Etnia Casa Hotel

Behind an unassuming entrance just minutes from the UNESCO-listed Quadrado, a cobbled path descends through 7,000 square metres of native Atlantic Forest where monkeys scurry between jackfruit trees and bromeliads cling to ancient trunks. This is a boutique hotel that reveals itself slowly - and rewards the patient. Architect Gabriel Garbin designed the villas to wrap around the existing trees rather than replace them (not a single one was felled during construction), and the result is a collection of individually styled hideaways that feel less like a hotel and more like the private home of someone with exquisite taste and a very good art collection. First opened on New Year's Eve 2001, it's become a firm favourite among discerning Brazilians and in-the-know travellers drawn to Bahia's most beguiling cliff-top village a place where the bohemian spirit of the 1970s still lingers in every doorway.