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Parks and squares of Salvador de Bahia offer many attractions and relaxation.
Green area and open places is a good alternative to explore in the city parks to enjoy environments and enjoy your leisure time, as well as enjoy contact with nature and also cultural attractions, as well as bike rides.
Parks and Squares in Salvador de Bahia
- Parque da Cidade
- Parque Costa Azul
- Parques das Esculturas
- Parque Metropolitano do Abaeté
- Parque Metropolitano Dique do Tororo
- Parque Metropolitano de Pituaçu
- Praça Castro Alves
- Praça da Sé
- Largo do Retiro
- Parque Jardim dos Namorados
- Parque de Lazer e Esporte da Boca do Rio
- Parque das Dunas
- Parque dos Ventos
- Lagoa dos Dinossauros
- Praça Cairu
- Largo do Bonfim
See also Sightseeing in Salvador
1. Parque da Cidade
Avenida Antonio Carlos Magalhães, s/n, Itaigara
Fully wooded, it offers a huge green area for leisure and sports activities. It has a track for running, walking and a children’s playground. Open daily from 6am to 8pm.
Popularly known as Parque da Cidade, Juventino Silva Park brings together items such as the Atlantic Forest, white sand dunes and leisure options spread over its 73 hectares.
It has a reception square of 20 thousand square meters, with snack bars, a place for renting leisure equipment, playgrounds and an amphitheater with capacity for 600 people.
Lawn area, trees, bike lanes, amphitheater, the City Park is great for the whole family.
Originally named Joventino Silva Park, it lies between the neighborhoods of Santa Cruz and Itaigara. The place is good for cycling, rollerblading, scooters and skateboarding, as well as for walks and outdoor picnics. There are almost 4 thousand meters of track!
Parque da Cidade is one of the only places in the capital of Bahia where you can find several species of ornamental and fruit trees, due to the transition from the Atlantic Forest to the dunes. Trees such as Oiti, Ipê and Pau-Brasil, as well as jackfruit, mango and sapodilla trees, are easily found on the grounds.
The grassy spaces are an invitation to relax and listen to the birdsong. The place is also wonderful for physical activities, such as yoga. Due to the pandemic, the space is open from Monday to Saturday, from 5am to 10pm. Admission is free!
2. Parque Costa Azul
Avenida Adelaide Fernandes da Costa, s/n, Costa Azul
It is 55 thousand m² transformed into an area dedicated to sports, culture and leisure. It has sports courts, equipment for physical exercise, playgrounds with bike racks, bike paths, jogging track, boardwalk, outdoor amphitheater with capacity for 600 people and restaurants with options of typical food, international, pasta or meat. It is open 24 hours a day.
This urban park hosts a leisure and entertainment complex, with a soccer field, bike paths, running tracks and a gastronomic village with several restaurant options. All this close to the seafront.
3. Parques das Esculturas
Avenida do Contorno, s/n, Graça.
In the area surrounding Solar do Unhão is the Parque das Esculturas, part of the Bahia Museum of Modern Art (MAM). The space is a true open-air museum and represents something like art surrounded by nature.
Built in the 17th century, the park houses in its gardens works of the most representative Bahian plastic artists. Mário Cravo, Siron Franco Carybé and other great names of Brazilian art sign the sculptures that are exposed on site.
The creations are located on a stretch of hillside, facing the sea.
The highlight is the sculpture of Antônio Conselheiro made of wood by Mário Cravo and installed in a setting reminiscent of the semi-arid hinterland.
The park’s seafront is bordered by a walkway from where you can enjoy the beautiful view of the Bay of All Saints. There is also an exhibition hall and art workshops.
4. Parque Metropolitano do Abaeté
Rua Alto do Abaeté, s/n, Itapuã
Parques e Praças de Salvador
An important ecological leisure center in Salvador. Located in Itapuã, the Abaeté Lagoon is a separate attraction, but in addition, it is a place where you can also find dunes, bars, restaurants and the Casa da Música, a place where documents that tell the history of Bahian music are gathered.
With 12 thousand square meters, it preserves native vegetation, dunes and lagoons, among them the one that gives the park its name.
It also houses the Casa da Música, a museum that preserves the history of Bahian rhythms and where the Fobica, the world’s first Electric Trio created by Dodô and Osmar, is parked.
In addition, there is a leisure area with kiosks, restaurants and live music.
5. Parque Metropolitano Dique do Tororo
Vasco da Gama Avenue, s/n
Designed by artist Tati Moreno, eight candomblé figures dance on the water mirror of the Dique do Tororó, around a fountain that gushes 40 meters high.
The dike itself was built by the Dutch in the 18th century, and hosted military maneuvers to defend against Portuguese attacks.
6. Parque Metropolitano de Pituaçu
Inaugurated in 1973, the Pituaçu Metropolitan Park is located on the seafront and is currently the largest ecological reserve in the city.
It receives between four and five thousand visitors on weekends and is one of the main places for free leisure and tourism in the capital of Bahia. There are sports courts, an 18 km bike path, a skating and skate rink, a children’s playground, a pier for pedal boats and others.
Rua Manoel Antonio Galvão, s/n, Pituaçu Sports courts, bicycle and pedal boat rental, bars, restaurants, children’s playground and sculptures by Mario Cravo are some of the attractions of this 450-hectare park.
Open to the public from Wednesday to Sunday, from 8am to 5pm.
7. Praça Castro Alves
Rua Chile, s/n, Pelourinho
A tribute to the Bahian Castro Alves, and one of the great stages of the Salvador Carnival. A sculpture of the poet, made of bronze and granite and signed by the Italian Pasquale Di Chirico, is one of the highlights of the square.
8. Praça da Sé
Praca da Sé, s/n, Pelourinho
Next to Largo Terreiro de Jesus, this square gathers a set of beautiful artistic monuments, including the Fallen Cross, a work by artist Mario Cravo that symbolizes the demolition of the church in 1933 for the implementation of the streetcar system.
9. Largo do Retiro
A new leisure area in Largo do Retiro was delivered this August. The area has a space of 5 thousand m², where a square and a multi-sports court, equipment for weight training and a children’s playground were built.
10. Parque Jardim dos Namorados
It is one of the urban parks of the capital of Bahia. It was created in the 1960s and reopened in the 1990s, in a project that includes an amphitheater, porticos, murals and sculptures by Bahian plastic artists; sports courts and gym equipment.
With 110 thousand m², the park, which is located in the Pituba neighborhood, has space for cultural events, children’s recreation, contemplation, bike path, jogging track, skating and skateboarding, restaurant, parking, as well as kiosks selling coconut and acarajé.
11. Parque de Lazer e Esporte da Boca do Rio
Located near the old Aeroclube Plaza Show, more precisely in the region where the Esporte Clube Bahia Beach Headquarters was located, the park was inaugurated last year.
It has leisure areas with kiosks, benches, children’s toys, jogging areas, in addition to the expansion of the sidewalk, implementation of a lifeguard station, restructuring of lighting and the construction of a bridge over the Rio das Pedras. The work was budgeted at more than R$ 4 million.
12. Parque das Dunas
It is a reserve of 6 million square meters that is managed by the Free University of the Dunes and Restinga of Salvador (Unidunas), near Stella Maris.
It is a place of fundamental importance for the environmental balance and maintenance of the quality of life in the capital of Bahia, containing a rich fauna and flora.
It was the first environmental conservation area in Salvador to receive a Unesco title. In it, it is possible to find several trails, where the public is accompanied by guides who, along the way, explain characteristics of the ecosystem.
In addition, it has an auditorium, classrooms, composting center, restinga garden, library, minhocário, snack bar, projection room, cultural center and recreational square.
13. Parque dos Ventos
With 85,000 square meters of oceanfront, Salvador’s Parque dos Ventos, on the edge of Boca do Rio (next to the Convention Center), appeals to everyone, including those who like sports.
There are 14 leisure options and sports spaces, including for professional athletes. The equipment and toys are designed for people of all ages.
One of the highlights of the equipment is the ten-meter-high structure for abseiling and climbing activities. The park also has a skate street track, ramps and handrails, as well as a three-kilometer bike path and a pump track – a continuous circuit cycling track with bumps, rounded dirt hills, slightly inclined curves and a place exclusively for the practice of parkour.
There is also a children’s playground with toys adapted for people with disabilities, basketball tables, a volleyball court, an area for contemplation and picnics, an amphitheater with a capacity of 100 to 150 people, four small hills connected by bridges made of laminated wood and metal structure, natural slides, kiosks, an area for rollerblading, a promenade for walking and toilets. Not to mention the large parking lot with 150 spaces, a gatehouse and a small outpatient clinic. Whew, isn’t that a great program?!
The space has a permanent presence of the Municipal Civil Guard (GCM) and 24-hour camera monitoring, as well as LED lighting. Due to the pandemic, the space is open from Monday to Saturday, from 5am to 10pm.
14. Lagoa dos Dinossauros
This tip goes especially for a walk with children or fans of the movie Jurassic Park: the Dinosaur Lagoon, in the Stiep neighborhood. The site, managed by the Municipal Secretariat for Sustainability, Innovation and Resilience (Secis), has life-size replicas of the tyrannosaurus-rex, the brachiosaurus and other specimens from Jurassic times.
The park is the result of the requalification of Lagoa dos Frades. The public will find two replicas of Tyrannosaurus Rex, each approximately five meters high and nine meters long. The others are distributed in six Velociraptor replicas, two Dilophosaurus, one Dilophosaurus Sinensis, one Brachiosaurus, one Pteranodon and one Ankylosaurus.
All emit sound with the approach of people, through a presence sensor and application.
15. Praça Cairu
Praça Visconde de Cairu, or simply Praça Cairu, is located in the Comércio region. Completely requalified by the Municipality of Salvador, the place is a kind of deck for the Bay of All Saints.
In its surroundings, there are banks, the Mercado Modelo, the Nautical Terminal of the capital of Bahia, the Lacerda Elevator and, further on, the Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição da Praia and the 2nd Naval District. The perfect place to enjoy the day, especially the late afternoon.
Recently, the surroundings also gained the Cidade da Música da Bahia museum, the most important instrument of cultural valorization of Salvador and the state.
Curated by the artist and architect Gringo Cardia and the writer and anthropologist Antonio Risério, the museum’s collection is 100% audiovisual, with more than 750 hours of content, with 260 exclusive and representative testimonials about Bahian music.
There are four floors and attractions ranging from the store, library, media library, café, to permanent exhibitions that tell the past, present and future of the sound production of the first capital of Brazil.
In other words, Praça Cairu has plenty of options to enjoy a summer day in Salvador. Our tip is to use sunscreen, hydrate yourself in one of the coconut water kiosks in the region and eat a moqueca or acarajé in one of the food points of Mercado Modelo.
It is also worth mentioning the history of Praça Visconde de Cairu – formerly spelled Cayru -, which was built between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, when the Mercado Modelo was still the customs house of the capital of Bahia and part of the Lower City had not been completely earthed.
The square is one of the main points of visit for tourists arriving from the city’s Nautical Terminal.
16. Largo do Bonfim
How about asking for a blessing from Senhor do Bonfim and then enjoying the Largo do Santuário Square?
The place, known as Baixa do Bonfim, has also been completely revitalized and expanded. There is a large grassy space, an area with sidewalks with Portuguese stones, tables with chairs, benches and there are also some bars, which work until the evening.
There is also a store to buy souvenirs of the city.
In addition to enjoying Largo do Bonfim, you can add to the day’s program to try the cassava pirão with sun-dried meat or shrimp from Estaleiro, which is at the beginning of the Ribeira waterfront, have an ice cream in Ribeira and even watch the sunset at Ponta Humaitá. All options in the Lower City.
Bahia.ws is the largest travel and tourism guide for Bahia and Salvador.
