The Cathedral of São Sebastião dominates the Praça Dom Eduardo in the historic centre, a grand neoclassical building with twin towers that is visible from most of the waterfront. Its scale reflects the ambitions of the cacao boom years, when Ilhéus was producing the majority of Brazil's cacao and its merchants were spending freely.
The interior is cool, dim, and ornate, with carved wooden pews and decorative plasterwork. The cathedral replaced an older colonial church on the same site. Worth a look inside, especially at midday when the light through the upper windows is at its best.