Ilheus

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Ilheus, Bahia, Brazil

Along the central border, the countless fluvial and marine islets justify the town's name. The bay is an excellent place for the practice of water sports, such as windsurfing, laser and hobby-cat class sailing, and kayaking. There are also rivers, ponds, and waterfalls, which permeate the preserved Atlantic Forest, habitat of rare species, such as the Golden Lion Tamarin, which serve to make that town - forever marked by the golden days of the Cocoa farms - even more beautiful.

Ilheus history mingles and joins the very history of the Brazilian economy in the nineteenth century, when the raw material for the manufacture of chocolate led the exportations of Brazil.

The town of Ilheus was the main export harbor literally packed with people, money, luxury, and wealth. The intense exchange with Europe transformed the town into a true cultural melting pot, which was magnificently portrayed in the fluid novels of the famous Brazilian writer Jorge Amado, translated into dozens of languages.

All the opulence of the majestic years of the "black gold" can be perceived still today in the local architecture, with its streets and squares paved in square stones, in the big houses and bars, such as the Vesuvio, the setting for the novel "Gabriela, Cravo e Canela" (Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon, written by Jorge Amado in 1958.

The natural beauty of the area, and the magic of Sao Jorge dos Ilheus - as the town was originally called - were the fundamental ingredients to consolidate the main tourist center of the Costa do Cacau (Cocoa Coast), and the third most important tourist center in the state of Bahia, right after the capital, Salvador, and Porto Seguro.

Ilheus currently receives an average of 220 thousand visitors per year, having an excellent supporting infrastructure, dozens of hotels and lodges, a modern airport, and an international harbor, the Malhado International Harbour.