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Bahia’s oldest fort dates to 1698 and is best known for housing South America’s oldest lighthouse, which sits perched on the southwest end of Salvador’s upscale Farol da Barra beach. Inside, the excellent nautical collection—the city’s best museum—offers fascinating exhibits on Portuguese maritime history and the slave trade. Join the locals outside on the grassy lawn, one of Brazil’s best spots to watch the sun go down.

If you are looking for tobacco, cigars, or smoking accessories, you should visit Casa Havaneza. You can find famous Cuban cigars like Cohiba and Montecristo, among others. However the shop has its own brand of cigarillos and pipe tobacco, the Havanezas. Founded by the Count of Burnay in 1864, this shop is located in the elegant neighborhood of Chiado. Even the royal family bought their cigars at Casa Havaneza.

One of Brazil’s (heck, one of the world’s!) most magnificent churches, Salvador’s church and convent of São Francisco was built between 1708 and 1723 and stands as one of the Seven Wonders of Portuguese Origin in the World. The first step inside its nave is astonishing: The interior—walls, pillars, vaults and ceilings—is awash in sculpted gilt woodwork and Baroque paintings. Guides and historians disagree on exactly how much gold is here, but suffice it to say it’s enough to elicit a stunned, mouth-agape travel moment in all who wander in.

All things Salvador begin and end with Pelourinho, the city’s UNESCO World Heritage–listed historic center, a cobblestoned corridor of pastel-colored 17th- and 18th-century colonial buildings and dignified churches awash in gold. Day or night, Pelourinho is teeming with life, from cultural centers and schools of music and dance to capoeira circles and lively bars and restaurants. The word pelourinho means pillory or whipping post (where slaves were punished). The most famous of these whipping posts was located at picturesque Largo do Pelourinho, a steeply slanted, triangle-shaped plaza that forms the heart of the neighborhood; it is Salvador’s most photographed hotspot.

Together with the Portas da Cidade (the arched gates to the city), St. Sebastian’s Mother Church is Ponta Delgada’s most iconic example of Azorean white walls with black basalt trim. Built in 1547 and refurbished through the years, it reflects the changes of styles in Portuguese church architecture. Manueline, Baroque and Gothic are its main influences, with the altar of carved and gilded wood being the center of attention.