Fera Palace Hotel

Nestled in Centro Histórico in the beating heart of Salvador de Bahia along Rue Chile, the oldest street in Brazil, Fera Palace Hotel is a beacon of Art Deco design among the timeworn fingerprints of the city’s colonial past. Add in a convenient location in the Cidade Alta (or Upper City) only blocks from Pelourinho, a UNESCO World Heritage Site famed for its candy-colored colonial buildings and magnificent churches, and Fera Palace Hotel is an ideal home base for exploring all that the first capital city of Brazil has to offer. At the end of an adventure-filled day, guests can unwind at one of the hotel’s four restaurants and bars, two of which crown Fera Palace’s stylish rooftop and boast sweeping views of the bay.

This swanky boutique hotel—the first of its kind when it opened in Bahia in 1934—is enjoying a long-awaited renaissance thanks to its multiyear restoration that began in 2015. Following its reopening in February 2017, Fera Palace Hotel is as impressive as ever, effortlessly fusing Art Deco architectural details and updated takes on mid-century modern décor with sleek, streamlined silhouettes and laidback touches that feel decidedly Brazilian. Think pastel-hued walls in the guestrooms, cerulean blue Portuguese azulejo tiles lining the rooftop pool, artwork that nods to city’s cultural diversity and the hotel’s bayside views, and a veritable jungle of tropical plants and leaf-print pillows.