Hotels

Brazil

My lists

Abracadabra Pousada

For a new spin on a classic destination it’s never a bad idea to find out where your favorite spot’s residents take themselves on holiday. In the case of Rio, that destination is Búzios, a fishing village turned beachside getaway two hours’ drive to the east, a place where rather than towering fi...

Copacabana Palace

Some of the exotic thrill about Rio de Janeiro may have worn off since its heyday—with the proliferation of budget jet travel, there’s nowhere truly exotic anymore, and major cities like Rio are near commonplace. That’s no reflection on this hotel, though: the Copacabana Palace is still...

Emiliano

We can’t possibly say enough about this hotel, except possibly that if you’re a design and architecture junkie, and you’re not left speechless, then we don’t know you. Even from the street, Emiliano is an imposing presence, a narrow glass tower, gleaming amidst the high-rises of the fashionable J...

Fasano

The sequel to the wildly successful São Paulo establishment, the Fasano in Rio De Janeiro sets its sights no less high. Like its sister, it’s as dignified and serious as a cutting-edge modern-design boutique hotel can get, all supremely confident understatement — which is all the more surprising ...

Hotel Santa Teresa

Here’s an entirely new take on the familiar city of Rio de Janeiro. The gentrifying, bohemian Santa Teresa district is an exception among Rio’s most desirable neighborhoods, in that it’s high up on the hillside rather than down along the beach. This is a district full of colonial mansions and art...

Hotel Unique

We are going to try to resist commenting on Hotel Unique's name, as it should be obvious enough from the photos that it is an appropriate one. The design is inescapable — the structure is by Niemeyer protegé Ruy Ohtake (himself one of Brazil's most famous architects) and takes the form of a half-...

La Pedrera, Hotel Boutique & Spa

Though little-known to foreigners, idyllic Buzios has long been a popular warm-weather getaway destination for well-to do Cariocas. The place still feels like something like a beach village — you won’t find deluxe resorts or high-rises here — with family-owned shops and old-fashioned pousad...

La Suite

A chip off the La Maison block, La Suite shares an owner, and a concept — a tiny and impossibly stylish luxury guest house, far enough off the main tourist drag to escape the crowds, but close enough to feel like you’re in on the action. In La Suite’s case, this means Joatinga, one of Rio’s most ...

Pestana Convento Do Carmo

The Pestana Convento do Carmo is the product of a familiar formula: a large hotel chain snaps up a small historic property, tears down the old wallpaper and knocks down a few walls, brings in the fine linens and installs a sophisticated lighting system, then reintroduces the place to the public a...

Pousada Maravilha

If there’s one magic combination of travel-industry buzzwords right now, it’s eco-luxury. All the luxe trappings without the guilt — all the small-footprint saintliness of eco-tourism without all the dust and jungle spiders. And if there’s one place that perfectly embodies the confluence between ...

Pousada Picinguaba

Picinguaba, meaning “fish shelter,” is a tiny fishing village, with a population of about five hundred, on Brazil's Costa Verde, midway between Rio and São Paulo, and close to Paraty. This tiny hotel almost stretches the definition of “off the beaten path” — Picinguaba is definitely not in the gu...

Unique Garden

What’s in a name? Well, in this case, Unique Garden pretty much covers it; the centerpiece of this country retreat, located within a state park fifty kilometers from São Paulo, is its garden — actually acre upon acre of gardens, managed by a team of agronomists and gardeners. If you’r...

Zank Boutique Hotel

Crisp all-white decor and ocean views are nothing new in the realm of beachfront boutiques. But in the Brazilian colonial capital of Salvador da Bahia, where dated luxury resorts and sandy-floored guesthouses dot the coast, the Zank Boutique Hotel amounts to a very stylish alternative. <p...