Ilhéus

Ilhéus is a city in Bahia that is approximately 450 km south of state capital Salvador. This city of 180,000 inhabitants is the hometown of Jorge Amado, maybe the best-known modern Brazilian writer.

Catedral de São Sebastião

Understand

History

The City was founded in 1534 and its full name was then Vila de São Jorge dos Ilhéus. It was one of the most important producers of cocoa but nowadays it depends mostly on tourism and industry.

Get in

By plane

Closest international airport is in Salvador. LATAM, TRIP and GOL have daily direct flights from Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Porto Seguro and São Paulo to the local airport of Jorge Amado, which is five minutes away from the city by car.

By car

From north or south, drive BR-101 to Itabuna, then take BR-415 eastward to Ilhéus. If you're coming from Salvador, take the ferry boat and avoid the hard traffic of the trucks in the BR-101 by taking the BA-001 instead.

By bus

The bus station in Ilhéus is 3.5 km west of the city centre. A local bus ride from station to the centre of Ilhéus will take about 10 minutes and costs R$2.20.

By boat

• Porto de Malhado - The harbor is one of the most importants of the Bahia State and receives around 20 cruisers in the high season.

See

Natural beauty and beaches

• Praias do Sul (South Beach)
• Praias do Norte (North Beach)
• Lagoa Encantada
• Estância Hidromineral de Olivença (Hidromineral Waterpark os Olivença)
• Balneário de Tororomba (Tororomba Waterpark)
• Morro de Pernambuco (Pernambuco Hill, in Nova Brasilia neighborhood)
• Oiteiro de São Sebastião (at the back of the Cathedral, it's where the city was founded and still have the ancient canons used for defense in the beginning of the colonization)
• Praia do Cristo (Christ Beach)
• Cahoeira do Apepique (Apepique Waterfall)

Places

• Calçadão Jorge Amado (pedonal shopping street)
• Avenida Soares Lopes (main avenue near the cathedral)

Culture

• Teatro Municipal (City Theater)
• Cine Theatro Ilhéos (Cinema)
• Biblioteca Municipal (City Library)
• Centro Cultural Bataclan (Cultural Center Bataclan)

Arquitecture

• Palácio Paranaguá (City Hall)
• Casario secular

Monuments and memorials

• Cristo Redentor
• Escultura na Praia do Malhado

Churches and temples

• Catedral de São Sebastião
• Convento e Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Piedade
• Igreja de Nossa Senhora das Vitórias
• Igreja São Jorge
• Capela de Senhora Santana

Museums

• House of Jorge Amado. The house of the world famous novelist Jorge Amado. M-F 9AM-noon and 2-4PM, Sa 9AM-1PM, Su 3-5PM.

Others

• Feira de Artesanato
• Centro Histórico
• Bar Vesúvio
• Centro de Convenções

Do

Do not miss the visit to a cocoa farm, you'll learn everything about the manufacturing of chocolate.

Buy

While visiting the Mercado de Artesanato you'll have the opportunity to know the local handcraft production form clothing to musical instruments.

Eat

• Casa da Moqueca
• Tempero Nativo
• Castelino

Drink

• Bar Vesuvio. Praça Dom Eduardo 190. Taste a bit of history by having a drink at Bar Vesuvio. Jorge Amado used to write his novels there and even used the bar as décor in one of his books. 
• Another option is the Bar Barrakitica which is considered one of the 100 best bars in Brazil. The bar is located near Jorge Amado's house downtown.
• In Nova Brasilia barrio, the locals and the tourists mingle in the Mar Aberto nightclub.

Sleep

Mid-range

• Pousada dos Hibiscus, Rua F, quadra 15, lote 139, ☏ +55 73 3632-1080. Check-in: 1PM, check-out: noon. Lovely pousada directly on a sea-shore, 2 km south of Ilheus airport, offering twelve rooms, all with a sea view. R$120-230.