Bahia

Salvador and the Northeast is Brazil's cultural and historical soul — the region where Afro-Brazilian traditions take root, where the country's first capital was founded (Salvador in 1549, capital until 1763), where capoeira, candomblé, axé, street carnival and dendê cuisine flourished. It's also the region concentrating some of Brazil's most beautiful beaches — the Northeast coast extends over 3,000 km, from southern Bahia to Maranhão, lined with coconut palms as far as the eye can see.

Salvador da Bahia (3.5 million inhabitants, country's 4th city) is the cultural jewel — founded in 1549 by Tomé de Sousa, colonial Brazil's capital until its transfer to Rio in 1763. Its Pelourinho (historic centre), UNESCO-listed in 1985, is one of Latin America's best-preserved colonial architectural ensembles — 800 17th-18th century buildings painted in vivid colours (yellow, blue, pink, green), 17 Baroque churches (including Igreja de São Francisco, 1708, interior entirely gold-covered — Brazil's most precious colonial Baroque heritage), cobblestone squares (Largo do Pelourinho, Terreiro de Jesus), steep little streets (Ladeira do Carmo). This is where Afro-Bahian culture flourishes — daily capoeira rodas at Forte da Capoeira, candomblé in terreiros (Casa Branca, Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá), percussion groups (Olodum, Ilê Aiyê) that influenced Michael Jackson and world music.

Around Salvador, the Bahian coast offers some of Brazil's most beautiful beaches. Praia do Forte (80 km north, ecological resort with Tamar sea turtle protection project, calm family beaches), Itacaré (south, wild beaches lined with Atlantic forest, surf and nature), Morro de São Paulo (car-free tropical island, 2h catamaran from Salvador, hippie-chic vibe), Trancoso and Arraial d'Ajuda (far south Bahia, 12h drive or 1h flight from Salvador, mythical beaches and luxury boutique hotels), Boipeba (preserved island, two deserted beaches, authentic ecotourism).

Inland, the Chapada Diamantina (250 km west of Salvador, 4h drive) is one of Brazil's most beautiful national parks — chain of tabular mountains with sandstone cliffs, vertiginous waterfalls (Cachoeira da Fumaça, 380 m, Brazil's 2nd highest free-falling waterfall), luminous caves (Poço Encantado, underground lake with turquoise waters illuminated by a sunbeam between April and August, one of South America's most spectacular sites), villages frozen in time (Lençóis, Mucugê, Igatu). More broadly, the Northeast includes Pernambuco (Recife and Olinda, traditional Carnival, UNESCO 1982), Ceará (Fortaleza, Jericoacoara, Canoa Quebrada — deserted beaches and lagoons), Rio Grande do Norte (Pipa, Natal), and Maranhão (Lençóis Maranhenses, white sand dunes dotted with turquoise lagoons, one of the world's most unique landscapes).