São Salvador da Baía de Todos os Santos

Advantages: Nicely restored tourist friendly old town
Disadvantages: The ladies hunt in packs

...Salvador, in the state of Bahia, north east Brazil (or São Salvador da Baía de Todos os Santos as it was named in the past) was the first colonial capital city of Brazil and, although power shifted to Rio de Janeiro in the late eighteenth century, then to Brasilia in 1960, it retains much of it's past grandeur and colonial architecture. One of the main reasons to come here, however, is the wonderful mix of cultural influences that make the cuisine, music and lifestyle here so different even to other parts of Brazil. The population of over three million, consists mainly of people with African origins descended from slaves, although there have been many other strong influences through Salvador's history. Salvador is also famous for it's carnival and street parties. The final stop on my extensive two-week tour of Brazil was to Salvador...

AndrewPo 02.10.2008 · Read review
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Review of Salvador de Bahia

Drugs, Violence and Voodoo

Advantages: We got out alive.
Disadvantages: The whole place.

...We arrived in Salvador in the middle of a strike. But it seems there's always a strike in Salvador. The electricity workers were on strike for a 140% rise because they hadn't had one since April and it was now August. The hotel workers joined them after a couple of days for similar reasons, and we had to clean our own rooms and make our own beds, we even had to cook our own breakfasts if we wanted something hot. The management put the food out at the crack of dawn and left us to fend for ourselves. Every morning we woke at 6 am to the sound of whistles, yelling and loud hailers, as the strikers formed their picket line right outside the hotel. This racket went on all day but it was difficult to avoid. Two more days and the airlines went on strike for 180% rise and there were people stranded who couldn't get home, or to their next...

petehall 10.01.2001 (17.01.2001) · Read review
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Review of Salvador de Bahia

samba santa

Advantages: Fantastic atmosphere and culture
Disadvantages: Expensive to get to, dangourous in places

...The phrase "cut the atmosphere with a knife" is often over used, but in the case of Salvador it is an understatment. In all my travels (109 countries on every continent) I have never visited such an electrifying city and that includes Rio. Perhaps it was the fact that it was Christmas but the city was alive with music, you hav'nt lived until you have heard "White Chrismas" to a samba beat. Salvador is unlike any other South American city, it was here that the black slaves were bought over from Africa to work the plantations. From this misery developed capoeira a strange but enchanting synthesis of dance and martial arts. It was started as a form of passive resistance to the colonial masters, the martial arts symbolising the aggression that could not be used and the dance the freedom they desired. Go to the main market near the port...

Jasonrow 29.07.2001 · Read review
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Review of Salvador de Bahia

Aparthotel Bahia

Advantages: Excellent location.
Disadvantages: Not many.

...**Opinion ** In my opinion the Aparthotel Bahia is one of the best properties on the Island, not just for the accommodation itself but for its location and access to local amenities. The Aparthotel is a very well presented 4* option situated approximately 1km from San Antonio town with its vast array of nightlife. Making this an ideal location to be in as you are close enough to the nightlife if you want it, yet far enough not to be affected by it if you fancy a relaxing night. The main clientele at this hotel is made up of young people in the high season so can be rather rowdy at times. However in the low season it can be a little quieter and the pace is more relaxed. **Hotel** The hotel is situated on a stretch of land between Es Pouet and San Antonio beaches. Most rooms offer excellent views...

DanBarker 28.09.2007 · Read review
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Review of Bahia Aparthotel, Ibiza

'Its Bahia Principe'

Advantages: Top class all inclusive hotel
Disadvantages: Isolated from other resorts

...As you drive down the coastal road past all the resort hotels along the northern coast you'll begin to worry like in that Thomsons (?) advert on the TV that you're driving past all the best hotels! Then as you drive through the less developed towns along the road you'll worry that you're going to end up stuck in some shack in the middle of no-where! But as you turn off the coast road just before reaching the town (village?) of San Juan and into the Bahia Principe grounds you'll wonder what all the worrying was about! As with the other Bahia Principe Hotel in Mexico you first drive down the Hacienda, a short road lined with shops bars and restaurants, the one at San Juan has a hairdressers, a jewellers, a snack bar, a disco, a 'hard rock' bar, the reps building internet access (for footy scores of course!) and various shops selling...

Ratherhaveaham 07.09.2004 · Read review
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Review of Bahia Principe San Juan, Puerto Plata

5 tips for praia do forte

Advantages: friendly people,very cheap,and such a pleasant laid back feeling,even the ant leave you alone...
Disadvantages: all inclucive,airport imigration very slow,the government said they were trying to speed things up,but after the horrendous tragidy in america.i think slow imigration and security is something we will all have to get used to.which can only be a good thing

...1,if peace harmony and a never ending beach is your thing then praia'which actually means beach'is the place for you.we walked 11 kilometres one day and apart fron sand and palms,saw only 3 other people,local fishermen at that. 2,take time to learn a little bit of portuguese as no one speakes english and this can make life very difficult..british people are somewhat of a novelty at the moment,and are liked very much,the only problem is that alot of people from the british isles are traveling to bahia,but unfortunately most are plumbing for the easy option of the dreaded all inclusive,one such place is 'costa de suipe' which is purpose built.we hired a car for the day 'which was 50 real'real is pronounced heal,we drove up to costa de suipe thinking we could have a look around and a bite to eat...

theredbaron 22.09.2001 · Read review
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Review of Salvador de Bahia

"Its Bahia Principe"

Advantages: The list is endless........
Disadvantages: Not Cancun

...This was the first Bahia Principe resort me and my wife (then girlfriend) visited. We'd booked to go all inclusive to Malta (probably not the best way to do Malta with hindsight) and were all geared up for it until three days before we were due to fly. We got a letter from the travel agents saying there was a change in the circumstances and that our hotel was having building work done. We went into the travel agents and were offered an alternative. After several hours (or so it felt) of staring at a computer screen we found one! Mexico! WOW! Bit of a step up for us (our only other holiday together was to Spain) we had a bit extra to pay but we covered it and got ready for Mehico! Long haul flights are long haul flights and we all get through them in our own ways (good book, crafty bottle of duty free Bacardi and a few cans of Coke...

Ratherhaveaham 25.11.2004 · Read review
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Review of Hotel, Bahia Principe (Tulum, Mexico)

Bahia Principe

Advantages: Bargain Dominican Luxury
Disadvantages: Remote location (but ok if you want to escape!)

...My boyfriend and I took a holiday in September 2003 at Bahia Principe in Dominican Republic. Opting for an all-inclusive (to help stretch our budget) we were abit apprehensive due to some horror stories we'd heard about all-inclusive's in general. We booked through teletext so managed to get a decent deal. After a long day of travel (including 8 hour flight!) we were ready to collapse by the time we arrived. The first thing that struck us was the lavish grounds of the complex. Next came the charms of the wonderful staff who couldn't do enough for us!!! Our room was spacious and well air conditioned; it was a perfect retreat from the heat! The rooms are spread out in small apartments of 8 rooms, and are surrounded by tropical gardens. One thing worth a mention with regard the rooms is the high standard of daily cleaning...

alexlou 13.11.2003 · Read review
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Review of Bahia Principe San Juan, Puerto Plata

Brasil - a conflicting recommendation

Advantages: Breathtaking nature, cheap, multi-cultural
Disadvantages: high criminality, bad health institutions (hospital etc.),

...Now I live since nearly two years in Brasil and my opinion about this country is still conflicting: on one side its for sure one of the most impressing countries concerning the nature, on the other side also one of the countries with enormous social differences, and this always means: criminality and violence. I don?t want to talk here about attractions like Ouro Preto, an Unesco-city, the spectaculous waterfalls of iguacu, the cities Salvador de Bahia and Manaus, about these attractions you find informations in every travel guide, and this is good so, they are worth the visit. And yes, the people in Brasil are really amazingly friendly, the country itself,a quasi-continente, shows so many different sides from the black-african north to the european south like only few others. As a conclusion I would say: YES, you should visit...

AlexanderS2 31.03.2005 · Read review
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Review of General: Brazil

Backpacking in Brazil

Advantages: breathtaking scenery, beautiful people, lots of fun....
Disadvantages: long, long bus journeys, quite expensive for a backpacker

...We spent six weeks travelling around Brazil which was not nearly long enough, six months would have been more like it! We travelled there from Argentina and our first stop was the world famous Iguazu Falls which were an amazing sight, as was the surrounding forest, although the Argentinian side of the falls has more wildlife and more places to explore. From here we travelled overnight to Sao Paulo by bus and arrived at 3am. We were quite apprehensive about going to Brazil from all we'd read and heard about crime, muggings and so on and being in such a huge city was quite daunting, especailly as our Portuguese was pretty appalling at that stage. However, we found people in the bus station were extremely friendly and helpful and were able to direct us to Chinatown via the subway system which was where we had chosen to stay, as it had...

starman30 13.03.2006 · Read review
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Review of General: Brazil