Bar do Nelson is a long-running institution of the Praia Grande bar scene, a simple, no-frills place that has been pouring cold beer and playing reggae for decades. The owner knows everyone and everyone knows the owner. There's no website, no Instagram, no cocktail menu — just beer, cachaça, and the music.
This is the kind of bar that shouldn't need describing in a guidebook. It exists because the neighbourhood needs it. On weekday afternoons it's quiet; on weekend evenings it fills with regulars and anyone with the sense to follow the sound of the music down the cobblestone street. Ask any local in Praia Grande where to go for a beer and they'll point you here.