Experience the best of Porto Seguro

Porto Seguro lies on the coast of southern Bahia, the stretch known as the Discovery Coast, beside the mouth of the Buranhém River. The Cidade Histórica, the old upper town on a bluff above the sea, preserves early colonial buildings, among them small churches that look out over the water from a grassy square.

Beaches run both ways from town, many with reef pools and beach bars. A short ferry crossing over the river leads to Arraial d'Ajuda, a clifftop village with sheltered coves, and farther south to Trancoso, whose grassy square, the Quadrado, is lined with coloured houses and a small church above the sea. Caraíva, a village of sand streets without cars, sits on a river by the ocean, and Monte Pascoal, the hill first sighted by Portuguese sailors, rises inland to the south.

Moqueca, a fish stew cooked with coconut milk and palm oil, is the signature dish of the Bahian coast, with fried fish, tapioca and cassava on the side. Warm water and sun are the norm through most of the year.