![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/Igreja_dos_Jesuitas_Alcantara_Maranhao.jpg/325px-Igreja_dos_Jesuitas_Alcantara_Maranhao.jpg)
Ruins of the Igreja Matriz de São Matias in Alcântara
Alcântara is a town in Maranhão, Brazil. Mostly visited on day trips from São Luís to get an even more colonial feeling.
Get in
![](https://maps.wikimedia.org/img/osm-intl,a,a,a,420x420.png?lang=en&domain=en.wikivoyage.org&title=Alcântara&groups=mask,around,buy,city,do,drink,eat,go,listing,other,see,sleep,vicinity,view,black,blue,brown,chocolate,forestgreen,gold,gray,grey,lime,magenta,maroon,mediumaquamarine,navy,red,royalblue,silver,steelblue,teal,fuchsia)
Map of Alcântara
An hour long boat ride from São Luís, two boats in the morning, returning in the afternoon.
Get around
See
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/Alcantara_Pelourinho.jpg/220px-Alcantara_Pelourinho.jpg)
The Pelourinho
- Ruins of church and other buildings.
- Museum devoted to rocket launching site located at military base near Alcântara.
- Igreja Matriz de São Matias.
- Pelourinho of Alcântara. The old slave whipping post; it's the oldest extant one in Brazil.
Do
Buy
Eat
Drink
Reportedly there is some scattered nightlife here Thursdays through Sundays, then completely dead the next three days.