Before you start

A valid foreign licence held before arrival
CPF and CRNM
Sworn Portuguese translation of the licence
Proof of a Salvador address
A gov.br account and DETRAN-BA registration

Step-by-step

1
Count 180 days from entry, not from residence approval
CONTRAN Resolução 933/2022 allows a driver licensed abroad a maximum of 180 days driving in Brazil. The window opens when you enter, so it is often well advanced before the CRNM arrives. Driving past it is an infraction and can complicate an insurance claim.
OnlineWho: You
2
Get a sworn translation
It must come from a tradutor público juramentado registered with a Junta Comercial — check the Junta Comercial do Estado da Bahia register. A professional but unsworn translation is refused at the counter, however good it is.
In personWho: You
3
Open the process with DETRAN-BA
Start on the DETRAN-BA portal with your CPF, CRNM, translated licence and proof of address. The department then assigns you to accredited clinics rather than letting you shop freely.
OnlineWho: You
4
Sit the medical and psychological examinations
Both are compulsory for every Brazilian licence, conversions included. The psychological assessment is an hour or two of attention, reaction and personality testing at a separate accredited clinic with its own fee and its own waiting list.
In personWho: You1–3 weeks depending on the clinic
5
Learn the vale roads before you rely on instinct
Salvador's arterial roads run along the valley floors between ridges — Avenida Bonocô, Avenida ACM, the Paralela — and the neighbourhoods sit on the ridges above them. Two addresses a few hundred metres apart on a map can be separated by a cliff and a fifteen-minute drive. Judge every journey by the road network, never by the straight-line distance.
In personWho: You
6
Decide honestly whether you want a car at all
Parking in Barra, Rio Vermelho and the historic centre is scarce and expensive, traffic on the Orla is heavy, and a visible car is a consideration in a city with Brazil's highest lethal-violence rate. Many residents in the coastal corridor run on apps, the metro and the occasional rental instead — and that is a defensible choice here in a way it is not in, say, Brasília.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Foreign driving licence, original
Sworn Portuguese translation
CPF
CRNM or registration protocol
Proof of Salvador address
Medical and psychological examination results

Things most newcomers don’t know

The psychological assessment is compulsory, separate, and the reason conversions take a month.

No European or North American licensing regime has an equivalent, so nobody budgets for it. In Brazil it applies to every licence including a straight conversion of a spotless thirty-year record. It is a distinct appointment at a distinct accredited clinic with its own queue. Booking it the same week you open the process is what compresses the timeline.

Source: CONTRAN Resoluções 927/2022 and 933/2022

Straight-line distance is meaningless in Salvador and every newcomer learns it the hard way.

The city is built across ridges and valleys with a 70-metre escarpment splitting it into Cidade Alta and Cidade Baixa. Arterial roads follow the valleys; housing sits on the ridges. A flat that looks ten minutes from your office on a map can be a half-hour drive around a headland. Test the actual commute, at the actual hour, before you sign anything.

Source: Prefeitura Municipal do Salvador urban structure

Carnival closes the coastal circuits for a week and the closures are published in advance.

The Barra–Ondina and Campo Grande circuits are shut to traffic for the carnival period and buses are rerouted around them. Residents on the circuits plan around it — moving cars out, stocking up, or leaving the city entirely. Arriving in February without knowing whether your street is inside a circuit is the single most avoidable transport surprise in Salvador.

Source: Prefeitura Municipal do Salvador carnival operations

The metro's integrated bus terminals are the part that makes it worth using.

Two lines and 21 stations do not cover the coastal strip, but the system was built around integrated terminals where a bus feeds the train on a single fare. If your route works, the metro is fast, air-conditioned and cheap; if it does not, no amount of goodwill makes it work. Check your own two endpoints against the map before you factor it into a rent decision.

Source: CCR Metrô Bahia and Sefaz-BA concession documents