It’s busy with crowds nowadays, but at heart Búzios is still the small fishing village ‘discovered’ by Brigitte Bardot in the 1960s. A grid of cobbled streets, lined with little boutiques and bars, overlooks the Atlantic Ocean at the end of a peninsula fringed with golden beaches. These are now backed by condos – owned by wealthy weekenders from Rio – and a scattering of sophisticated small hotels, watching over the sea from hills and clifftops. Here are the best, all bookable with Culture Trip.
These mock-Mykonos villas are home to rooms with wonderful sea views, on a high hill above Búzios village and bay. Stays are wonderfully romantic, especially at night – the grounds by candlelight, with breezes swaying the cotton drapes around the poolside lounge-pavilions and caressing couples sitting together in the intimate restaurant-with-a-view. Rooms in Greek-island whites epitomise the Búzios brand of barefoot luxury: with arty bric-a-brac, the ocean at the foot of the bed, through floor-to-ceiling windows and hammocks on the decks outside.
It’s all about the views at the Costa do Sol, which sits at the highest point of the hill above Búzios village and the lazy half-moon bay at Praia do Canto beach. Book the Luxo or a suite – positioned for sunset over sea and mountains – seen through wall-high windows and breakfast balconies. The decor merges minimalism and beach-shack chic – exposed raw woods, giant-leaf wall art, soft cotton bedspreads. Snacks and mojitos are served at sunloungers next to a jewel-blue pool, or book the on-site restaurant for fabulous views.
With little noise but the breeze in the palms and the twitter of birds in the tree-filled tropical garden, the Bucaneiro offers serene stays a few minutes’ beach-buggy ride from the restaurants, bars and clubs in Búzios village. Rooms are simple but cozy: bright bedspreads add color to white palettes, bamboo and palm-weave art hangs on walls. There’s a decent pool with an adjacent shaded bar, serving potent, icy caipirinhas. Buffet breakfasts are huge and included in the room price.
This classy Franco-Brazilian boutique sits on a hillside with the full sweep of Ferradura beach’s wine-glass bay hovering at the end of the swimming pool and spread below balconies in the ocean-facing rooms. The vibe is Greek-island chic: whitewash and blue; surfaces scattered with modern art, buriti-weave basketry and folksy figurines. Book the Super Luxos. They’re around 30% more than standards, but with big balcony terraces lapped by lush tropical vegetation, dreamy views and Jacuzzi-baths for two, they’re worth the upgrade.
Built around one of the region’s largest hotel pools set in a lush al fresco atrium garden (with a restaurant and bar), Pedra da Laguna oozes that Buzios blend of feel good fashion and let-your-hair-down luxury. Rooms with distressed wood furnishings in light pistachio and cream are dominated by vast beds swathed in quality cottons. Vibrant folk-art and textiles lend color. Four-posters are veiled with seductive linen mosquito drapes. Some have huge Jacuzzis. There’s a spa and decent bistro food.
Sitting in the hills over Praia de Geribá beach, Aqua Barra exudes hippie-hipster ease: gardens are dotted with moss-encrusted Buddhas and mock-Marrakech fresco art, meditative music mingles with jungle scents and a breeze. There’s a bay view at every turn. At night when the cicadas and tree frogs sing, the hotel is low-lit for intimacy and al fresco bar-restaurant serves cooling caipirinhas and seafood by candle-lamp-light. With their large beds and Jacuzzis for two, rooms are made to spend time in, together.
It’s worth splashing-out on a suite at Viladeste to lie in bed or soak in a Jacuzzi in the late afternoon and watch the sun sinking. Red as a berry, it oozes over bays and mountains before the lights of Búzios village romantically twinkle-on – like fireflies under a sky of stars. Rooms are effortlessly beach-chic-intimate – in polished concrete and warm hardwoods, with distressed furnishings, fine Trousseau linens and marble-lined bathrooms. A spa (with sauna), a dreamy infinity pool and a low-lit restaurant ensure give you no reason to leave, even for the beach.
With jungle gardens and lambent lighting, La Pedrera is most beautiful after dark, when tree frogs chirrup and a gentle ocean breeze keeps things balmy. The beach, bars and dance clubs of Buzios village, are a ten-minute walk away. But the spa and restaurant-bar, and the infinity pool, where cocktails are served to loungers give you plenty of reasons to stay the whole day, before retiring to an intimate suite – in whites and warm woods with a bathroom to linger in.
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