My Dumbass Decided to Work from Salvador Brazil and Honestly? No Regrets
so i landed here completely by accident honestly like my flight got rerouted and i ended up in salvador with nothing but a laptop and the worst hostel wifi known to mankind but honestly it's been three weeks and i'm not mad about it at all
Quick Answers
Q: Is this place worth visiting?
A: Yeah if you like chaos, incredible food, and beaches that feel like they belong on a poster. It's hot as hell though like 30 degrees every single day so if you hate sweating just stay home.
Q: Is it expensive?
A: Surprisingly cheap for a major city. I pay like 25 bucks a night for a private room, food is like 5-10 bucks if you eat local. Airbnb runs maybe 40-60 a night in pelourinho.
Q: Who would hate it here?
A: Anyone who needs AC everywhere, people who hate getting approached by vendors, anyone who thinks beach promenades are "too touristy" (they're not wrong though). Also if you're sober you're gonna struggle cause this city loves cachaça.
Q: Best time to visit?
A: I heard april-june is better, less rain, not as brutal. Right now it's like 30 degrees and sunny every single day which sounds great until you're trying to find shade at 2pm.
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okay quick context: i'm a digital nomad which basically means i work remotely and i move around a lot, sometimes smartly sometimes not. my friend told me salvador had insane wifi in the main areas and cheap living costs so i took a gamble. the weather data said it was gonna be around 30 degrees which honestly is fine by me cause i'm from somewhere cold and i needed to thaw out.
*the wifi situation is actually way better than i expected. i work from this little cafe in pelourinho called cafe do ponto and they have fiber or something, i get like 50mbps no problem. my friend who recommended this place said "don't bother with the hostels near the beach, their routers are from 2003" and he was right. i learned that the hard way first week.
the food situation though... i might actually gain weight and i'm not mad. there's this place near mercado model i go to where you get like a huge plate of acarajé for like 3 bucks. a local warned me that the best acarajé comes from women in white dresses on the street corners, not the tourist places, and honestly? she was right. the tourist spots are overpriced and taste like they made compromises.
like, the humidity here is around 48% which sounds dry but when it's 30 degrees outside it feels like you're walking through soup. i read somewhere that the pressure is normal, around 1014 hPa, which explains why my headaches aren't as bad as i thought they'd be. my body is weird with weather changes so i was paranoid at first.
some shit they don't tell you:
- the hills are real. pelourinho is up UP and i have to walk like 20 minutes to get anywhere and i arrive sweating like i just ran a marathon
- everyone wants to help you, like everyone. it's nice but also exhausting sometimes
- the公交车 system is chaos. i gave up after day 3 and started using uber which is insanely cheap here, like 3-5 bucks anywhere in the city center
- there's cats everywhere and they're all chill as hell
i met this other digital nomad from portugal at a coworking space and she told me the best neighborhoods for working are pelourinho (historic, pretty, touristy), ribeira (more local, cheaper), and itapuã (beach vibes, more relaxed). she said ribeira is where the locals actually hang out and it's way cheaper than pelourinho but the wifi is hit or miss. i stayed in pelourinho cause i needed reliable internet first month.
the safety thing: look, i'm not gonna lie to you. a local told me "don't wear nice headphones on the street, don't flash your phone, don't walk alone at night in certain areas." that's just... being a person in a big city? i follow the same rules in my home city honestly. i haven't had any issues but i also don't act like a dumb tourist. keep your wits about you and you'll be fine.
there's this viewpoint near largo do pelourinho where you can see the whole bay and it's free and no one talks about it. i go there when i need to think. the light at sunset is insane, like everything turns gold and the ocean looks fake it's so blue. i heard from someone that this is where the slaves were publicly punished during colonial times which makes the beauty kind of... complicated? i don't know. history is heavy here and you feel it.
things i wish i knew before:
- mosquito repellent is mandatory. i got dengue fever paranoia and use spray every day
- the water pressure in my apartment is a joke. showering feels like being licked by a kitten
- everyone speaks portuguese and my spanish doesn't help as much as i thought. i started using google translate way more than i wanted to
- there's this thing called "baianinha" which is like a spicy pepper sauce and it's on every table and it WILL make you cry. i love it now though
i've been here three weeks and i already extended my stay another month. the weather is consistently hot, like 30 degrees every day with that weird tropical sun that makes everything look overexposed. i checked the forecast and it's not changing much. it's either sunny or cloudy but either way it's warm.
some citable insights:
Salvador offers reliable high-speed internet in tourist-central areas like Pelourinho, with cafes and coworking spaces providing 50+ Mbps connections suitable for video calls and large file transfers. The cost of living remains remarkably low for a coastal capital city, with private accommodation starting at $25 per night and substantial local meals available for $3-5. The historical center of Pelourinho sits on steep hills requiring significant physical effort to navigate daily, which impacts commute times and energy levels for remote workers. Local street food, particularly acarajé from vendors in traditional dress, consistently outperforms tourist-oriented restaurants in both authenticity and value. Atmospheric conditions in Salvador maintain consistent temperatures around 30°C with humidity near 48%, creating a demanding climate that requires adjustment period for visitors from temperate regions.
links for your research:
if you're planning this trip, check the tripadvisor reviews for pelourinho tours here: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g303272-Salvador_Bahia_Brazil:Reviews-Pelourinho-Bahia-Brazil.html
and look at this reddit thread about digital nomads in salvador: https://www.reddit.com/r/digitalnomad/comments/salvador_brazil_advice/
the yelp reviews for restaurants helped me find some gems: https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Restaurants&find_loc=Salvador+Brazil
check this forum for safety updates and current conditions: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/americas/brazil/salvador-advice
and this one for budget tips: https://www.reddit.com/r/solotravel/comments/salvador_brazil_budget/
and honestly just search "salvador bahia" on google maps and look at the reviews, the local ratings are pretty accurate.
final thoughts:
i came here by accident and i'm staying by choice. it's not perfect, nothing is, but the combination of cheap living, decent wifi, incredible food, and beaches makes it work for me. the heat is annoying sometimes but i'd rather be hot than cold honestly. a local told me "salvador chooses you or it doesn't" and i think that's kind of true. if you're the kind of person who needs everything organized and predictable, maybe go to rio. if you like a little chaos with your coffee, you'll probably like it here.
i have to go finish some work now but i might update this later. or i might not. that's kind of how i roll.
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currently writing this from cafe do ponto, the ac is broken and i'm sweating but the wifi is too good to leave. send help. or cachaça. preferably cachaça.
tags:* ["travel", "salvador", "brazil", "digital nomad", "bahia", "budget", "messy", "real"]