Brazil · Bahia · Salvador
Barris, Salvador — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Barris is a bairro in the central region of Salvador on a hill above the Vale dos Barris, holding the Biblioteca Pública do Estado da Bahia.
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Where to stay in Barris
The practical side of choosing where to sleep.
Position is what recommends it. Barris sits close to the traditional centre of Salvador and near the Estação da Lapa, which generates a heavy flow of people and vehicles through the bairro. The library brings its own crowd.
Biblioteca Pública do Estado da Bahia stands here and draws students, pensioners and intellectuals who keep the local shops and services busy. Trade fills the ground floors.
Things to do in and around Salvador
Ranked by global recognition; descriptions from Wikidata (CC0).
Museums & Galleries
3- Museum of Sacred Art
- Caixa Cultural Salvador
- Museu Digital da Memória Afro-Brasileira e Africana
Churches & Religious Sites
1- Church and Convent of Our Lady of the Conception of Lapa Heritage
Castles & Historic Sites
5- Relógio de São Pedro Heritage
- Busto do alfaiate João de Deus Nascimento Heritage
- Busto do alfaiate Manoel Faustino dos Santos Lira Heritage
- Busto do soldado Lucas Dantas de Amorim Torres Heritage
- Busto do soldado Luiz Gonzaga das Virgens e Veiga Heritage
Nature & Outdoors
1- Dique do Tororó Park
Landmarks & Notable Places
2- Casa Guilherme Marback Heritage
- Casa de Oitão
worth knowingacross 5 categories in and around Salvador
About Barris
What are the main landmarks in Barris?
One institution dominates the bairro. The Biblioteca Pública do Estado da Bahia is the building Barris is known for, and the traffic through the streets follows from it and from the Estação da Lapa nearby. Buildings come from every period.
Barris holds construction from the end of the 19th century, from the 1930s and 1950s and from the present, side by side on the same streets. Some of the oldest are at risk. Several casarões stand abandoned and are threatened with collapse because their owners take no interest in them.
What is the history of Barris?
The bairro sits on a hill above its own valley. Barris stands forty metres above the Vale dos Barris that carries the same name, at ninety-seven metres of altitude, which is what set it apart from the low ground beside it. Its neighbours made it useful.
Proximity to the traditional centre of Salvador and to the Estação da Lapa is what drew the institutions and the trade that fill it. Building went on in waves. Construction from the end of the 19th century stands beside work from the 1930s and 1950s and beside recent building, which is the record of a bairro that never stopped and never rebuilt itself wholesale.
Institutions came with the people. Secondary and primary schools, trade union headquarters, professional councils, political bodies, religious and teaching centres, venues for the LGBT public and a clinic all sit in Barris now.
Where is Barris?
Barris lies in the central region of Salvador on a hill forty metres above the Vale dos Barris at ninety-seven metres of altitude, close to the traditional centre and to the Estação da Lapa.
Good for
More areas in Salvador
Updated October 2026