Lençóis is the gateway to the Chapada Diamantina, and the best-looking town in the Bahian interior. It was founded in the 1840s diamond rush, when prospectors flooded into the sandstone mountains, and the diamonds paid for the colonial-style houses, painted in pastels along steep cobbled streets, that make up the protected town centre today.
The rush ended long ago and hiking has replaced it. Lençóis has more guides and trekking agencies per street than anywhere else in Brazil, and it is the starting point for day walks and the multi-day treks the Chapada is famous for: up to the Cachoeira da Fumaça, a waterfall that drops some three hundred and forty metres and turns to mist before it lands; along the Vale do Pati; and to the table mountain of the Morro do Pai Inácio for sunset.
Closer in, you can walk out of town along the Rio Lençóis to the Ribeirão do Meio, a natural rock slide into a pool, and the Serrano, where the river runs over flat red rock in a series of small pools and cascades.
Lençóis has a small airport with occasional flights from Salvador; most people come by bus, about seven hours. Evenings are cool, the restaurants are good, and the town is pleasant enough to keep you a day longer than you meant.