The Best Places in Brazil

Getting here requires a boat, which is either a selling point or a dealbreaker, and the outdoor wooden deck on Ilha Primeira makes a strong case for the former. This is a seafood restaurant where the chef ages some of the catch in a dedicated chamber on-site before it hits the open grill. Sunsets arrive whether you ordered them or not, and the whole unhurried setup makes the city feel considerably farther away than it is.

A glass aging chamber greets you at the entrance, which tells you everything about what kind of seafood restaurant this is. The chef is a fisherman and diver who champions whole-fish cooking and artisanal sourcing, which means the menu runs to ocean charcuterie and aged fish alongside grilled and raw preparations. The Leblon space is airy and modern, a step up in polish from the original island location.

The calling card is dry-aged Wagyu and Vaca Velha rested to the chef's specification, which tells you where this meat-forward restaurant's priorities lie. Renzo Garibaldi built his name in Peru as a butcher's butcher before opening this São Paulo outpost, and the sourcing from sustainable producers is the whole argument. Ribeye, picanha, short ribs, and aged Angus share the menu with ceviche and Josper-grilled fish, so non-carnivores won't suffer. The wine list is long and the room is polished.

Glowing Italian script on the wall asks "if not now, when?" and it's a fair point at this upscale Italian restaurant inside the JK Iguatemi complex. Dayse Paparoto, who won the first season of Brazil's Professional MasterChef, runs a menu of fresh pastas and risottos, but desserts are where things get theatrical, the tiramisu arriving with a candy floss tree that nobody in the room sees coming.

Every plate leaves the kitchen with exactly three peas on it, a house quirk that's been the owner's signature since the start. Piselli is a polished Piedmont Italian restaurant in Jardins, the kind where the pasta is made in-house and the menu leans into the northern Italian canon without apology. Warm burrata baked into focaccia with truffle and a classic ossobuco with saffron rice anchor a menu that doesn't need to modernize itself to hold attention.

The scent of the parrilla hits before you've found your table, which is the point. Pobre Juan is an Argentine steakhouse mini-chain that takes its meat sourcing and ageing seriously, delivering premium cuts alongside Amazonian pirarucu and prawns in a room of warm wood and low light. The churros with dulce de leche close things out in a way that makes skipping dessert feel inadvisable.

A glass-enclosed wine cellar anchors the dining room at this polished Portuguese restaurant near Jardim Botânico, where Azorean cooking sets the tone. Salt cod appears in several forms, and the Alcatra, beef slow-cooked for hours in a clay pot, represents the archipelago's heartier side. Tables spill into an outdoor area when the weather cooperates, which in Rio is most of the time.

A glass window cut into the dining room wall puts the churrasco grill on full display, which tells you everything about the priorities here. This is a serious Brazilian steakhouse inside the Jockey Club Brasileiro, and the terrace frames the racetrack with Christ the Redeemer hovering in the distance, a view that makes it almost impossible to focus on the menu. More than ten cuts of beef, with the kitchen managing its own production from the source.

A contemporary bistro in Ipanema where the chef describes his cooking as "emotional and creative," which could sound like marketing speak until the food arrives piled with color, texture, and a genuine generosity of spirit. The à la carte leans hard into local ingredients, the hospitality keeps pace with the kitchen, and the room splits into different moods across two floors, private room included.

An Argentinian parrilla that crossed the Rio Plata and kept going until it hit Leblon. The open grill is the centerpiece, turning out cuts like Tomahawk and Angus skirt steak while the room channels the unhurried elegance of a Buenos Aires steakhouse. An extensive list of Argentinian wines arrives to help slow things down further. Dulce de leche pancakes close the meal, because of course they do.

The skull-with-cutlery logo sets the tone before you're even through the door. This is Henrique Fogaça's place, the MasterChef judge and hardcore frontman who apparently also runs a serious contemporary Brazilian restaurant in Jardins. Industrial decor, à la carte or tasting menus, and a kitchen that leans on native ingredients without making a lecture of it. The crowd arrives already knowing who owns it, but the food keeps them from just tweeting about it.

A neighborhood sushi spot in Paraíso where the counter omakase draws a crowd that largely grew up eating this way, which tells you something. It's a family-run Japanese restaurant, started by the father and now in the hands of his two sons, and the food stays classically Japanese without any detours into fusion territory. Pull up a counter seat and let the team decide, or take a table and order à la carte.

A glass wall between the dining room and the kitchen is doing a lot of architectural work when only ten people are watching. SIMONE is a fine-dining tasting menu spot on a quiet side street, where the chef keeps his Italian roots intact and folds them into a format that runs either five or nine courses. The room is spare and close, the kind of place where a small party feels like a private dinner that just happens to have a brigade behind it.

Four storeys of neutral tones, soft lighting, and enough plants to make you feel vaguely virtuous about dinner. This contemporary Asian restaurant in Ipanema blends Japanese and Korean cooking, and the chef's selection takes the guesswork out of a menu long enough to cause genuine indecision. The Kagoshima wagyu finished tableside on a hot stone tends to be the move everyone around you is also making.

You knock on the door to get in, which sets the tone immediately. This is chef Roberta Sudbrack's home-style Brazilian restaurant in a Jardim Botânico house, built around a wood-fired oven and an open kitchen that turns out comforting, market-driven food from small local producers. The menu shifts daily with whatever's fresh, though the chocolate cake has apparently never left, and regulars seem fine with that arrangement.

The bar counter running along the open kitchen is the seat everyone wants at this long-running Japanese restaurant in Leblon, one of Rio's most well-heeled neighborhoods. Dark wood sets the mood, the menu spans sushi and sashimi through to more inventive preparations, and the kitchen tracks new ideas without ditching the classics. Book ahead for dinner; lunch is a little more forgiving if you're the spontaneous type.

A twelve-seat counter in Leblon where the day's fish, displayed behind the chef, decides the menu. This omakase spot skips salmon entirely in favor of locally caught fish and shellfish alongside imported tuna from multiple origins, which is the chef's calling card. The São Paulo locations came first, but the Leblon outpost fits the neighborhood. Book early; the room fills fast and there is no winging it on walk-ins.

Felipe Bronze's signature is on the menu at this open-grill restaurant inside the Rosewood São Paulo, built into what was once a maternity hospital, which is either poetic or ironic depending on your mood. The cooking travels broadly across South America, leaning on live fire and sourcing that takes itself seriously. The terrace, overlooking the converted historic complex, fills with the kind of crowd that books ahead and dresses accordingly.

The dining room of the Santa Teresa MGallery hotel, perched in one of Rio's hillside neighborhoods with views that make it hard to keep the conversation going. The contemporary Brazilian menu leans on seasonal ingredients and pairings that don't announce themselves before they surprise you. The room is quiet, candlelit in spirit even at lunch, and draws the kind of couples who book ahead and dress for it.

An 18-meter ceiling panel of Brazilian landscapes sets the tone before the food arrives. Terraço NOTIÊ is a rooftop tasting-menu restaurant atop the Shopping Light building, where chef Onildo Rocha seasons each menu with research trips through a different Brazilian region, rotating with every season. Tasting menus run five, eight, or eleven courses, and the glass-fronted kitchen means you can watch the team work while you decide which length of commitment you're ready for.

The wine list runs to 300 bottles, which makes sense once you know this place started as a wine shop. It has since grown into a family-run Italian trattoria where the pasta is made fresh and the carbonara arrives properly creamy, no corners cut. The room is classic and unhurried, and the tiramisu comes out on a platter at the table, which feels like the right way to end things.

The 360-degree panorama of Parque Ibirapuera from the top floor of MAC-USP is the first thing that hits you, and the kitchen seems to know it has to earn the view. This is a full-service Brazilian restaurant that takes regional cooking seriously, rotating its focus through feijoada on Saturdays and caiçara coastal dishes on Sundays. The bar counter up front is made for a caipirinha before you find your table.

Pumpkin-shaped light fixtures hang overhead at this casual Brazilian spot a short walk from Leme beach, the quieter stretch just north of Copacabana. Chef Andressa Cabral, familiar to Brazilian TV audiences from Iron Chef Brasil, runs a kitchen rooted in tradition with strong African influences woven through. Prices are low, the atmosphere is loose, and the fried banana and salt cod cakes are the kind of thing you order again before finishing the first one.

Seven rooms in a gated residential pocket of Joatinga, one of Rio's quietest wealthy enclaves, with two pools and a private path down to a beach most visitors never find. This boutique guesthouse sits far enough from Ipanema to feel exclusive, close enough to reach it in a cab. Every room catches the Atlantic through floor-to-ceiling windows or a balcony, and the kitchen turns out serious food best eaten on the terrace while the surfers figure out the break below.

Twenty-five bungalows scattered through lush coastal landscape on Brazil's Emerald Coast, and some guests arrive by helicopter, which does set a tone. This adults-only boutique resort holds a Michelin Key and keeps its stretch of shoreline free of high-rises. Rooms come with Egyptian cotton, fireplaces, and private verandas with hammocks; upper tiers add plunge pools and his-and-hers bathrooms. The restaurant serves fresh fish and free-flowing caipirinhas, with a torch-lit private island for those who planned ahead.

Taíba draws surfers for the wind and waves, and Carmel Taíba is the resort that draws everyone else. Rooms and geometric villas pair clean architectural lines with rich natural materials, the Caudalie spa imports a distinctly French approach to pampering, and the kitchen stays local to Ceará. The Michelin Guide has awarded it one Key. An hour from Fortaleza, it sits on an Atlantic beach dramatic enough to justify the drive on its own.

Complimentary Havaianas come with the room, which tells you something about the register this resort is pitching for, even if the marble bathrooms and sweeping sea views are doing the heavy lifting. Set along the Costa Verde coast, the Fasano Angra dos Reis holds a Michelin Key and runs the full lineup: a fine-dining restaurant, a beachside spot for lighter plates, a French patisserie, spa, and boat trips. The pool and the chaise longue may outlast all of it.

Tucked between Atlantic forest and open ocean on Brazil's far northeastern coast, this Michelin Key boutique resort earns notice for bringing genuine design ambition somewhere that had none. Indigenous wood and stone outside give way to rough-hewn interiors with crisp minimalist lines inside. The spa punches above its weight, and the restaurant draws locals with regional specialties touched by Portuguese influence, so it's never purely a desert-island bubble.

Perched on a clifftop above the jungle in Itacaré's surf-town sprawl, this boutique hotel earns its Michelin Key with an infinity pool open to the Atlantic, suites built by local carpenters, and a design that somehow makes Brazilian and Scandinavian feel like the same instinct. The rooftop bar at sunset with a caipirinha is the kind of moment that makes you miss your flight on purpose. Freestanding villas add private pools and kitchens for longer stays.

Twin 18-hole golf courses, an equestrian center, and a heliport make the target demographic fairly clear at this countryside resort set on 2,500 acres about an hour inland from São Paulo. The Fasano group brings its Italian-inflected hospitality to the farmland, with Isay Weinfeld's architecture doing the heavy lifting: natural wood and stone, but polished to a degree that "rustic" would never survive. Rooms run on sunlight and warm materials rather than chandelier-and-gold opulence. It holds a Michelin Key.

A few miles down the coast from Trancoso's famous square, Fasano's beach resort sits between tropical forest and the Atlantic on a quiet stretch of sand. Isay Weinfeld's white geometric bungalows keep things minimal inside, all marble and pale wood, while hand-woven hammocks and thatched terraces nod to where you actually are. The casual beachfront bar, wooden tables set on sand beneath an almond tree, quietly upstages the main restaurant. Michelin one Key.

Wooden walkways thread through tropical gardens connecting the bungalows at this luxury boutique hotel on Pipa's main street, which somehow manages to feel secluded anyway. Two-story bungalows come with king beds, Jacuzzis, and private patios as standard; upgrade and you get hammocks and soaking tubs on a furnished terrace. An L'Occitane spa, two pools, and a beach club shuttle round things out. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key.

Bungalows on stilts in a coconut grove, each with a wraparound deck and a mosquito-netted bed the size of a small country, set between dense Atlantic rainforest and a white sand beach on the Bahia coast. This eco-conscious luxury resort holds a Michelin Key, and the design keeps its footprint quiet while the service does not. Surfing, kayaking, and trail walks are available for the motivated; sunset cocktails and fresh Bahian seafood are the more popular program.

The dough at this Neapolitan pizza spot in Porto Alegre's Bom Fim neighborhood gets more attention than most politicians: light, elastic, and charred at the edges the way it would be on Via dei Tribunali. Ciao keeps the menu focused, with appetizers and desserts alongside the pies, and a short drinks list to match. The room runs young and lively, the kind of place where a casual weeknight feels like a minor occasion.

A São Paulo-style pizzeria in Ipiranga where the dough sits somewhere between Neapolitan and something distinctly its own, with a slightly firmer structure that still blisters well. The menu is short by design, leaning on a few classics and a handful of originals. Cocktails and arancini are on offer if you want to ease in slowly. It landed at number 29 on 50 Top Pizza Latin America, which gives you a sense of how seriously the regulars take their order.

A pizzeria tucked into the noble quadrilateral of Ipanema, a short walk from Nossa Senhora da Paz square, where nearly everything on the menu, including the appetizers and desserts, orbits the wood-fired oven. The dough follows an orthodox path, but the toppings tend toward the provocative. Ranked 31st on the 50 Top Pizza World list, which gives you a sense of the company it keeps.

A pizza place in Carlos Barbosa where the dough carries AVPN certification and the menu looks squarely toward Naples, which is not a phrase you often type about Rio Grande do Sul. The crust is soft and well-aerated, served on paper over a tray for maximum informality. The wine list leans into Brazilian labels alongside Argentina and Italy. It landed at number 31 on 50 Top Pizza Latin America.

The queue outside this Neapolitan pizza spot in Santo André has become something of a local institution in its own right, still managed the old-fashioned way, which tells you plenty. Inside, the room is spacious and lively, run by a young floor team that keeps things moving without hovering. The pizza lands true to Naples, light dough, a proper puffed crust, clean flavors. It ranked 26th on 50 Top Pizza Latin America.

The dough gets the long, slow treatment here, which is why a Neapolitan pizza spot tucked into a mall in southern Brazil landed on the 50 Top Pizza Latin America list. The menu runs classic to creative, leaning on imported Italian tomatoes and cheeses alongside local ingredients. Craft beers and wines are chosen to go with the food, not just fill the drinks menu. Thursday through Saturday, arrive early or you'll be waiting.

Neapolitan pizza in Foz do Iguaçu, the tourist town most people pass through on the way to the falls. Luigia holds a spot on 50 Top Pizza Latin America, and the long-fermented dough makes a case for the detour: airy, elastic crust with that soft chew that shortcuts don't produce. Italian products and local ingredients share the menu alongside calzones, panuozzi, and a few vegan options. The crowd is a pleasing mix of locals and travelers still damp from the mist.

Checkered tablecloths, red brick walls, and a name borrowed from Fellini set the tone at this Neapolitan-style pizzeria in the wine country of Bento Gonçalves. The kitchen keeps its focus tight, letting good dough and careful sourcing do the work, mixing Italian imports with local ingredients in a way that feels less like a concept and more like common sense. It landed at number 33 on 50 Top Pizza Latin America, which tracks for a room this comfortable with itself.

A long counter lets you watch the dough get stretched and the house-made sauce go on, which is partly the point. This Santos pizzeria keeps things focused: natural-fermentation dough, thin and well aerated with a properly blistered crust, topped simply and without drama. Italian-ish background music, tables close together, staff who know the menu. Ranked 36th in 50 Top Pizza Latin America, for whatever that does to your Friday-night plans.

Tucked into the mountain village of Pedra Azul, this Neapolitan pizza spot holds AVPN certification, the stamp issued by Naples' own True Neapolitan Pizza Association, and is the first in Espírito Santo to earn it. The dough is light with a pronounced cornicione, cooked to the strict rules the certification demands. The room runs contemporary and warm, and the staff moves fast enough to handle weekend crowds that arrive, advisably, early.

Neapolitan-inspired pizza shop in Asa Sul with a bright, clean room that feels less like a parlor and more like someone tidied up the concept of pizza itself. The crust stays on the smaller side and picks up a proper char, and the menu runs from Italian classics to Brazilian riffs, including a banana pizza the staff seems very proud of. It landed at #34 on 50 Top Pizza Latin America, which is not nothing for a Brasília neighborhood spot.

A wood-fired pizza shop in Ourinhos that carries AVPN certification and lands at number 42 on 50 Top Pizza Latin America. The dough ferments long, bakes light, and comes out of the oven with that high, blistered crust that Neapolitan purists argue about endlessly. The Cosacca, a tomato, basil, and pecorino pie you rarely see outside Naples, is the kind of detail that signals someone here is paying close attention. The calzone is reportedly generous enough to settle the matter.

Sandwiched between the Atlantic and the Marapendi lagoon, this large beachfront resort in Barra da Tijuca puts a private balcony on every room, most of them with water views. The 400-plus rooms run spacious and light-filled with floor-to-ceiling windows and deep soaking tubs. Three restaurants by architect Arthur Casas anchor the property; the Brazilian one opens onto the pool, plays live Bossa Nova at night, and mixes a very persuasive caipirinha.

Five suites on a hillside above the Atlantic, about twenty miles southwest of Rio, which is close enough to escape and far enough to forget. The pared-down Brazilian interiors mix minimalism with French armchairs and the odd rustic touch, keeping things warm rather than austere. Polished hardwoods and jetted tubs fill the rooms, while the in-house restaurant bends fresh local seafood through a distinctly Gallic lens.

A pizza bar right on the beach in Vila do Abraão, where the soft dough and pronounced crust share billing with live music and a full cocktail list. The style runs contemporary Italian, from a straightforward Margherita to seafood pies to a banana dessert pizza that commits fully to the vibe of the place. It is a restaurant, a disco, and a bar all at once, which on a Brazilian island beach turns out to be a reasonable combination.

A wood-fired Neapolitan pizza joint in Vila Velha with a veranda that makes lingering feel obligatory. The dough follows Verace Pizza Napoletana rules, so the crust comes out soft, light, and slightly charred at the edges. Fresh pasta and risotto round out the menu for anyone who considers pizza merely the opening act. The wine list leans Italian and the room runs warm enough that the service matches it, which is either charming or on the nose, depending on your mood.

A small pizzeria tucked into one of São Paulo's quieter, leafier residential streets, where the dough does most of the talking. The crust is light and well-worked, thin but sturdy enough to hold its shape, and the cooking leans slightly crispier than classic Neapolitan. The ground-floor veranda draws a loyal local crowd who seem in no rush to leave, which the unhurried service encourages. Landed on the 50 Top Pizza Latin America list.

A Neapolitan pizza shop in Meireles that takes the form seriously, with a dough that's light and properly blistered without turning the crust into the whole personality. The menu runs deep, from a clean Margherita to regional Italian variations, and the drinks list earns its own attention with Italian wines and a solid beer selection. The kind of place where the pizza does exactly what it's supposed to do and nobody makes a big deal about it.

A wood-fired pizzeria tucked next to the botanical garden in Jardim Botânico, Ella is small and a little intimate, with a glowing bar at the entrance and an open kitchen where the oven does most of the talking. The tomato is the thing here, turning up on pizzas and in baked first courses served in aluminum pans that feel genuinely homey. Cocktails get the same careful attention. One useful fact: Ella is open for lunch, which the neighborhood's imperial palms make a convincing argument for.

A Neapolitan pizza spot on Avenida Atlântica that somehow resists the Copacabana circus around it. The dough follows the real elastic, blistered tradition of the school, and the seafood pasta and tiramisu suggest the kitchen has other things on its mind besides ticking boxes. In the evening, foliage and warm lighting frame a sea view that would feel theatrical if the food weren't keeping everyone's attention. Named among the 50 Top Pizza Latin America Excellent Pizzerias.

Neapolitan-style pizza certified by the AVPN standards is the anchor at this Niterói pizzeria, which means the dough follows old Neapolitan rules and takes them seriously. Toppings run from a straightforward Margherita to more vegetable-forward combinations, and the gelato or chocolate pizza with sprinkles signals that the room skews family. A wine and cocktail list rounds things out. It holds a spot on 50 Top Pizza Latin America's Excellent Pizzerias list.

Wood-fired Neapolitan-style pizza in Porto Alegre, where the founder runs the oven himself and treats dough leavening with the seriousness some people reserve for sourdough manifestos. The crust is light and airy with just enough char, and the Margherita is the kind of simple thing that takes years to get right. Service moves at its own unhurried pace, which either drives you mad or feels like the whole point, depending on your evening.

A tree grows through the center of this casual pizzeria in downtown Atibaia, which sets the mood before the food even arrives. The dough ferments for two days, producing a crust that's light, airy, and properly blistered at the edges. One pie hides a whole burrata in the middle; another pairs prosciutto crudo with arugula and a drizzle of honey. 50 Top Pizza Latin America lists it among its Excellent Pizzerias.

A short walk from the Fortaleza seafront, this Italian restaurant earns a spot on 50 Top Pizza Latin America for dough that's worked and leavened until it bakes up light enough to make you wonder why more pizza isn't this easy to eat. The room is warm and elegant without trying too hard, the pasta is made in-house, and the tiramisu is the kind that makes ordering anything else for dessert feel like a mistake.

The wood-fired oven does the talking here, a Neapolitan pizza spot in Meireles where the chef follows the AVPN's rules like scripture. The dough is soft and fragrant, the char is measured, and nothing on top fights for attention in the wrong way. The place also runs training courses for aspiring pizzaiolos, which explains why regulars tend to watch the oven as much as they eat. Featured in 50 Top Pizza Latin America.

Long-fermented dough is the whole argument at this contemporary São Paulo pizzeria, where the crust is light enough that you could probably justify a second pie. The Neapolitan shape is the starting point, but Brazilian ingredients get folded in with real restraint. The room is minimal and relaxed, natural wines round out the list, and 50 Top Pizza Latin America has taken note of what the team is doing here.

A Neapolitan pizza spot tucked inside a shopping center in Recreio dos Bandeirantes, close enough to Grumari that you could come sandy and no one would mind. The dough goes through a long fermentation and comes out light and blistered, carrying toppings that slide between Campania tradition and Brazilian combinations without making a fuss about either. The Neapolitan panini at the start are hard to pass up.

A slice shop in Toledo, Paraná, where thin-crust pies come with a lightly puffed edge and toppings that nod to the Italian regions. Pizzas and calzones run in three sizes and arrive ready for splitting across a table, which suits the patio-and-pool vibe well. The kind of neighborhood pizza spot where nobody overthinks the order. It holds a spot on 50 Top Pizza Latin America's Excellent Pizzerias list.

A neighborhood pizza shop on a square in Vila Nova, Boa Ventura has built a following on soft, generously topped pies sized for feeding a table rather than impressing a critic. The esfihas, flatbreads stuffed with meat and cheese, are worth ordering alongside. Service moves fast, the room is casual, and the whole operation leans happily into takeaway and delivery. Listed among the 50 Top Pizza Latin America Excellent Pizzerias.

The smell of the dough hits you first, which is exactly how a Neapolitan pizza place should announce itself. This is a sit-down pizzeria in Boa Viagem built around one chef's fixation on getting the crust right, neither cracker-thin nor doughy, worked the old way. Toppings run from classics to whatever local ingredients are worth showcasing. Pasta and Italian desserts round out the menu, the wine list leans Italian, and the warm lighting does its best impression of a cellar back home.

A neighborhood pizzeria in Vila Mariana that looks, without apology, like someone's grandmother's kitchen, which is entirely the point. The dough has real structure, the cheese is generous, and the tomato sauce hides just enough to make itself felt in the balance rather than the foreground. The room is small and unpretentious, the service is attentive without hovering, and the whole thing feels like São Paulo before São Paulo got so pleased with itself.

A Mooca neighborhood pizzeria that doubled its space without losing the corner-spot feeling, Seu Basilico keeps the lights warm and the pace unhurried in a way that makes you stay for one more slice. The crust is high and aerated, soft through the last bite, and the classics like margherita and anchovy are the whole point. It holds a spot on 50 Top Pizza Latin America's list of Excellent Pizzerias, which the regulars already knew.

A two-level pizzeria in Itaim Bibi that feels genuinely closer to a neighborhood spot in Naples than to the sprawling pizza palaces São Paulo usually serves up. The dough does a lot of the work here, with a crust developed enough to hold its own against the toppings rather than just prop them up. Cozy, unfussy service, and a menu worth lingering over.

The dough at this Leblon pizzeria is the argument: long-fermented, fragrant, crispy at the edge and soft at the center in the way that takes patience to pull off. Sìsì runs Italian-serious on one of Rio's most restaurant-dense streets, with a menu that goes beyond pizza into agnolotti del plin, a pasta you rarely find anywhere near this latitude. The room draws a Zona Sul crowd that dresses for dinner without trying too hard.

A Campo Belo pizzeria with three distinct spaces, from a street-side terrace up through an indoor room and a full upper floor, so it works for a casual weeknight or a proper dinner out. The dough is the thing to note: well aerated, with a crust that has real structure without going crackerlike. The Bologna pizza, with mortadella, cold stracciatella, and pistachio added post-bake, shows the kitchen has a handle on contrast.

The crust here is the tell: high, airy, and properly charred in the Neapolitan style, which is harder to pull off in São Paulo than the number of pizzerias claiming it would suggest. Sorry Mama is a neighborhood pizza spot dressed in stripped-back industrial, though the room warms up fast once it fills. Drinks are developed with APTK, leaning toward less obvious pairings. The Nutella and pistachio pizza at the end is unapologetically casual, which is kind of the whole point.

A soaring ceiling greets you before the pizza does, which sets the tone for this elegant, multi-level pizzeria in Jardins. The Brazilian-style pies are generous enough for two, and a waiter circles the room delivering one slice at a time, which turns out to be its own small ceremony. The dough leans bread-like, crispy at the edge and soft within, loaded with cheese. Ranked on the 50 Top Pizza World list.

Five rooms in a colonial residence in Salvador's historic old town, with Todos os Santos Bay visible from the roof pool and golden Buddhist wall hangings covering much of the walls, which is a combination that somehow never feels confused. It reads as a boutique bed-and-breakfast, with hot breakfast delivered to your room each morning and a lobby bar that never closes, handy for both ends of a long night out.

A clifftop boutique hotel in Rio Vermelho, the quieter alternative to Salvador's busy Pelourinho, run by three sisters with a small library of traditional cordel literature tucked inside. The twenty rooms split between a historic building and a newer wing, all hardwood floors, white Egyptian cotton, and picture windows facing the Atlantic. An infinity plunge pool sits on the roof. No guests under 12, which tells you something useful about the vibe.

Eight rooms and an infinity pool perched above a fishing village a few minutes up the coast from Paraty, with island-dotted bay views that make the bar's sunset cocktail feel almost mandatory. It's a small, quietly luxurious coastal retreat, simple enough that the jungle backdrop and the beach just down the hill do most of the decorating. Dinner is either on-site or a short hop into one of the better-preserved colonial towns on Brazil's coast.

The name answers itself on arrival: turquoise is everywhere, from the building's trim to the pool floor to, on a good day, the Atlantic sky beyond. This boutique hotel sits in a colonial Portuguese town on the Costa Verde, and it leans into the mood, rough stone walls and Brazilian hardwood in the common areas, cool whites and dark wood in the rooms. The beds and linens are the thing people remember. A garden, a bar, and a wine cellar handle the rest.

Glass and wood where everyone else goes driftwood and rattan, this boutique hotel on the northern tip of Santa Catarina Island takes its design cues from Brazilian modernism rather than the beach. Freestanding bungalows open onto private pools and sea views through sliding glass panels, the gardens were planted by landscape artist Alex Hanazak, and a terrace restaurant glows with open-air fireplaces after dark. A spa rounds it out for those who need convincing.

A deep pink facade draped in grapevines signals what Quinta das Videiras is going for: a 19th-century Portuguese manor dropped into the lagoon district of Florianópolis. This boutique hotel has sixteen rooms, no children under twelve, and a roster of suites with four-poster beds and rooftop plunge pools. Order the night before and breakfast arrives in-room on blue porcelain. Praia Mole's surf crowd is close, but this place deliberately isn't for them.

Tucked between Atlantic rainforest and the São Paulo state coastline, this 13-room boutique hotel makes a quiet case for the stretch of Brazil that gets overlooked between Rio and São Paulo city. Rooms run from garden-view with hammock to an oceanfront penthouse with a Japanese soaking tub. The L'Occitane spa and a candlelit deck for caipirinhas take care of the rest. Adults only, two-night minimum, and somehow that all sounds like a feature.

A glass tower on the Beira Mar Norte waterfront, with the bay, the mountains, and the bridge to Santa Catarina all visible from the rooms. This is a full-service hotel with the Art Deco-inflected Sofitel house style, a spa, and a restaurant and bar that lean conspicuously Parisian for a city this laid-back. The surroundings make it hard to stay focused on whatever you came here to work on, which may or may not be the point.

Every room has books on display, which is on-brand for the official hotel of Paraty's celebrated literary festival. This boutique pousada occupies a restored colonial mansion in the historic center, with a library stocked for a long weekend, a farm-to-table restaurant spilling onto a shaded terrace, and a pool for the hours between panels. Suites run spacious and colorful, with customizable minibars and thread counts worth mentioning.

Ten split-level bungalows on the Bahian coast, each one rustic on the outside and quietly contemporary within, all of it reachable only by boat or small plane. Brazilian hardwoods run alongside whirlpool baths and proper modern fixtures, and the kitchen leans on whatever the ocean just gave up, folded into Bahian flavors. Fishing, sailing, and nature walks fill the days, which is another way of saying the wilderness does the programming here.

Getting here requires some combination of Jeep, speedboat, bus, and truck, which is either an adventure or a warning, depending on your temperament. Butterfly House is a small, sustainably built pousada-style resort on Brazil's Maraú Peninsula, with eleven rooms and bungalows made from salvaged wood. The beach bar pours caipirinhas, the breakfast table groans with tropical fruit, and the nearest crowd is somewhere very far away.

The German national team bunked here during the 2014 World Cup, trained on its courts, and left with the trophy. Campo Bahia is a villa resort on the Bahian coast, sitting beside a fishing village on a genuinely beautiful beach. Up to fourteen villas sleep large groups or subdivide for smaller ones, styled simply but with local warmth. There's a spa, beachside gym, yoga, paddleboarding, and a churrasco grill for when the detox menu loses its appeal.

Mosquito nets over the beds, a pool pointed straight at the Atlantic, and no reason to put shoes on at any point. Casa Na Praia is a small boutique hotel sitting directly on Jericoacoara Beach, with a handful of suites overlooking either the sea or the surrounding dunes. The famous sunset dune is a short walk away, which means sundowner logistics are refreshingly simple.

A black-bottomed pool that mirrors the sky sits at the center of this small boutique hotel on a white-sand stretch just east of Jericoacoara, where the kitesurfers and the serious wind-chasers tend to congregate. The handful of thatched bungalows sprawl generously, some with private plunge pools, all with bathrooms designed for lingering. A kite lounge handles the gear side of things, while the beach bar handles everything else.

A whitewashed pousada perched above Búzios bay, Casas Brancas is the kind of place Brigitte Bardot theoretically blessed when she put this fishing village on the map in the '60s. The 32 rooms are cozy and Mediterranean in feel, arranged around courtyards and terraces with views over the water. There's a restaurant, a spa that punches above the hotel's intimate scale, and a terrace where a cold drink at sunset tends to make every other amenity feel optional.

Trancoso was a fishing village before the discerning Brazilians found it, and it still carries that mellow, slightly unshaven energy. This small hotel, owned by a pair of Italian expats, sits tucked beneath tall trees with even the beach a ten-minute walk off, which is sort of the point. The pool is quiet, the vibe is unhurried, and the old town square turns out to have genuinely good shops and nightspots hiding behind the bohemian front.

Coconut palms shade a semi-Olympic pool at this activity-forward resort in Fortim, a fishing village that takes kitesurfing seriously enough to be known across Ceará for it. The team organizes water skiing on the Jaguaribe River, buggy rides, and horseback riding on the nearby beach, so idle afternoons are optional. When the wind drops, a spa using Amazon-sourced ingredients and a yoga class provide the counterweight.

A hilltop boutique hotel on the Bahian coast, Hotel Maitei keeps things small, seventeen rooms, each with an ocean-view balcony, a two-person Jacuzzi, and linens that suggest someone actually thought about thread count. The beach requires a downhill walk, which turns out to be a reasonable trade when the alternative is a chaise longue by the pool with a bartender slicing limes for caipirinhas below a view of aquamarine water. No children under twelve.

Hammocks woven by local artisans hang on every private porch, which tells you most of what you need to know about the pace here. This boutique beach resort in the fishing village of Pontal de Maceió puts nothing between you and the white sand except tropical gardens and two palm-fringed pools. Bungalow rooms have native wood detailing and king beds, kitesurfing can be arranged, and the fishermen you watch from under a palapa tend to supply that evening's dinner.

A family of monkeys plays in the treetops above the white marble pool, which sets the tone for this beachside resort in Trancoso, one of Bahia's charming coastal villages. Most rooms are independent villas with wood-beamed ceilings, four-poster beds draped in mosquito netting, and hammocks on the veranda. The open-air restaurant handles breakfast, beach bar, and dinner without changing its shirt, and the private beach handles the rest.

Fourteen rooms on a hillside fifty meters above the sea, with hammocks on the deck and an agreeably unfinished beach below. This small eco-hotel sits just outside São Sebastião, a two-and-a-half-hour drive from São Paulo that the Paulistanos treat as their quiet coastal secret. The pace is resolutely unhurried: pool, hot tub, sauna, a spa by L'Occitane au Brésil, and a jungle trail for anyone who feels guilty about doing nothing.

Each of the twenty rooms at this beachfront boutique hotel in Buzios carries a quietly Brazilian theme, suggested by a hand-painted headboard or a ceramic pot rather than anything that hits you over the head. The design otherwise runs contemporary and precise, wooden sofas that look like museum pieces, recycled rubber carpets, and carefully calibrated lighting. Rio glitterati make the three-hour drive for the sea-facing pools and French-Brazilian dinners eaten, naturally, in white linen.

Wooden chalets connected by outdoor walkways cling to a hillside at the edge of the largest canyon system in South America, inside Aparados da Serra National Park. This luxury resort leans into the remoteness rather than apologizing for it, with a stone fireplace lodge, a cocktail bar, a firepit terrace, and an L'Occitane spa. Some rooms are cottages, some are actual tents, and all are considerably more comfortable than the canyon below.

A blue-tiled pool facing the ocean, hammocks strung between palms, and white sand close enough that going back to bed feels like a reasonable plan. This beachfront boutique hotel sits two hours north of Maceió in a village that feels genuinely off the map, and the whole point is to do very little about it. Suites and chalets have crisp linens, dark wood, and private patios; some add their own pools, though the sea is already right there.

Picinguaba means "fish shelter," which tells you everything about the scale of ambition here. This small pousada sits in a tiny fishing village on the Costa Verde, reachable only on foot once the road runs out. Rooms have ceiling fans and mosquito netting instead of air conditioning, no phones, no Wi-fi, and views onto the bay or garden. Evenings gather around an informal family-style dinner, which is exactly the pace the whole place is built around.

Twenty-six wooden bungalows built from locally sourced timber sit close enough to Jericoacoara's sand dunes that you'll want flip-flops before stepping outside. This remote pousada on Brazil's northern coast started as a windsurfing retreat and never really lost that easygoing spirit: thatched roofs, rough-hewn furniture, and the occasional wildflower petals on the bedside table. The bar leans into fresh fruit cocktails, the kitchen into whatever just came off the boat.

A clifftop boutique hotel in Búzios with a steep staircase down to the beach and a pool deck that makes the climb immediately forgivable. Nineteen rooms keep things intimate without going silent; the style leans antique-chic, rustic materials over designer pieces, which gives it the feel of a very tasteful friend's house. Twin pools, a sauna, a jacuzzi, and wide views of the bay are the agenda. Fashionable, slightly unhurried, adults only.

Stilted bungalows built from eucalyptus, mud brick, and straw sit directly on Jericoacoara's main beach, a remote village on Brazil's northern coast so unhurried it only got electricity a couple of decades ago. This pousada leans into that spirit: no TVs, no in-room phones, four-poster beds draped in mosquito nets, and a terrace pool that fills up fast at sunset. There's a kitesurfing school, a spa, and an open-air restaurant serving fresh fish by candlelight.

Little Buddhas turn up on every surface at this 22-room beach resort on Guajiru, a remote stretch of coastline well over two thousand kilometers from Rio. Furniture and art objects were sourced from artisans in Bali, India, and the Middle East, so the vibe lands somewhere between wonder cabinet and boutique retreat. Every room comes with a personal jacuzzi and Trussardi linens; bungalows add a private garden and, occasionally, a toucan.