Chapada Diamantina

West of Salvador, this dramatic area is charactarised by table-top mountains, huge waterfalls and mysterious caves.

Chapada Diamantina is a National Park and nature reserve, located around 5 hours from Salvador de Bahia, along a sparsely populated plain, and is one of Brazil's best-kept secrets. The park is famed for its stunning table-top mountains, which afford superb views, but there are also numerous rivers, canyons and vast hidden caves decorated by shafts of green and blue light. It is home to Brazil's second tallest waterfall, so tall in fact that the water evaporates before it reaches the floor below, and welcoming lagoons in which you can swim or even zip-wire into. The Chapada boasts an unusual and varied flora, the most striking of which is its extensive variety of wild orchids.

Excellent for trekking, nature and outdoor activities, Lencois is the small town with a few reasonable but simple hotels.