Termas in Salvador

[+ Axiom2001]

At this site of reviews of saunas throughout Brasil, Tri gave an extensive list of them in Bahia (if I read correctly). My question is: which two of them are worth visiting? I do plan to make hotel reservations somewhere in the Barra area.

 

I plan to be in Salvador for at least five days: Thursday through Monday. At the present time I plan to fly to Salvador sometime on a Thursday and leave sometime on Monday the 21st of October. (I will be in Brasil from October 9 until November 3 (a Sunday). ...will fly out of SP, and I'll more than likely use the suggestion of Mr. Trilingual regarding where I should spend my time before journeying homeward. I have definitely decided to use his suggested itinerary since this is my first visit. I'm excited as well as ecstatic since I've received invaluable information from men like Tri, CT..., and others.

[BillyZ]

Salvador Tips

 

I agree, I'd also love more feedback on the saunas!

 

I'll be taking my first trip to Brazil (including Salvador)

in December and here is my composite of everything I have

found on the Internet about Salvador. (I did not save the

attributions when I compiled this, so my apologies to Tri

and to anyone else whose words are quoted below without

credit.) As you can see, I only came across a couple of

specific sauna comments.

 

Cheers, Billy

 

____________________________________

 

 

HOTELS: "Salvador is spread out. Look for hotels in the neighborhoods of Barra (where the gay beach is located and fairly close in), Pituba or Ondina. Others are too far."

 

PLAY: "Mix (Rua 2 de Julho) is the current hot spot, eclipsing Holmes (Rua da Gamboa de Cima; down the underpass one block west of the Tropical Hotel), which was very popular with a bar and dance floor (no more?)."

 

SEE/DO: "Be sure to take an hour to wander the paths and gardens of the finely laid-out Unhão Sculpture Park adjacent to the Museum of Modern Art of Bahia (Avenida Contomo), located on a little promontory in the harbor."

 

Tatur Turismo Ltd. (+55-71/358-7216), a gay-owned & offers the full range of water tours, with great fishing & scuba trips off the Baia de Todos os Santos. Ask for a gay guide!

 

 

Saunas

 

Esgrima – Gay with bar — Ladeira de Santa Tereza, 02 (Centro or "Carlos Gomes") - 71 322-3813 / 321-2708

 

Thermas Campos (or Campus) – Gay with bar

Rua Dia D'Avila, 25 (Farol da Barra) - 71 235-2247

 

Thermas Persona – Gay with bar

Rua Junqueira Aires, 230 (Barris) - 71 329-1273

*** Someone wrote: "...absolutely the best in the city. Handsome, muscular guys. Clean, spacious surroundings. Others are run down and not much to offer, except for Rio."

 

Sauna Rio's – Gay with bar with escorts! – Rua Almeida Sande, 08 (Barris) - 71-328-3275 – Daily 4pm. Said to be "...new with fewer guys than Persona, but some good (legit) masseurs."

 

Scórpio Thermas – Gay with bar

Rua Augusto França, 22 (Dois de Julho) - 322-7979

 

Space New Relax – Gay with bar — Trav. Salvador Pires, 03 (Beco do Sebrae) - 329-4274 – Daily 2pm-11pm

 

Thermas Olympus – Gay with bar

Rua Tuiuti, 183 (Aflitos) - 71 329-0060

 

Thermas Phoenix – Gay with bar

Rua Prado Valadares, 16 (Nazaré) - 71 243-5495

 

 

Boates/Discotheques/Discotecas

 

Caverna —Gay bar; show; go-go boys – Fri-Dom 8pm

Rua Carlos Gomes, 616 (Centro) - 358-2410

 

Club Mix Ozone — Gay bar; show – fri-sat 11pm

Rua Augusto França, 55 (Largo 2 de julho) - 321-5373

 

Gloss Club Bar — Mixed; dance floor – wed-sat 11pm

Rua Afonso Celso, 60 (Barra) - 264.2621

 

Holmes New Look — Gay bar; show – Thu-Dom 10p Rua Nilton Prado, 24 (Gamboa de Cima) - 336-4949

 

Off Club — Gay bar; show – Thu-Sat 20pm

Rua Dias D'avila, 33 (Farol da Barra) - 267-6215

 

Queens Clube — Gay bar; show; darkroom; go-go boys.

Rua Teodoro Sampaio, 160 (Barris) - 328-6220

Cruising area: Daily 2pm-11pm; Disco: Fri-Sat 12p-6a.

 

 

Café/Restaurant

 

Atlântico Café – Gay, mixed, show — Daily from 7pm

Rua Leovigildo Filqueiras s/n - Beco dos Artistas -Lateral Teatro Castro Alves (Garcia) - 331-8255

 

Touche Creperia — Gay restaurant — Daily from 8pm

Rua Belo Horizonte, 114 (Jd. Brasil - Barra) - 9921-9084

 

 

Cinemas/Blue Movies

Cine Astor – Mixed – Rua da Ajuda (Centro) – Daily 3p

 

 

"Meeting Points" / Beaches (Praias)

 

Praia de Itapua - Loteamento Pedra do Sal...

* Barraca Aqualoca (G+ L H )

* Barraca Goa do Sal (L+ G H)

 

Praia dos Artistas (Boca do Rio)

* Barraca Aruba (G)

 

* Praia do Porto da Barra

 

* Farol da Barra

 

Gay information is available from Centro Cultura (Triângulo Rosa; Tel. 243-4903), Rua do Sodré 45, which is close to the Museu de Arte Sacra da Bahia. Publishes a $4 guide to Salvador's gay scene – Guia para Gays.

 

In Salvador, get a gay guide from Grupo Gay da Bahia. Their offices are right in the Pelourinho at the bottom of a hill, next to a theater.

 

Another edited comment:

"There are bars and saunas on Rua Carlos Gomes and in Barra. The men are nice in general, but very helpful here to speak Portuguese... A lot of Salvador men walk around in what approximated boxer shorts and flipflops— lean, muscled, and endowed." :9

[CT Dick]

I went to the Termas Rio in Salvador (Rua Almeida Sande, 8 in Barris. It is a taxi ride from the main hotel strip.) I could only make it on at Tuesday evening in their winter (July).

 

It was DEAD. I had sessions with the bar tender, the towel boy, and one escort.

 

I had no complaints about the place. It was clean and no different from the saunas in Rio de Janeiro, except that it had free booths with mattresses on the floor.

 

Dick

[trilingual]

When you get to Bahia, go to the gay information center mentioned above. Buy a copy of their gay guide (the proceeds go to support the work of one of Brazil's pioneering and most active gay organizations). While you're there, ask them if they can tell you when the best days/times of day would be to go to the Persona and Rio saunas. Salvador may be a bit like Belo Horizonte, where each place has its day and time when it's busy.

I plan to be there myself in January, for the first time in ages, so I'll report what I find then. Of course, I hope those of you who precede me will post your experiences before that time!

[Guest BicepsLover]

CT dick, thank you for relating your visit to Termas Rio. Other reports , based on personal experience, are welcome.

Tri, I will spend a few days in Salvador at the end of November (first time). I'll probably make a visit at each of the four saunas which are supposed to have "boys", namely Rio's, Persona, Olympus and Phoenix (unless I am warned to avoid one of these places).

In Rio, I've been told that Salvador is a quiet place, much more secure than Rio or Sao Paulo, with many opportunities to meet guys.

 

My only contribution to this new topic is this one : In sauna Estaçâo, in Rio, I once met a guy from Salvador, a muscle god for those who like this type of men. A very nice guy too, quite atypical : an escort, a real athlete, a porn star, and ... a buddhist ! soul and body altogther.

You can see pictures of him on http://www.marcostudio.com/ (gallery number four : Felix Bahia). He is even much sexier in reality.

He can be seen on numerous barzilian escort sites, under different names. I think it's best to get in touch with him via an escort site because Marcostudio doesn't seem to forward emails.

He has an incredible body, is a very good masseur (not limited to that), and could arouse a tombstone.

In Estaçâo, he didn't want to accept more than the usual 50 R$, but he may be more expensive if met in a hotel or at home.