conversion, and never let anyone "help" you at the machine.
Avoid these
- street kiosks at night
- Banco24Horas machines outside a building
Use these instead
- Banco do Brasil
- Bradesco
- Itaú
- Santander
Use machines inside branches, shopping centres or the airport, and in daylight. Nobody legitimate will offer to help you at one.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Brazil
Stay alertThe culture is extraordinary and the crime is real, and both should be said plainly. Stick to Pelourinho, Barra, Rio Vermelho and Ondina, use app cars rather than walking between neighbourhoods, carry one card and a little cash rather than everything you own, and leave the watch and the phone out of sight on the street. At Carnival, go with people who know the city.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (6 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
- Barra
- Rio Vermelho
- Pelourinho — by day and during organised events
Worth more attention
- Pelourinho — its edges and the Ladeira da Preguiça after dark
- Cidade Baixa, Salvador — at night
- Carrying valuables at Carnival
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Brazil visa rules
No visa neededup to 90 days
Other passports
e-Visa requiredup to 90 days$80
Brazil reintroduced visas for these three nationalities. It is an e-visa applied for online.
Visa required in advance
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Brazil
Good but costlyRequired to enter
- Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Yellow fever — recommended for most of Brazil including the area around Rio
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
Getting treated
Public emergency care (SUS) is free to everyone including foreigners, but is crowded and slow. Private hospitals in Rio and São Paulo are excellent and expect insurance or payment up front.
Dengue, zika and chikungunya are all present and mosquito-borne — repellent matters. Yellow fever vaccination should be given at least 10 days before arrival.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
OutstandingBahian food is its own cuisine: acarajé from a baiana in white lace at a street stall, moqueca cooked in dendê palm oil, vatapá, and cocada for afterwards. The stalls are safe and are where the food is best — go where the queue is. Ask for it "sem pimenta" if you cannot take heat.
Nightlife
The most African city in the Americas, and the drumming in Pelourinho on a Tuesday is a better night than most clubs anywhere.
- Pelourinho — the drumming, especially Tuesday
- Rio Vermelho — the bars, the moqueca and the locals
- Barra — the beach and the lighthouse end
Closing: 03:00.
A beer in a bar: R$7–12
Carnival here is street blocos rather than a stadium parade, and is the largest in the world by participation.
Getting around
Workable- UberWorks here
- 99Works here
- inDriveWorks here
- BoltNot here
99 the Brazilian one, often cheaper
- From the airport
- Guarulhos to central São Paulo R$80–130
- Against a taxi
- Cheaper than a taxi and, in the big cities, the default for everybody.
Some favela and periphery addresses will not be accepted by drivers at night; that is a driver safety decision, not a fare one.
Time zone and your working day
America/Bahia — 1 hour ahead of you
7 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–16:00 your time, 10:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 08:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 08:00–16:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of Brazil
Why these are Brazil's numbers and not Salvador's
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 1.9× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fast. Enough to work from a cafe or a beach on a hotspot all day. Mobile runs at 2.5× the global median of 109 Mbps.
Ookla publishes no separate figure for Salvador, so these are medians for all of Brazil. Cities usually beat the national number and remote islands and national parks fall well below it — treat this as the country's shape, not as a measurement of the street you will be staying on.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for Brazil, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Portuguese (Brazilian)
- HelloOi / Oláoy / o-LA
- PleasePor favorpor fa-VOR
- Thank youObrigado / Obrigadao-bree-GA-doo / -da
- Yes / NoSim / Nãoseeng / nowng
4 more phrases
- Excuse meCom licençakong lee-SEN-sa
- How much is it?Quanto custa?KWAN-too KOOS-ta
- The bill, pleaseA conta, por favora KON-ta
- Cheers!Saúde!sa-OO-djee
Softer and more open than European Portuguese, and the de sounds like "dje".
Religion
Catholic and Evangelical
The largest Catholic population in the world, with a fast-growing Evangelical share and Afro-Brazilian traditions such as Candomblé and Umbanda practised alongside.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Greet with a kiss on each cheek between women, or a woman and a man; a handshake between men
- Expect physical closeness in conversation — standing back reads as cold
- Arrive late to social invitations; on time is genuinely early
- Learn a few words of Portuguese, and never open in Spanish
Don't
- Do not make the OK sign with finger and thumb — it is obscene here
- Do not walk with a phone visible in the street
- Do not wear obvious jewellery or watches on the beach or in the city
- Do not call Brazilians Hispanic or assume they speak Spanish
Where to stay in Salvador
No Holistay rentals in Salvador yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Salvador on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Luís Eduardo Magalhães SSA
40 minfrom the airport· 21 km as the crow flies
40 min to Pelourinho.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
