Bahia travel guide: when to go, what to see and how to plan it

Brazil's first capital until 1763, Salvador splits between the upper and lower town, joined by the Lacerda elevator (72 metres, running since 1873). The Pelourinho, a UNESCO site, packs in baroque churches, including São Francisco and its wholly gilded interior. In the evening life shifts to Rio Vermelho for acarajé and music. Allow two to three days, avoiding the lower town after dark. Salvador is the gateway to the whole region and combines easily with the rest of Brazil.

A 2 hr 30 catamaran south of Salvador, the Tinhare archipelago is car-free. Morro de São Paulo lines up beaches numbered from Primeira to Quarta, with a zipline and nightlife on Segunda. Its neighbour Boipeba, an hour away by boat through the mangrove, is far quieter: the Moreré to Cueira walk at low tide and reef pools. Three nights let you sample both moods. The crossing is smoother from October to March.

Four hundred kilometres from Salvador, this national park of 1,200-metre plateaus changes the scenery entirely. From Lençóis, a former diamond town, you reach Poço Azul and Poço Encantado, caves with intensely blue water, and climb to the top of the Fumaça waterfall (380 metres) from the Vale do Capão. Plan three to four days of walking and a compulsory guide for the longer routes. The dry season, May to September, is safest for hiking.

Between Valença and Camamu, this coast of mangroves and cacao trees moves more slowly. Itacaré is the surf hub, with a string of beaches reached by Atlantic forest trails. Further south, the Maraú peninsula is reached by a dirt road or by boat from Camamu: Barra Grande for sunsets, Taipu de Fora for the state's largest reef pool at low tide. Two to three nights are enough to unwind.

It was here, near Porto Seguro, that the Portuguese landed in 1500. Trancoso centres on the Quadrado, a grassy esplanade lined with colourful houses and a 16th-century white church, now upmarket but still lovely at dusk. Caraíva, further on, has no cars and little public lighting: you reach it by motor ferry and spend evenings dancing forró. Access is from Porto Seguro airport, about two hours by road.

The road heading north serves Praia do Forte, where Projeto Tamar has protected sea turtles since 1980 and runs a public viewing pool. The villages of Imbassaí and Diogo, cut off from the sea by a river and dunes, stay quiet. From July to October, boat trips let you watch humpback whales that come to calve. It is the simplest sector with only a few days left after Salvador.