Uxua Casa Hotel & Spa

At the top of the cliff above the beaches of Trancoso, a long rectangle of grass runs towards a small white church, and the low houses around it are painted in blues, pinks and ochres. This is the Quadrado, the heart of a village in southern Bahia laid out by Jesuit missionaries in the sixteenth century. Uxua Casa Hotel & Spa occupies a group of houses on the square and in the gardens behind it, restored and rebuilt by the Dutch designer Wilbert Das, who opened them to guests in 2009.

History

Das was for many years the creative director of Diesel, the Italian fashion label, before he left the business and settled in Bahia. He began by restoring houses on the Quadrado, and the project grew into a small luxury hotel in Trancoso. The name comes from the language of the Pataxó, the indigenous people of this coast, and means marvellous. Trancoso had been a quiet fishing village, reached by sand track, until travellers began to arrive in the 1970s, and by the time Uxua opened, the Quadrado had become one of the most sought-after addresses on the Brazilian coast.

Architecture and design

Each casa is different. Das worked with craftsmen from Trancoso and the surrounding villages, using reclaimed wood from old fishing boats and demolished houses, local clay and plaster, and furniture made by hand, so that the houses look as if they have stood on the square for generations. One casa is a treehouse raised among the branches of a large tree; others are former fishermen's and workers' cottages on the Quadrado itself. Fabrics and objects come largely from Bahian makers, and the colours of the façades follow the village's own.

The pool is the hotel's most photographed corner. It is lined with green aventurine, a quartz found in Brazil, which gives the water a soft green glow in the sun. Around it the garden is planted with the trees and shrubs of the Atlantic forest.

Rooms and suites

The casas vary in size, from one bedroom to several, each with its own sitting space and terrace or garden. They are spread across the property rather than arranged along corridors, so a stay feels closer to renting a village house than to checking in to a hotel. Several open directly onto the grass of the Quadrado, where children play football in the evening and the church bell marks the hours.

Dining

Meals are served at the hotel's restaurant and bar beside the Quadrado. Down on Praia dos Nativos, below the cliff, the hotel's beach lounge serves lunch, drinks and grilled fish under thatched shade, with loungers on the sand.

Wellness

The spa, Almescar, takes its name from an aromatic resin of the Atlantic forest and uses Brazilian ingredients in its treatments. Capoeira classes with local teachers are part of the hotel's programme, as are yoga sessions.

Weddings and events

The white church of São João Batista at the end of the Quadrado is a favoured setting for wedding ceremonies in Trancoso, and the hotel's gardens and beach lounge serve for receptions. The casas can be taken together for a private group.

Location

Trancoso lies on the coast south of Porto Seguro, whose airport has flights from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The usual route crosses the Buranhém river by ferry to Arraial d'Ajuda and continues south by road, about an hour in all. The village also has a small airstrip for private aircraft. The beaches below the Quadrado are reached by footpaths down the cliff, and they run for kilometres, backed by cliffs of red and ochre clay. Further south lie the Praia do Espelho and, inland, Monte Pascoal, the peak that Pedro Álvares Cabral's fleet sighted in 1500 when the Portuguese first reached Brazil. The forests of this coast belong to the Discovery Coast Atlantic Forest Reserves, listed by UNESCO in 1999. The busiest weeks are around New Year and Carnival, when the Quadrado fills late into the night.