Fasano Rio de Janeiro

The sequel to the wildly successful São Paulo establishment, the Fasano in Rio De Janeiro sets its sights no less high. Like its sister, it’s as dignified and serious as a cutting-edge modern-design boutique hotel can get, all supremely confident understatement — which is all the more surprising given that its designer is none other than Philippe Starck, a man who’s not widely known for understating much of anything at all.

Here, though, he’s in a very serious mode, with sexy Fifties and Sixties furniture and dark, richly figured hardwoods. It’s a high-rise, like all the classic Rio hotels, and the rooftop is home to an infinity pool, a fitness center, sauna and massage, even a coffee shop — not to mention a view over Ipanema Beach and the city’s skyline that’s nothing short of transcendent.

The restaurant at the original Fasano is one of Brazil’s finest, and again, the Rio franchise aims to be its equal. The Fasano al Mare restaurant serves upscale Italian seafood, and if that’s not your taste, the hotel’s limousines await to whisk you off to Gero, the Fasano family’s other Rio eatery — to go underfed here would require an act of willful intransigence.

How to get there: Fasano Rio de Janeiro is located 12.5km (25 min) from the Santos Dumont airport and 17.5km (40 min) from Galeao International Airport.