Kenoa Exclusive Beach & Spa Resort

What’s unusual about Kenoa Exclusive Beach Spa & Resort isn’t simply the style of the place — it’s the conjunction of its sleek, high-design style and its location, on the far east coast of the state of Alagoas, tucked in between the forest and the Atlantic. This isn’t exactly boutique-hotel country, and Kenoa wins points for breaking new ground — and, it must be said, for providing efficient, highly trained service in a part of the country that’s not exactly full of trained hotel-industry veterans.

It bills itself as an “eco-chic” resort, which we’ll grant is true enough, even if we’re not eager to coin it as a category. The idea is easy enough to grasp — these days style and sustainability are more often complements than competing virtues. Anyway what’s chic about Kenoa is relatively low-key, its exterior making the most of indigenous wood and stone, its interiors mixing rough-hewn stone and ultra-rustic furnishings with modern fixtures and electronics and crisp minimalist lines.

The spa goes above and beyond, with the sort of high-gloss presentation you’d expect to see in a much larger luxury hotel. And it’s not all an exercise in pure desert-island seclusion — the restaurant and wine bar are something of a local attraction in their own right, serving traditional regional specialties with a touch of Portuguese influence.

Travel advisory: Passport and visa requirements differ from country to country. Please check with your local authority before booking.

How to get there: Kenoa Exclusive Beach & Spa Resort is 46 km (45-50 min) from the Zumbi dos Palmares International Airport in Maceio. Transfers can be organized by private car, mini-van or helicopter, prices vary.