Morro de São Paulo

Car Free Village On Tinharé Island In Southern Bahia, Reached By Boat From Salvador · Cairu, Bahia

Morro de São Paulo is a car-free village on the island of Tinharé, off the southern coast of Bahia, and one of the classic beach escapes from Salvador. Boats land at a stone gateway below the ruins of a seventeenth-century fort, and wheelbarrow porters carry luggage up the hill into the village. Beyond it the beaches are simply numbered: First Beach, small and close to the village; Second, the lively one with bars and music until dawn; Third, with calm natural pools at low tide; and Fourth, long, wide and quiet, with reef pools and palm trees. From the lighthouse on the hill a zip line runs down to the beach, and the fort's walls are the place for sunset. Boat tours circle the island to reef pools, the village of Gamboa with its coloured clay cliffs, and the quieter neighbouring island of Boipeba. Morro is busy and party-minded in summer and at Carnival, and calmer out of season. The catamaran crossing from Salvador takes about two to two and a half hours and is often rough.

Vila de Morro de São Paulo, Ilha de Tinharé, Cairu, BA, Cairu, Bahia, Brazil

A village with no cars and no gates, open at all hours. Every visitor pays a municipal tourism fee on arrival at the pier, collected before you are let into the village; confirm the current amount and whether card is accepted. Catamarans from Salvador run several times a day and are cancelled when the sea is too rough, which happens most in the rainy months; buy the return with some flexibility. The alternative route by road to Valença and a short boat runs more reliably. Boat tours around the island leave in the morning and their route depends on the tide, as do the natural pools on Third and Fourth Beach and the walk to Gamboa. Second Beach bars run late into the night in summer, and Carnival and New Year fill every room months ahead.

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