Trancoso Trips & Tours

Tucked into Bahia's sun-drenched coastline is this former fishing village and its considerable charms. Discovered by hippies in the 1970s, Trancoso clings stubbornly to its laid-back soul despite a jet-set of increasingly sophisticated visitors. The beating heart is the Quadrado, a football-pitch-sized rectangle of grass bordered by candy-coloured fishermen's cottages now housing boutiques and restaurants where tables spill onto the lawn. Locals kick footballs, while horses graze nonchalantly nearby and the 16th-century Church of São João Batista watches over the scene. Below the grassy bluff, nine kilometers of palm-fringed beaches stretch in both directions with wooden beach bars serving fresh coconuts and grilled lobster to a soundtrack of gentle waves. The roads might be unpaved and electricity occasionally unreliable, but that's precisely the point – it’s the simplicity of Trancoso that makes it so appealing.