Ilhéus is the capital of Bahia's cacao coast — a languid, sun-baked city where the boom years of the early twentieth century left behind a scatter of Art Nouveau mansions, grand churches, and the kind of stories that made Jorge Amado one of Brazil's most celebrated writers. His novel Gabriela, Cravo e Canela is set here, and you can still visit the Bar Vesúvio and the Cabaret Bataclan that appear in its pages, both now restored as tourist landmarks in the Bloco Jorge Amado. The Casa de Jorge Amado is the former home of the novelist himself, now a museum.
The city sits where several rivers meet the Atlantic, strung along a palm-lined coast with long beaches stretching north and south. The historic centre is compact and walkable: the Igreja de São Jorge dos Ilhéus (1556), the oldest church in the region, houses a small Museum of Sacred Art, while the Cathedral of São Sebastião, built in neoclassical style, dominates the skyline. From the Outeiro de São Sebastião you get a panoramic view over the city, the river, and the coast.
Beyond the town, the surrounding countryside is still dotted with old cacao fazendas, some of which are open to visitors. The Museu do Cacau in town explains the economic history that shaped everything here. Ilhéus makes a good base for exploring the southern Bahian coast, with Itacaré an hour to the north.