Salvador's bar scene is concentrated in two places. The Pelourinho fills with music in the evenings — live samba and forró spilling out of the open-fronted bars on Rua Gregório de Matos and around the Largo do Pelourinho — and works best from 7pm to midnight, after which it empties and is best avoided. Rio Vermelho takes over from there: a denser, more local crowd, with live music until well after 2am at the Largo de Santana and the surrounding side streets.
For drinks with a view, the rooftop bars in Barra and Ondina look across the Atlantic, and the bar terraces of the Mercado Modelo and Cidade Baixa look back across the bay at the Pelourinho on its bluff.