The Historic Centre of São Luís is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the best-preserved colonial urban landscapes in the Americas. Hundreds of townhouses line the steep cobbled streets of the old city, their facades covered in hand-painted ceramic tiles — azulejos — in blues, whites, and greens, depicting biblical scenes, landscapes, and geometric patterns. No two facades are quite alike.
The streets of the Praia Grande district are the heart of it: Rua Portugal, Rua da Estrela, Rua de Nazaré. Many of the buildings are in various states of repair — some immaculately restored, others leaning romantically into decay — which gives the whole neighbourhood an authenticity that tourist-polished colonial cities often lose. You can wander for hours without a specific destination and keep finding something new: a crumbling mansion, a courtyard restaurant, a reggae bar warming up in the afternoon.