Joe18

We're going to be in Rio for a week plus and are considering a trip to Salvador. What's the best way of getting there and what is there to do once there?

Susan7

Flying is the best way to get there from Rio. This site has a brief guide to some of the things to see and do in Salvador, if you don't want to buy a guidebook:

http://www.fodors.com/world/south-am...e-bahia-coast/

qwovadis

Nice area for me with more AfroBrazilian culture exotic beautiful people and beaches.Some of the best beaches are at Porto da Barra, in addition to the beach suburbs of Pituba, Amaralina, Ondina, Itapoa, Piata and Jaguaripe. The island of Itaparica is just offshore and also has some fine beaches and hotels.Experience the local Brazilian culture (and cuisine), and to explore the lovely historical quarter - two or three nights will suffice for me.

brazilbeaches.org

qwovadis

brazilnuts.com

brazilforless.com

can do you some nice packages better than DIY

Best to fly one of the Brazil econos booked in advance

Azul or Gol for me usually.

boudecca

Brazilnuts.com and Brazilforless.com are the same company trading under different names. I wonder why you are always on this forum shilling for them. Do you work for them?

marielgauthier

My travel policy is, "OK, I’m here now I have o I will try to know and learn as much as I can"
Salvador is great, it has a lot of rhythm and religious culture like Nuestro Señor de Bomfim. Here, is celebrated one of the happiest carnivals of Brazil.
It also counts with an amazing architectural colonial heritage, in the historical center called Pelourinho, declared Historic Monument for the UNESCO for representing one of the main baroque legacies of the humanity, corresponding to the 16th century and the 17th when landed the first Portuguese ships to these beautiful coasts.
A recommendation: try to avoid peripheral zones, cause are dangerous and too supersticious with tourists. And take care of what you eat in the street, cause barbecues are not always with the best meat.
For acommodation, I recommend you visit this link http://en.visitlatin.com/salvador-hotels.htm I hope this information helps you; travel is part of my work and sometimes is hard to find information. The best recommendations are those given by people who have traveled.
Greetings and good trip.

Equestrian

The easiest/fastest way to get from Rio to Salvador is to fly. You can also spend a number of days going slowly up the coast by bus, stopping at many scenic beaches and little towns.
A good place to find info on Salvador is www.bahia-online.net and http://www.aldeianago.com.br/compone...nts/Itemid,40/
and http://www.pelourinho.ba.gov.br/

Beaches, music, boats....

boudecca

To Equestrian

You do love your buses!

Equestrian

I do love traveling among Brazilians, the way they commonly do, meeting, talking, and being befriended by them, getting all that insider information and local help that enriches a trip so much.
(Also helps me avoid being seen as a rich, effete gringo, shut up in a private box--i.e. car--away from the nitty-gritty of real life in Brazil, and therefore often primarily seen as a mark to be fleeced whenever possible.)

boudecca

Oh dear, your biases are showing! If one drives in Brazil, one is automatically branded as a rich, effete gringo shut up in a private box?

Equestrian

You are persistent, aren't you? Yes, if one can afford to drive in Brazil, one is usually rich. Driving that little box does cut one off from the culture one is passing by at high speed in the streets, observing through glass. No amount of perceived "freedom" to stop at will on the roadside, especially as the bus usually stops at most places that might be of interest anyway, makes up for losing out on that cultural experience of being befriended by Brazilians going about their daily lives alongside one. Whereas a Brazilian who can afford a private car may not mind being a bit insulated for a few hours of his/her lifetime, in that s/he has plenty of chances to mix and integrate elsewhere, most foreign travelers go to Brazil to experience the culture, not keep as aloof as possible from it for the largest percentage of their travel time. You complain constantly across all the Brazil travel forums about how you perceive that you were consistently taken advantage of. Your attitude might well be at the root of setting you apart as a mark in Brazil, but since you don't mix with those ordinary Brazilians you have been denigrating as thieves all across the internet, you'd not be in a position to understand how you appear from their perspective. I think a traveler misses out on a lot by choosing not to socialize along the way with the ordinary Brazilians (or ordinary citizens of any country one travels to, for that matter) who can enrich the trip by such a lot. Yes, that is my preference and pleasure, to travel and live among everyday Brazilians, to strike up a conversation on the journey, and often to be invited into the lives of those generous Brazilians I meet.
Hope you see you way clear to enlightening yourself before the next driving trip to Brazil you seem to be planning, or can we look forward more petty complaints about Brazilians and their nefarious ways?