As our reviewer says in the intro to our rundown on Makenna Resort in the Bahia region of Brazil, this is not your typical rustic beach hotel. While most of them—even the most expensive—are casual to the point of rustic, Makenna is unabashedly modernist, with every angle looking like it could jump off the pages of a design magazine.

Whether that’s what you want or not in a beach vacation is up to you. For some, the idea of sleeping and eating in an “art museum on the sea” will make their aesthetic senses vibrate and they’ll take great joy in the right angles and hard surfaced juxtaposed next to blue skies and palm trees. For others, it may feel a bit cold and stark for the tropics. If you’re in the latter camp, check out our other reviews of the best hotels in Brazil.

If you choose Makenna though, you can expect impeccable design where every detail is planned and meals that are some of the best (and best-presented) on the coast. Rooms are well-stocked with all the amenities and gadgets you’d get in a city hotel. Opened just over a year ago, it’s still looking very fresh and new.

For more details and photos, see our full review of Makenna Resort in Bahia, Brazil.

We’ve had our eye on Uxua in the Trancoso area of Brazil since it opened in 2009 and recently got one of our correspondents in there to check out the experience. It may be in an area once known more for backpackers and faded hippies, but since the owner is a Dutch fashion designer (the former creative director of Diesel), you can bet it’s going to go well beyond just thatch, bamboo, and bugs.

“Uxua Casa proves therapeutic for all the senses (not to mention the soul). Colors, textures, scents, and sounds all conspire to soothe. Drawing on Bahia’s wealth of organic materials and artisanal traditions, the hotel bears no traces of Das’ high fashion past. Nothing is design-y, even though everything – down to the elemental yet exquisite copper faucets and shower heads – has been artistically wrought in a manner that is both simple and striking.”

There are just 10 bungalows here, but with a prime location that really can’t be beat: the property is right on the central square but has a full-on jungle landscape. There’s a swimming pool lined with quartz crystals in the middle of it all and a beach club by the surf for chillin’ by the waves.

So while you get your luxury digs with all the gadgets, you don’t have to be reminded of where you are since you’re right in the action instead of in a secluded, hard-to-find spot in a remote area. “While many hotels succeed in helping you to escape from it all, Uxua Casa goes one essential step further by making you feel utterly at home in – and part of – your new environment.”

See our full review of Uxua Casa Hotel in Trancoso.

We’re continuing to beef up our coverage of luxury hotels in Brazil. After all, the country has the World Cup and the Olympics in their future and a booming economy that has been saying, “What world recession?” Our latest new review is Casa Brancas Boutique Hotel & Spa in Búzios.

Just two hours north of Rio, this area has long been a playground of the rich and famous, both internally and from abroad. It’s where many escape to when they leave the hustle, bustle, and crowds of Brazil’s most famous destination.

It’s a white-on-white boutique hotel of just 32 rooms, with multi-level decks and two restaurants to take advantage of the views. The food and full spa are a big draw and this is apparently a popular spot for gals’ getaways. Our reviewer may have found a key reason why:

“The owners also run the beautiful beach lounge and restaurant Rocka Fish at Praia Brava. Here, you can continue lounging on white beds while waiters dressed in skimpy shorts will bring you cocktails. Stay for lunch, and you can savor the fish they just caught this morning. Then, you can have them drive you back to Casas Brancas — also in their skimpy shorts, if you so please.”

See our detailed review of Casas Brancas Boutique Hotel in Brazil.

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If you’re headed to Brasilia, Brazil, you won’t have to think very hard about where to stay. There’s everybody else and there’s the Royal Tulip Brasilia Alvorada. Here’s what our reviewer had to say:

“As fabulously futuristic as the city’s legendary architecture, and blessed by an idyllic, if somewhat secluded, location on Lake Paranoá, the Royal Tulip Brasília Alvorada is easily the best – and some would say the only – place to stay in the nation’s capital.”

Designed by the same architect as the Sao Paulo’s Hotel Unique, this futuristic spaceship with upscale Jetsons furniture mostly does more than it needs to in a city with no real competition. Since it frequently hosts heads of state and top diplomats, there are palatial suites for those with the right budget and staffers that are well-trained in service and security.Where aspects aren’t up to where they should be—as in the spa and restaurant—improvements are on the way soon.

See our full review of Hotel Royal Tulip Alvorada Brasilia.

See more detailed reviews of luxury hotels in Brazil.

Less than an hour from the Puerto Vallarta airport is a new and unbelievable luxury resort that is sure to become a preferred new hideout for celebrities trying to escape the gossip rags – Imanta.

The more years I work as a travel writer and editor, the harder it is for me to be truly surprised by a hotel or resort. Imanta left me with my mouth agape though, mostly because it seems impossible that the place is even there. Is it really a viable business to have a seven-unit resort with rates that start at $1,000 per night, on 250 tough-to-develop jungle acres, launched during a recession?

I hope that what seems like a madman’s dream to me really catches on with the travelers who are willing and able to pay to experience this fantastic and unbelievable hideaway. Especially since the owners did it right: they made a minimal impact on the surroundings and recycled nearly all the wood and stone unearthed during the process. Imanta really looks like it belongs and it’s clear the development is bowing to nature, not making nature bow to concrete.

See more photos and our full review of Imanta Resort in Mexico.