Sao Luis Audio Tours

Sao Luis is the only Brazilian state capital founded by the French, who landed on the island in 1612 and built Fort Saint-Louis before Portugal muscled them out three years later. What remained was a city that went on to cover itself in azulejos, the blue and white glazed tiles that Portuguese colonists used to protect their facades from the tropical humidity. Thousands of these tiled townhouses survive in the historic centre, enough to make it a UNESCO World Heritage Site and unlike anything else in South America.

The city sits on an island between two bays, close enough to the equator that the rainy season runs from January to June and the sun is a serious matter.

Sao Luis was also a major entry point for enslaved Africans, and that history lives in the Bumba Meu Boi festival each June, when the streets fill with costumed performers and drumming in one of Brazil's most distinctive folk traditions. It is a city that rewards slow attention more than a rushed itinerary.