We spent two weeks in Itacimirim, Bahia, in December 2023 and it was exactly what I needed to end the year with a flourish. We flew from Lisbon to Salvador with TAP on November 30th and on December 14th we took a flight to Rio de Janeiro, where we stayed until the end of January.
We booked a house in a village on the beach, rented a car to go around as we pleased and had a great time with my father, my mother-in-law, my brother and my childhood friend and her family. We enjoyed the warm sea water, the pool with different heights perfect for children, the delicious food at the Prefeitinho bar and our dear Nalvinha – our maid there – the trips to Praia do Forte and the Polen Dourado Meliponário.
It was all great and I already want to go back! I'll tell you more details later.
Where we went
Itacimirim It is located on the northern coast of Salvador, between Praia do Forte and the capital of Bahia. For those who don't know, I am from Bahia and I spent a good part of my childhood going to Guarajuba – which is next to Itacimirim – with my family and I have wonderful memories of it.
That's why, whenever I can, I book trips to the region so I can build happy memories with my kids, too. That's why you've probably seen some posts here on the blog about it. Here they are, in case you want to explore a little more:
My favorite place in the world: Guarajuba (BA)
9 days in Salvador, Guarajuba and Praia do Forte
6 days in Itacimirim and Guarajuba, in Bahia
Since my childhood friend usually spends the Canadian winter in Itacimirim at her parents' house, I thought it would be best to rent a house near her so we could catch up and let our little ones play together. We went to Guarajuba just to eat at our favorite restaurant, Mayor's Bar, but we spent almost all our time in Itacimirim.
Hosting
Since we no longer have the beach house in Guarajuba, the only option was to rent one. I looked on Booking and Airbnb and the best option I found for the 14 days was this is here.
We wanted a place with a pool, 4 bedrooms, well-equipped, with air conditioning and relatively close to the natural pools. This place met all these requirements, but I only found out when we arrived that it was an apartment on the second floor, which I didn't want because Ju is still very young. The ideal for me would have been a ground floor house so the children could play freely in the condominium, but oh well... I didn't pay close attention to the photos.
Other than that, I thought everything was great. The condominium was well-kept and empty, the beach was right in front, the pool was very well designed with different heights and there was even a soccer field that Paddy was able to enjoy a bit. The beach in front had waves, but if you walked 500m to the right or left you would reach the natural pools and even restaurants.
Felipe was very attentive and we had a great stay!
Car Rental
We rented the car through RentCars in the company United and we had a very unpleasant experience as soon as we arrived from Lisbon. Our flight arrived close to midnight and we waited at the indicated point for the company's van to pick us up and take us to the company that is near the bamboo forest. We waited 40 minutes for the van and it never showed up. We ended up taking a taxi there that cost 30 reais and after confronting the team, they gave us an upgraded car.
We didn't have any problems when we returned, so I think it was really bad luck with the late arrival time, I don't know...
What we did
I'm not going to write what we did each day like I usually do. posts, because otherwise it will be very repetitive, but basically our days were combinations of going to the beach, going to the pool, having lunch, walking on the beach, resting on the couch, having lunch at home, having lunch at Prefeitinho, having lunch at The Poretton on the beach, watch TV, go to the market (Atakarejo or GBarbosa), drive with the kids to take a nap and go to Praia do Forte.
We went to the Tamar Project, which continues to be wonderful and enchanting children and adults, and this time we discovered a very special place called Golden Pollen Meliponary, which raises stingless bees. It was a delightful experience to see up close how these creatures live and produce such delicious honey. We were able to taste the honey, pollen and propolis and even see the bees flying around us, which was agonizing but very interesting. Knowing that they didn't have stingers reassured us, but they were still insects around us, right? We found the honey tasty but to our surprise it wasn't as sweet as the honey from bees with stingers and we learned something very remarkable: ALL Brazilian bees are stingless and those that do have stingers and are in Brazil are from other countries. Cool, huh?
I recommend it to everyone who is nearby!
Our photos
