Trancoso
Brazil
A grass square of painted houses on a cliff above long, empty beaches
Photo by Mauro Lima on Unsplash
Photos by Caico Gontijo, Nathalia Segato and LUDDMYLA 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 160mm in Apr
Where it is
16.59°S, 39.09°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Several days- Stay four or five nights, in the village rather than out on the coast road, so that dinner is a walk
- Avoid the New Year week unless that is the point — the rest of the summer is half the price and quieter
- Walk the Quadrado at dusk, when the lights go on in the trees
- Spend a day at Praia do Espelho, timed to low tide, when the pools form on the reef
- Go on to Caraíva, a car-free village across a river crossed by canoe, for a night or two
- Walk north along the sand to Arraial d'Ajuda, past the cliffs
Trancoso travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Brazil
Very expensiveCards are taken almost everywhere around the Quadrado and on the beach clubs, and the prices are São Paulo prices, so you will use them. Keep cash for the beach kiosks, parking and the drivers. New Year is the peak by a wide margin: rooms then cost several times the rest of the year and sell out months ahead.
ATMs & cards
The village has a Bradesco branch and an Itaú machine, and little else. Draw in the daytime, decline conversion, and if they are empty, Arraial d'Ajuda and Porto Seguro have more.
Avoid these
- leaving it to a holiday weekend, when the village has one branch and one other machine
Use these instead
- Bradesco
- Itaú
Cards are taken almost everywhere. For more machines, Arraial d'Ajuda and Porto Seguro.
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
SafeA small, quiet village. The care is about walking: the paths down from the Quadrado to the beaches are dark at night, and the beaches south of town are empty after sunset. Take a taxi after dinner if you are staying outside the village. The dirt roads to Espelho and Caraíva are slow and slick after rain.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (5 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
- Quadrado — the square and its restaurants, late into the evening
- Praia dos Coqueiros — by day
Worth more attention
- The unlit paths between the Quadrado and the beaches after dark
- Empty beaches south of town after sunset
- Praia do Espelho — the dirt road there after heavy rain
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
Very goodDinner on the Quadrado is the event of the day, at tables under the trees in front of the old houses, and the cooking is as good as the price suggests. At lunch, eat at the beach barracas — grilled fish, moqueca, shrimp pastéis — which are where the value is.
Travel tipsNightlife
The evening is dinner around the Quadrado, under the trees and the lights, followed by a walk round it; there are a few bars, and at New Year there are parties on the beaches.
- Quadrado — the restaurants and bars around the square
Closing: Most of the Quadrado is quiet by around midnight, except over New Year and Carnival.
Getting around
Car needed- UberWorks here
- 99Works here
- inDriveWorks here
- BoltNot here
99 the Brazilian one, often cheaper
- 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.
eSIM
A data eSIM for Brazil, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:
Works here
Works hereRevolutIn the app
Must-see
Travel tipsNearby day trips
Travel tipsSay 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".
Travel tipsReligion
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.
Travel tipsDo'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 Trancoso
No Holistay rentals in Trancoso 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 Trancoso 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 Porto Seguro BPS
1h 20mfrom the airport, roughly
The car ferry across the Buranhém, then 40 minutes south through Arraial d'Ajuda — about an hour and a quarter in all.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
