Useful Tricks

The smart way to enjoy while staying is to take advantage of the two environments of the pousada. Your mornings can be spent enjoying a surf lesson on the wide and beautiful Stella Maris beach. And, then later in the morning when it gets too hot, you have the pousada’s fantastic garden to retreat into. The two pools there with all tropical greenery shading them offer a cool, calm, and private mahal that seems a world away from the sunny beach.

To get the most out of the local beach, let’s pay attention to the tide schedule. At low tide, dozens of warm, shallow natural pools are exposed at Stella Maris over the sandstone reef, fine for bathing and relaxing-slash-great fun and safe for kids. It’s a pretty cool little thing to have at a beach, overall. For lunch, select one barraca along the beach and order ‘peixe na telha’. You won’t taste a better Bahian meal.

One important piece of advice for sightseeing is to dedicate a full day to the historic center. Take Uber or a taxi in the morning to the Pelourinho district (a 45-60 minutes travel time) and spend your day marveling at this incredible colonial architecture, gold-leafed churches, and museums in the UNESCO world heritage site. While you stay at Stella Maris, you get to enjoy your evening at that great historic and cultural center and leave behind the hustle and bustle of the city to return to the peace and calm at your beachside pousada.

For another great local beach experience, take a quick taxi to Itapuã beach nearby. This is a famous beach in Brazilian culture and was immortalized in songs by legendary poet, and musician Vinicius de Moraes. Historic Itapuã lighthouse visit can be done and less of the touristy feel can be experienced there with more locals around. Very Salvador thing to end your day with ‘acarajé’, the iconic street food snack of Afro-Bahian.