Brazil · Bahia · Salvador
Boca do Rio, Salvador — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Boca do Rio is a coastal bairro of Salvador, Bahia, named for the mouth of the Rio das Pedras and now the site of the city's convention centre.
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Where to stay in Boca do Rio
Where the beds are, and what that means for the visit.
Boca do Rio sits on the Atlantic shore between STIEP and Pituaçu, and it has changed a great deal. Luxury developments have gone up along it. The Aeroclube Plaza Show, an open-air shopping centre with its own beach access, stood here until it was demolished for the Centro de Convenções Municipal de Salvador, which is what the bairro is organised around now.
About Boca do Rio
What are the main landmarks in Boca do Rio?
The Centro de Convenções Municipal de Salvador occupies the ground where the Aeroclube Plaza Show used to stand. One of the beaches here is remembered as the Praia dos Artistas, near the square that replaced the old beach headquarters of Esporte Clube Bahia, and in the 1970s it was associated with Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Maria Bethânia, Gal Costa, and the Novos Baianos. The Rio das Pedras reaches the sea at the bairro's edge.
What is the history of Boca do Rio?
The bairro takes its name from the river. Boca do Rio means the river's mouth, and the Rio das Pedras empties into the sea here, though the water is badly polluted. Its beaches drew Bahian musicians in the 1970s, which is how one of them came to be remembered as the Praia dos Artistas long after they stopped coming.
Then the Aeroclube Plaza Show arrived, and went, cleared for the convention centre standing on the site now.
Where is Boca do Rio?
Boca do Rio lies on the Atlantic coast of Salvador between STIEP and Pituaçu, where the Rio das Pedras reaches the sea. The beach runs the length of it. That shoreline is the reason for the convention centre, the luxury building along it, and the musicians who came here half a century ago.
More areas in Salvador
Updated October 2026