Trancoso: Beaches to the South
beaches, trancoso
On the south side of the village are beaches with slightly more turbulent waters, although they are nevertheless excellent for swimming. The water here is clearer and bluer than on the north coast, largely due to the many rivers that flow into the ocean along this part of the coast. The first beach you come to on the south coast is Praia dos Coqueiros. Here you’ll find plenty of beach bars and shady umbrellas and chairs. The farther you walk south from here, the more sparse the beach kiosks become and the more deserted the beaches. You’ll pass Praia do Rio Verde as you continue south, which is just past a small river opening (which you can cross on foot).
After the river, you walk onto an excellent stretch of beach–with warm, blue water and medium-sized waves. This was once a nudist beach, known as Praia do Nudismo. Today you might come across a few people looking to revitalize the practice (fique a vontage, ok?) but mostly it’s just a great place to swim and get some sun. At the far end of this beach is the best beach kiosk on the coast, the Pé Na Praia barraca. It has an excellent position on the beach with plenty of wooden chairs, hammocks, and places to lay out on a straw mat or sit and sip a cold one. They usually have some kind of electronic groove music going, which puts you in a great, relaxed mood (or maybe that’s the beer).
If you walk further south, you won’t come across anything but lovely sand and surf for about five kilometers. This is a good place to get away from the crowd. There are reefs just off shore in this area, and the beach is slightly murky with seaweed and kelp (evidence of the reefs). You can go snorkeling out in these waters and in peak season, you will find groups of people doing just that–on some excursion or other. It doesn’t look so inviting from the beach around the point (called Ponta de Itapororoca), but once you get out beyond the barrier reefs, you’ll understand the attraction. Again, there are no kiosks around this area until you get all the way to Praia Jacumã, where you’ll find some great beach bars at the Jacumã coconut plantation. There are also more natural tide pools for snorkeling at jacumã and boats to take you out.
If you don’t like the idea of walking on your own all the way to Jacumã to go snorkeling, then join an excursion from Trancoso or Arraial d’Ajuda that visits these pools. Alternatively, you can take a taxi or bus from Trancoso directly to Jacumã to spend the day there. South of Jacumã are the very sought-after Praia Curuípe and Praia do Espelho, which receive visitors from Porto Seguro excursions. If you get to Jacumã, you can walk to these two beaches in about 30 minutes.
To get to the southern beaches from the village, take the trail that leads from the right side of the Quadrado down until you reach the sand and surf. You can’t miss it.
The very tip of the Salvador peninsula (if you can call it that) is the area called Barra. It’s marked by the largest and most significant fort in northern Brazil. The Barra neighborhood is where the beaches begin, and they continue north up the Atlantic coastline to Itapuan and Flamengo. As you turn from the bay side of Salvador to the ocean side you’ll notice a great difference in atmosphere. First, you come down off the hills to sea level. The sun seems to beat hotter and the temperature goes up. The vibe in Barra is definitely more beachy and most of the action takes place on the coast highway.
Barra is a busy beach just about every day of the year. It is situated in front of one of the most active areas on the coastline for hotels, bars, and restaurants. During the day, the Barra beach is a place to kick back and get some sun on the sand. You won’t be there but two minutes before you’ll be interrupted by someone selling something: roasted peanuts, sunglasses, sunscreen, and roasted cheese. The water in Barra and all of the beaches of Salvador is mercifully pollution free, due to a major clean-up program initiated by the mayor. The city installed sewage treatment facilities in every beach from Bonfim to Itapuan and you can swim anywhere on the Salvador coast, with the exception of Boca do Rio (the river does not get treated before it empties into the ocean). Of course, there are many beaches that you should not visit due to risk of assault, such as anything within 20 kilometers of Rio Vermelho Beach.
Barra is more about beaches and less about sites than Pelourinho. You may also find yourself in Barra because of the abundance of hotel options there. Still, there are a couple of sites worth checking out. First and foremost is the Santo Antônio da Barra Forte, also known as the Farol da Barra (or Barra Lighthouse). It is perhaps the most important fort in Brazil’s history. It was here that the Dutch first invaded Brazil (unsuccessfully) in 1624 and then again (successfully) in 1629. It has played an important role in the protection of the Bay of All Saints since its construction in the mid 1500s. Inside the fort is the Nautical Museum, which has a bunch of artifacts from a 16th century Portuguese ship that sunk offshore, as well as nautical maps and historical documents.
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