Rio: Hotel Guides

A former coffee plantation turned 43-room tropical design hotel set serenely in the bohemian hills of Santa Teresa, Hotel Santa Teresa is a rare oasis of style and relaxation, with a beautiful haven of a spa that feels a world away from Rio’s colourful chaos. Many of the extensive range of treatments are inspired by the Amazon’s healing properties, from Xingu massages to Amazonian oil baths evolved using potent native ingredients. Post therapy, soak up the views over Rio from the lovely, hibiscus-framed pool or head for a fresh juice at the atmospheric Bar dos Descasados, where crimson daybeds overlook Santa Teresa’s honey-coloured rooftops. Thanks to its authentically Brazilian design, great service and destination restaurant, Hotel Santa Teresa is considered to be one of the city’s leading hotels, as suited to couples and families as it is to business travellers.

Rua Almirante Alexandrino, 660 Santa Teresa

Away from the hustle and hum of boisterous Copacabana Beach, the Windsor Miramar is a romantic yet understated oasis of style and calm. From the minute you cross the threshold, allow the attentive staff to satisfy your every desire. The focus here is on service, with extra touches including a butler on every floor and a premium beach service with your own personal lounger and beach boys delivering fresh tropical fruit on the house. Perched high on the 16th floor with poolside bar and steam room, the infinity pool blends in with the electric beach vibe while affording the luxury and privacy associated with a romantic retreat. While there are 200 stylish suites to choose from, don’t miss out on the Master Suíte for a decadently romantic stay. Classic yet contemporary thanks to design by architect Paola Ribeiro and art by artist Anamélia Moraes, it’s the ocean views that steal the show, perfectly positioned to gaze out into while snuggled up in the king-size bed.

Avenida Atlântica, 3668 Copacabana

The grand dame of Rio’s hotel scene, this Belle Époque beauty has been a city icon since it first opened in 1923 along Copacabana Beach. While traditionally beloved for encapsulating old-world glamour, stellar service and spacious rooms, in recent years, it’s evolved into something of a foodie mecca, its three restaurants drawing a diverse crowd. To catch Rio’s bright young things, a specialist sake menu and fantastic cocktails, head to Michelin-starred pan-Asian restaurant MEE, whilst across the Olympic sized pool, genteel types dine on refined Italian at the Cipriani restaurant. Both restaurants offer Chef’s Tables for die-hard gourmands to watch the masters at work. If an extravagant buffet, unlimited bubbles and great people watching are more your thing, book in for Sundays at pool-side brasserie Pérgola, arguably the best brunch option in town.

Avenida Atlântica, 1702 Copacabana

Set along the coastal road that leads to São Conrado from the chic beach of Leblon, what the Sheraton enjoys in spades is space. A playground for all the ages, count the three swimming pools, two tennis courts, a children’s playground and access to a little semi-private beach in front of the hotel and there may be more leisure options than you know what to do with. Rooms are contemporary, tasteful and well-suited to families, ranging from suites with mini-kitchens to spacious duplex apartments with fabulous sea-views and overhanging palms. As to be expected with Sheraton Hotels, service is superbly efficient and ever smiling, more than making up for the lingering lack of cool that can come with being a chain hotel.

Avenida Niemeyer, 121 Leblon

This five-star Rio hotel is understandably popular with business visitors. As well as enjoying a prime location on the Copacabana beachfront, it has the flexibility to host a variety of conferences and events, with 13 meeting rooms that can accommodate anything from an intimate session for eight to a social event for up to 250 people. There’s an experienced team on hand to provide back-up business services, and bedrooms come with coffee machines, efficient soundproofing and 24-hour room service, plus executive lounge access if you upgrade. It’s not all work and no play, either: when it comes to downtown you can swim in the outdoor pool, book in for a treatment in the spa or head to the Moonlounge Rooftop Bar, to enjoy a few caipirinhas and freshly made street food as you soak up the views across the bay.

Avenida Atlantica, 2600, Copacabana

Thanks to its A-list clients, fabulous rooftop infinity pool and stand-out design, 89-room Fasano has been the city’s chicest hotel since it opened in 2005. Designed by Philippe Starck in homage to Rio’s bossa nova scene, his signature flamboyance plays out across a patchwork of sumptuous materials, from a Chinese golden onyx pool bar to a reception counter crafted from an eight-ton fallen Pequia tree. It’s all balanced by undertones of old-world Italian style brought in by the hotel’s owner Rogerio Fasano, combining butter-soft leather armchairs and red-bricked walls in sultry cocktail den Baretto-Londra with collector’s pieces from design greats such as Sérgio Rodrigues, Voltaire and Gaetano Pesce. It’s a hotel that oozes style: staff flit around in vintage uniforms designed by Ocimar Versolato, while up on the roof, beauties pose by the infinity pool and there’s always a magnetic ‘who’s who’ vibe come sunset drinks. It’s worth the extra investment for an ocean-front suite so you can watch Ipanema Beach frolic from your balcony.

Avenida Vieira Souto, 80 Ipanema

Brazilian modernism meets contemporary cool at the beachfront Emiliano Rio. White shutters perforated with curvy lozenge shapes give the hotel a distinctive façade and natural materials abound, with Brazilian woods, white Parana marble and walls of tropical plants. All 90 bedrooms are bright, spacious oases of calm above the clatter of Copacabana but to make the most of the location go for a sea-facing room, so you can draw back those shutters and gaze out at the sand curving round the bay, Copacabana Fort on one side, Sugar Loaf Mountain on the other, and the Atlantic Ocean ahead. The outlook is just as breath-taking up on the rooftop, where an infinity pool runs across the front of the building, glass-walled so that even underwater nothing blocks the view. Time your stay to coincide with a full moon and you’re in for a treat: the restaurant puts on a special candlelit dinner up here, so you can watch the moonlight on the water as you eat.

Avenida Atlantica 3804, Copacabana