Manaus is the main gateway to adventures in the Brazilian Amazon. The old historical center is a living testimony to a bygone age when the city was the focal point of a rubber boom at the end of the 19th century. This boutique-style 5-star hotel is a renovated colonial mansion dating back to the height of the boom. The hotel is ideally located in the historic center of the city, just a few steps from the Amazon Opera House and some of the best restaurants in town, making it the perfect base for exploration.
The historical building, reception area, and the hotel’s charming restaurant have been beautifully restored to portray the elegance and opulence of Manaus’ Rubber Boom. The interiors are beautiful, especially the wooden floors, symbolizing the famous ‘Meeting of the Waters’ − the two-toned confluence of two massive Amazon tributaries − a sight that can be witnessed about six miles outside of the city.
Internally, the building boasts a lush lounge and a small swimming pool to escape the heat, complete with manicured tropical landscaping. There are 30 large and sophisticated air-conditioned rooms in three categories, situated in a modern annex behind the original colonial building, and either overlooking the central swimming pool or the garden. Each room has free Wi-Fi, a private bathroom, a terrace, an international-channel TV, a desk, and a coffee machine. The hotel also boasts a small gym, a 24-hour front desk, and spacious sitting areas; a continental breakfast is served every morning.
Popular points of interest near the hotel include São Sebastião Square (site of the famous Teatro Amazonas opera house), Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição, Manaus Courthouse, Adolpho Lisboa Municipal Market, Provincial Palace, and Customs House. The nearest airport is Eduardo Gomes International Airport, 7 miles from the property.
Junior Suite at the Emiliano Hotel in Rio de Janeiro
One of the best hotels in Brazil, Hotel Emiliano in Rio de Janeiro is a vision in white, positioned at the southern tip of Copacabana beach, overlooking the historic military fort and the full stretch of the famous sands sweeping all the way to Sugarloaf Mountain. The hotel’s facade stands out among the concrete bunkers and chain hotels, which dominate the seafront. The balconies all have pierced white shutters that make up the building’s idiosyncratic Swiss-cheese façade; they can be opened and closed to control the amount of sun streaming in of a morning. Woven fabrics decorate floors and walls along with marvelously rough-hewn marble, and the overall effect combines with lots of natural timber and the restaurant’s vast, living tropical wall to provide an exceptionally relaxing space.
With only 90 rooms available, the Emiliano Rio might just be the most exclusive and intimate spot to spend the night on this side of Copacabana. The hotel’s magnificent L-shaped rooftop pool is one of the smartest places to soak up the sun in all of Rio, and the Santapele Spa on the 11th floor is considered among the city’s best. In the lounge, floor lamps, coffee tables, and moss-green furniture create the feel of an elegant living room. There is also a compact gym with widescreen views over the Atlantic Ocean.
The beach-facing bedrooms all have balconies that beautifully frame the curve of the beach below. Cream and slate interiors are aligned to draw your gaze towards the panorama. Each bedroom has an enormous bespoke bed with four pillow types, a vast sofa, and a huge bathroom with an oval freestanding tub and views back through the bedroom to the ocean.
The overall look is sleek and neutral. The soaring vertical garden wall of greenery elevates the Emilie restaurant into something spectacular, as in fact does the food itself, which comprises Brazilian ingredients.
Family-friendly, Hotel Fasano Angra dos Reis on the lush Costa Verde coastal road, delivers a true beachside escape almost equidistant from São Paulo and Rio. At this sleek, elegant property, the hotel group’s signature wooden cladding, navy accents, and classic Brazilian furniture combine to soften the strong lines of the main buildings, as do the three palm-lined swimming pools.
All rooms are large, you can choose between a view of the golf course or the more expensive sea view. All are kitted out with Wi-Fi, Nespresso coffee machines, and spacious bathrooms crafted in fine marble. All have large balconies, designed to let you enjoy a private dinner as the restaurant is closed during the week. The front-on views across the bay are divine, but the wildlife of the rear-facing apartments won’t disappoint you either. The beautiful Crudo Restaurant looks out over the harbor with a menu focusing on local seafood with an Italian twist. Facilities include a bar, steam room/hammam, pool, sauna, spa, kids’ club, tennis court, fitness center, golf course, and beach.
This tower hotel with a dash of designer style and urban luxury has rooms with extensive skyscraper views, an excellent restaurant, and one of the city’s best spas. The hotel is set on a leafy back-street in the safest district of São Paulo. Walk a block north for the bustling business boulevard of Avenida Paulista, Trianon Masp metro station, and the Museu de Arte de São Paulo, South America’s foremost art gallery. The designer shops of Jardins are two blocks south.
The hotel’s sumptuous lobby is decked out in honey-colored polished stone and punctuated with sofas. Deluxe rooms are on the lower floors and only have side windows. However, the Deluxe Plus rooms have huge windows and awesome views over the city towards the rainforest green of the Cantuaria mountains, as well as black marble bathrooms featuring separate shower cubicles, and king-sized beds dressed in Egyptian cotton. All rooms have iPod docks, Nespresso machines, comfortable armchairs, and a coffee table.
The hotel has an Anantara spa staffed by Bangkok-trained Thai masseurs. There’s a well-equipped gym, a sauna, a small swimming pool, and a pretty little garden with a tiny waterfall. Seen Restaurant on the top floor has 360-degree skyline views and serves some of the best Japanese food in the city.
Perfect for honeymooners, this romantic 18th-century townhouse turned boutique hotel is characterized by open spaces and stylish interiors with chic Italian-Bahian décor and tremendous views of Salvador’s shimmering All Saint’s Bay. The property sits in Santo Antonio, perched on a hill in the colorful, UNESCO-listed historic city center. It’s a very pretty neighborhood but it suffers from poor public transport and policing, so you’ll need to take taxis at night and stay alert.
Warm ochres and distressed woods are backdrops for tasteful Bahian paintings and folk art. There’s no pool or spa, but what the hotel lacks in facilities, it more than makes up for in atmosphere, conserving the feel and ambiance of the original colonial house. Each of the 10 rooms is different. All are fan-cooled. The best rooms overlook the bay and come with tall Roman shutter windows, rich wood floors, and writing tables. Simpler rooms have shared bathrooms, and the upper-floor attic has a small private terrace.
Furnishings and decorations are minimal – heavy ipe-wood beds draped with mosquito nets and chunky antique Bahian furniture are set against honey-colored hardwoods and colorful tiles. Everything is infused with bright, Bahian light and cooled by a sea breeze. Breakfasts are a delight, served on the open-air terrace. Dinner should be pre-booked and the menu is dominated by local Bahian dishes.
Iguazu Falls and Das Cataratas Hotel by Belmond
The Belmond Hotel das Cataratas at Iguazu Falls is most definitely one of the best places to stay in Brazil. This family-friendly 203-room hotel is surrounded by 700,000 acres of the national park, in prime position next to one of the planet’s greatest natural wonders, Iguazu Falls. It is the only hotel within the Brazilian side of the national park. You can walk from the lobby to the falls in under 30 seconds and it honestly feels like you’ve got the world’s biggest water feature in your own back garden, especially at dawn and dusk. The encompassing emerald rainforest teems with subtropical flora and fauna, including armadillos, wild dogs, and tapirs, plus more than 400 species of birds.
The hotel has an undeniable grandeur, with floral Azulejo tiles and Iberian ceramics making the place feel like a 19th-century Portuguese palace, even though it was only built 1959. Bikes can be hired to explore the park, there’s a lovely pool surrounded by palm trees, the gym is small but well equipped, and the spa offers massage with Amazonian essential oils to the sounds of tropical birdsong. There’s also a tennis court, kids’ club and a steam room/hammam.
Standard double rooms are colonial-styled, with solid dark wood headboards, polished wooden floor tiles, substantial skirting boards, and robust armchairs. Artwork showcasing Amazonian parrots and orchids adorns the walls. Bathrooms have tubs with showers and marble basins. There are 19 rooms with views of the falls but the garden view rooms are also delightful, looking out over the pool and the palms.
Ipe Restaurant serves lunches and dinners consisting of fresh salads, soups, pasta dishes, and barbecued meats. The hotel’s second restaurant, Itaipu, is a significantly more formal à la carte restaurant with a dress code, and if you’re lucky enough to secure one of the outside tables you’ll have dazzling sunset views of the falls.
This tastefully converted 17th-century Portuguese mansion mixes the warmth and welcome of a Brazilian private home with the comfort and facilities of a smart hotel. The hotel sits on a quiet street lined with historic houses overlooking the quays and the bay in the heart of the historic center of Paraty. Casa Turquesa offers understated, homely luxury, together with a range of boat and walking tours around the town that are carefully researched rather than farmed-out to a tour operator. Facilities include a plunge pool, a small bar, and manicure and massage treatments. The ground floor of the house has been opened up to an atrium garden with a lounge, bar, and breakfast area.
Color-themed rooms are bright, airy, and decorated in strong tropical tones: blue, orange, pink, or turquoise is offset by neutral whites and rich woods. Tall windows running the full length of the suites allow the soft early morning light to flood in. Bathrooms are spacious with large mirrors and powerful showers, while the king-sized beds are dressed with diaphanous drapes and top-quality linens.
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