Hotel Fasano Rio de Janeiro

We recommend the Fasano to travellers seeking European design without giving up the Brazilian beach. It is a hotel for couples in their thirties and older, lovers of mid-century furniture, Italian dinners, aperitifs at the hushed bar. Families find their place (family rooms available), yet the clientele remains predominantly adult, cosmopolitan, discreet.

The building dates from 2007, designed by architect Isay Weinfeld with interiors by Philippe Starck. Sober façade in light stone, eight storeys, contained scale (89 rooms). Hall in solid mahogany, travertine columns, buttoned leather armchairs, indirect lighting. The rooms display a revisited 1950s style: dark wood, leather headboards, lacquer desks, bathrooms in grey stone with double basins. Standard ceiling height (2,70 m), yet the floor-to-ceiling windows open the space onto the ocean.

The restaurant Gero has served the Fasano family Italian cuisine since opening: fresh pasta, risottos, grilled meats, transalpine wine list. Breakfast is taken in the dining room or in the room, complete Brazilian buffet (tropical fruits, tapioca, pão de queijo). The bar Londra, on the ground floor, offers classic cocktails and Italian bitters until midnight. Room service available 24/7, reduced menu after 23h.

The Fasano stands on Avenida Vieira Souto, Ipanema seafront, between Postos 9 and 10. Beach accessible directly, without crossing a road. Leblon ten minutes on foot to the west, Copacabana fifteen minutes by car to the east. The neighbourhood is chic residential, restaurants (Zuka, CT Boucherie) five minutes away, designer boutiques on Rua Garcia d'Ávila. Santos Dumont airport twenty minutes, Galeão forty-five minutes depending on traffic.