Porto Seguro lies 730km/454mi from Salvador in the far south of Bahia state, on the stretch of coast where Pedro Alvares Cabral landed in 1500. With some of the oldest cultural monuments in Brazil, the town has been declared a national monument.
Porto Seguro consists of a lower town and an upper town, its historic core. Near the lower town are the beaches of Cruzeiro and Vila.
The Igreja da Misericórdia (1526-30) is the oldest church in Brazil. It contains paintings of the Christ of Compassion (1526) and the Mater Dolorosa (1582).
The church of Nossa Senhora da Pena, patroness of the town, dates from 1535. It contains a likeness of St Francis of Assisi brought by Gonçalo Coelho on his 1503 expedition, the oldest sacred image in Brazil.
Arraial d'Ajuda, 4km/2.5mi south of Porto Seguro, is reached by a ferry across the delta at the mouth of the Rio Burinhaem. In the village is the church of Nossa Senhora d'Ajuda, built between 1549 and 1551, but its main attractions are its completely unspoiled beaches. Near the village is the Praia de Mucugà, and the still more celebrated beaches of Pitinga and Taípe lie between the village and Trancoso.
Trancoso (25km/15.5mi south of Porto Seguro), is famed as the birthplace of lambada (a type of dance music) and attracts thousands of visitors. Pitinga is a nudists' paradise, and the beach of Taípe, edged by high cliffs, is one of the most beautiful on this stretch of coast.
This park, south of the town of Porto Seguro, is an area of forests, beaches, lakes, dunes, mangroves, and swamps. Found in the park are a number of species of monkeys, giant armadillos, and other wildlife.
To the north of Porto Seguro are the beaches of Curuipe (3km/2mi), Mundai (6km/4mi), Itaperapuã (7km/4.3mi), Rio dos Mangues (9km/5.6mi) and Ponta Grande (12km/7.5mi), which is near the coast road to Santa Cruz Cabrália (25km/15mi).
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Parque Nacional do Monte Pascoal
