Not everyone loves their hometown the way the actor Wagner Moura does.
“Salvador is my favorite place, my favorite city. I’m happier there than anywhere else. I love it so much that I named one of my sons Salvador,” he said.
Mr. Moura, 50, rose to international fame for his portrayal of the drug kingpin Pablo Escobar in the Netflix series “Narcos” and was nominated for an Academy Award this past year for his role in “The Secret Agent.” His latest film, the Netflix thriller “The Last House,” premiered in early August.
Mr. Moura, who lives in Los Angeles, also has a residence in Salvador. He has worked all over the world, but it’s clear that he tries to spend as much time in his home country — and his hometown — as he can.
“The diversity of the city has crafted a deeply original culture,” he said. “I don’t know any place in the world where people have the self-esteem found in Salvador.”
Mr. Moura had difficulty narrowing his favorite places down to only five. Destinations like the São Joaquim Market — a daily outdoor market bursting with local spices, medicinal herbs, produce and seafood, not to mention music, crafts and local culture — remain very special to him. “Once I took Pedro Almodóvar there,” Mr. Moura said. “It was wonderful to see him marveling at the colors and the culture.”
But the magic of this city of about 2.5 million, the capital of Bahia state, extends well beyond its markets.
“The beauty of the city, the culture, the weather, the carnival, the warmth of the people, the amazing artists that come from Bahia,” he said, name-checking the writer Jorge Amado, the filmmaker Glauber Rocha and the musicians Dorival Caymmi, João Gilberto, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil. “It’s the only place in the world I truly feel at home.”
1. Porto da Barra Beach
“My favorite beach in the world,” Mr. Moura said. “The water is warm and calm.” He recommends swimming out to the fishing boats and looking back at the beach. The absence of a current makes it an ideal spot for families and young children. This beach, on a point near the entrance to the Bay of All Saints, faces west toward the bay, not the Atlantic Ocean, meaning that the golden hour there is special. In fact, he said, “people applaud the sunset at Porto.”
2. Fundação Casa de Jorge Amado
Mr. Amado, novelist, and his second wife, the writer Zélia Gatai, lived in this cerulean colonial mansion in the Rio Vermelho neighborhood. “Jorge Amado’s books defined our understanding of what Bahia is,” Mr. Moura said. He called the house “a memorial with their personal belongings, furniture and pictures of all the people that Jorge and Zélia gathered there,” such as Jean Paul Sartre and Pablo Neruda as well as ordinary residents of Salvador.
3. Concha Acústica do Teatro Castro Alves
Mr. Moura said he had seen some of the best concerts of his life at this amphitheater. “I have seen spectacles there that were so beautiful they redefined my trust in the power and importance of art,” he added. His first concert at the venue, at age 15, was the heavy-metal band Sepultura, and he has since seen it host many other musicians, including Mr. Veloso.
4. Nossa Senhora do Pilar and Santa Luzia
“Salvador has some of the most beautiful churches in Brazil. They say there’s one church for each day of the year there,” Mr. Moura said, listing several, including Igreja do Bonfim, which has a traditional party that involves the washing of the church’s stairways by followers of the Afro-Brazilian Candomblé religion. “There’s so much beauty and hope in the syncretism in Salvador, especially in these times of religious intolerance,” he said. But of the churches, his favorite is Nossa Senhora do Pilar and Santa Luzia. “I’m a devotee of Santa Luzia, a saint that protects our eyes,” he said. “Every year I go to the church to ask for her blessing.”
5. Dona Mariquita
Salvador’s great restaurants don’t get the recognition they deserve, Mr. Moura said. Places like Origem and Manga, he said, “should have Michelin stars, but the guide only sees places in Rio and São Paulo.” But to Mr. Moura, one restaurant in Salvador stands above the rest: Dona Mariquita, owned by the chef Leila Carreiro, a beloved spot specializing in home-cooked Afro-Brazilian food. It’s a place where you can have traditional Hausa rice or acarajé, a type of bean fritter, “with a cold beer during lunchtime.” Ms. Carreiro’s research on her dishes, Mr. Moura said, “isn’t like anything I’ve ever seen.”
Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for our Travel Dispatch newsletter to get expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2026.
The post Wagner Moura’s 5 Favorite Places in Salvador, Brazil appeared first on New York Times.
