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Overview
Picinguaba overlooks a peaceful bay at the heart of the Natural Park of Serra do Mar, the tropical coastal forest running between Rio and São Paulo, about half an hour's drive south of Paraty. It is the only luxury hotel in a 30km radius. It faces the sea and a 3 km-long protected sandy beach. The hotel offers 10 comfortable rooms all opening onto the natural surroundings and the sea, including a dream honeymoon suite with en-suite jacuzzi and a breathtaking view of the ocean. The local road stops at the beach and one has to walk the last 250m to the hotel, nestled in the forest.
Everything here is attuned to the spirit of the place, with nothing to disturb nature's magic: no TV or telephone in the rooms, no Internet. This place is for you to be in a different world, the only sounds are the wind in the palm trees and the sea gently lapping the shore.
We are in the heart of an exceptionally well preserved region of natural and cultural wealth, half-way between Rio and São Paulo, the two sprawling cities. It fits perfectly with what one has termed "the Brazilian imaginary": pristine beaches, traditional populations, tropical rainforest, intact historical heritage. Picinguaba is the epicentre of this diversity, which makes it the perfect base-camp to discover the region, which has so much to offer, being one of the cradles of Brazilian history, and having been cut-off and self-reliant until recent times.
Paraty, 30km north of Picinguaba, was the richest town of the country in the gold age (17th and 18th centuries). A little further south, Ubatuba was the seat of the Iperoig Peace, in the 16th century, the treaty between the Portuguese and the Indians which led to victory over the French. The town then became the hub of the coffee trade.
Later on, better access to the gold mines of Minas Gerais was gained further north, through Rio. Utabata and Paraty started a long decline which only ended a few decades ago. This was a saving grace for the architectural heritage in the whole region, which was not hit and disfigured by industrialization and urbanization.
Thanks to our team of drivers and guides, we can help you visit the region. We can even arrange for you to arrive by sea from Rio on a private sailing boat.
We can provide transport from the airport in one of our air conditioned chauffeur driven vehicles, at cost price. The route is easy and spectacular, either from Rio or from São Paulo (3 ½ hours). São Paulo offers a slightly easier access. We can also arrange transfers by small plane or helicopter (a spectacular flight from Rio)
Dining
The restaurant offers lunch and dinner, for our hotel guests only. The menu features delicious local specialties and also a fabulous sea view.
At Picinguaba eating well is part of the lifestyle; we draw from the abundance of exceptional fresh produce to offer our hosts an intense culinary experience. For breakfast, the organic eggs from the village have a rich yellow yolk, reminiscent of old days, and the coffee from the nearby valley of Parnaiba is one of the best of the world. For dinner, we serve large helpings of fresh fish and seafood from the bay along with Cunha mushrooms, gold bananas, fresh grilled palm hearts, all from the forest. Fine cuisine based on delicious naturally organic local products that we harvest or fetch ourselves, is one of the very enjoyable privileges of the Pousada. We want you to share the wonders of the ocean, the mountain and the tropical forest that are all around us.
When you get back in the evening, after a well-deserved drink, you will sit down to a choice of succulent dishes from the day’s catch or harvest, prepared by Manolo the Chef and his team of cooks, ladies from the nearby village.
Examples of exquisite dishes are our giant grouper, seafood moquecas, delicious meats from the Mato Grosso State, caicaras specialties such as shrimps with pumpkin and catupiri, seabass grilled with oranges. Dinner, served around 8. or 8.30, is one of the highlights of your day at Picinguaba. Moreover, our small size allows us to offer quality, and cater for individual needs or wishes, such as vegetarian and child menus. The menus throughout your stay will be carefully prepared so as to offer you a varied, wholesome, balanced and tasty diet.
We also have a fine selection of wines from South America carefully handpicked by Priscilla, our sommelier, so that each dish is matched with the perfect wine. We source our wines from producers from Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. The tastes and flavors of the new world will be a treat for you.
Guest reviews
Hanna and Will, Ireland, Jan 2007.
"Dear Priscila and Manolo and all at Picinguaba, thank you for being such perfect hosts over the last week. You looked after us so well. Faultless service, amazing food and fantastic caipirinhas. Our room was such a treat and the perfect way to end our honeymoon. Manu thanks again and good luck with everything in the future."
Colena and Oday, London, Jan 2007.
"Dear Priscila + Manolo and everybody at Pousada Picinguaba! Thank you for a perfect week which we didn't want to end. Your company, advice, food and Pousada have all been absolutely wonderfull. We hope to come back!"
Anne-Laure and Julien, Paris, Sept 2006
"To everyone at the Pousada, thank you for making our honeymoon so special and magical. We’ve been so happy here and enjoyed every moment of our stay: our walkings in the rainforest with Meneguetti, kayaking in the mangrove, swimming in the waves, enjoying the atmosphere of the village in the evening, enjoying Manolo’s great cooking, sharing experiences with the other guests and the staff. A very special thanks to Priscila for her kindness. You’ve been an angel and really made our stay very special!"
Press reviews
HIP Hotels
"To call this area breathtakingly beautiful does not do it justice"
"And therein lies the real appeal of Picinguaba. For those travellers who want to escape to a destination where nature is uncultivated, untamed and in large part unexplored, and which doesn't take half a work-week to get in, Picinguaba is hard, if not impossible, to beat."
Air France Madame
"On the Brazilian coast, Picinguaba offers an ideal spot for an idyllic interlude"
"... a sumptuous white building surrounded by a tropical garden overlooks the ocean. (...) It offers a seafront swimming pool, a spacious lounge, a breathtaking view... and only 10 rooms. Marvelous in their simplicity, they have no TV, no phone and no Internet access. The idea here is to relax and forget about the rest of the world - which is surprisingly easy to do in this paradisiacal setting."
Elegant Bride, Winter 2004
"A secluded resort offers a luxury honeymoon experience, distinctly out of the ordinary"
"... We spent the afternoon (...) slipping down waterfalls and jumping and splashing in cool pure water holes (...) while birds sang madly all around us. The water was so clear we could see the foliage and the sky reflected in it. Best of all, there was absolutely no one to be seen anywhere..."
ELLE - UK, 2003
"A little piece of heaven near São Paulo"
"... Next morning, the sky is blue, the sea is calm and our private schooner is waiting for us in the bay : does life get any better than this? We pack a picnic of giant mangos, fresh pineapple and grilled squid salad, and set sail. The coastline along Picinguaba is all pretty deserted : to the north are lots of little bays where we swim and snorkel..."
Rooms & Accommodation
Bedrooms
Bedrooms
The rooms are simple but comfortable, walking out onto a vast garden with the sea as a backdrop. Overgrowing luscious tropical flowers and plants form natural screens for the rooms, with humming birds as visitors.
We offer nine rooms, double or twin, some with an extra bed, and a honeymoon suite, accommodating a maximum of 24 people. Each room has a private balcony with a hammock.
The hotel decoration is sober and includes original works of Brazilian artists.
No TV, telephone or Internet here; no air-conditioning. The rooms are sober, with just a few orchids and fresh water on the table. You can get drinks around the clock from the honesty bar in the corridor. All the rooms are different but have the same standard, except the spectacular honeymoon suite with its en-suite jacuzzi and large balcony overlooking the sea.
Lounges and Common Areas
Lounges and Common Areas
Arts and crafts are everywhere in the Pousada. The interior decoration of common areas merges Portuguese colonial architecture and the primitive art of Amazonian Indians. We have an agreement with a São Paulo art gallery, so that we can show superb works in the naturalistic or naïve Brazilian style, paintings or artifacts. A visit to our private art gallery, in an adjacent building, can also be arranged. Paintings are from recognized Brazilian artists, not yet very well known on the international scene and with a lot of potential, whom we are proud to introduce. They are for sale, and other works from the same artists can be provided from São Paulo.
In the boutique, you will find more affordable beautiful original examples of craft from Minas Gerais, Xingu (Amazonia), Bahia, and from upstate São Paulo and Rio, as well as objects and jewelry made by the Picinguaba village craftsmen.
As in many colonial houses, common rooms are large. We equipped one of them as a home cinema, where you can view projected on the white wall some classics and Brazilian masterpieces. In the lounge you will find a rich multi-lingual library, with a good selection of books on Brazilian culture, as well as a selection from the country’s rich literary heritage. A piano and a guitar are on hand if any of our guests would like to play.
The drawing room is the ideal place for observing the humming-birds, or to sip an afternoon tea. At all times of day, you can taste there one of our selected Brazilian teas and coffees, prepared by our own barista, along with some nice home-made loafs or cakes.
Our Trusted Partner's Responsible and Sustainable Travel Policy
The village of Picinguaba is located in the heart of the Mata Atlantica rainforest, a unique ecosystem, part of which is listed by UNESCO as World Heritage. Its conservation is capital for the future of our planet.
In our business activities and forms of living, we make sure to promote environment-friendly ways, such as recycling, using recyclable materials, use of cultivated wood, etc. We use water sparingly; we check that the produce we buy is organically grown. The future generations must be able to enjoy the exceptional biodiversity of this region. The rooms here have no air-conditioning, television or telephone, not only because we want to keep things simple and restful, but also because we want to apply a rule of minimum impact on the environment. Our future projects are centered on education to respecting nature.
Social accountability is a reality in Picinguaba. Most of the hotel staff are locals from the village whom we train in the hotel trade. Their salary and the benefits that we provide have a marked influence on the economy of the village, particularly as job opportunities are not many in this region. The loyal members of our team not only get a salary, but also education and training, and an opportunity for personal development. We finance language classes and professional training courses in the best hotels and restaurants of São Paulo.
A fair redistribution of resources is a principle in which we believe. Although it works out more expensive, we buy most of what we need locally (fish, seafood, products etc.) and as a priority we use manpower from the village when labor or skills are needed for the upkeep of the Pousada. This brings in some extra income for the people of the village, whose economy is based on the sea. We also actively support the artistic and traditional life of Vila Picinguaba: popular festivals, arts and crafts.
A traveler today can also play his part in sustainable development. When he comes here, he meets another culture, and this encounter helps it to survive harmoniously. Pousada Picinguaba intends to take a leading role in nature conservation and social commitment, with the support of other stake holders of tourism in Brazil.
About our Trusted Partner
In Picinguaba, we have tried to create a different place, with a different approach to the luxury hotel business. A place permeated by a sense of quality, where the standard of service means not only the use of the best products available, but also that you get it with a genuine smile. A place where you feel as if you were at home or staying with friends with whom you have some common values, like the love of beautiful things, nature, a taste for good food, music, beautiful surroundings. There is a combination of ease, friendliness, open-mindedness and discretion. We have brought here the finest that Brazil has to offer, in cuisine, music, the arts, etc. A stay in Picinguaba is an experience never forgotten, interconnected with the village, offered to our guests since 2002, so that staying here is always a very special time.
Year after year and also by tradition since the 1970’s, Picinguaba has become a meeting place for like-minded people in the know. There is an interesting chemistry which brings together artists, musicians, businessmen or women who are nature lovers. All sorts of people meet here around a glass of caipirinha and find that they have mutual friends in New York, Paris or London, which is maybe less of a coincidence than it seems. The spirit of the place
Our ambition has been to create a very special environment, that has at the same time the comfort, service and quality that one would expect, but also the spirit and the simplicity of a very human place, where guests are people, not just consumers.
In hotel management more than anywhere, the business is its people, the staff who dedicates their time and mind to it, the guests who honour us with their presence and for whom the time spent here is very important: they often have stressful lives and have had a hard time getting away. Here they want to forget the everyday life, get back in touch with their self, their partner, their family; rediscover nature, open themselves to the world.
We aim to provide them with the environment for this experience, which is made easier for us by the natural beauty of the place and by the Brazilian spirit. This is our aim and our raison d’etre: the pleasure of creating, meeting people, work well-done, based on a set of values such as respecting the environment, fair trade, promoting the local community and the country’s culture, encouraging the arts, generally trying to achieve a sense of harmony.
arial view : Pousada Picinguaba at www.NatureandKind.com (THE.NATURAL.CHOICE)
arial view
pool and restaurant by night : Pousada Picinguaba at www.NatureandKind.com (THE.NATURAL.CHOICE)
pool and restaurant by night
pool : Pousada Picinguaba at www.NatureandKind.com (THE.NATURAL.CHOICE)
pool
take sea kayaks across the bay : Pousada Picinguaba at www.NatureandKind.com (THE.NATURAL.CHOICE)
take sea kayaks across the bay
sea view : Pousada Picinguaba at www.NatureandKind.com (THE.NATURAL.CHOICE)
sea view
fishing village of Picinguaba : Pousada Picinguaba at www.NatureandKind.com (THE.NATURAL.CHOICE)
fishing village of Picinguaba
Charming Paraty is 25 minutes away by car : Pousada Picinguaba at www.NatureandKind.com (THE.NATURAL.CHOICE)
Charming Paraty is 25 minutes away by car
Standard room : Pousada Picinguaba at www.NatureandKind.com (THE.NATURAL.CHOICE)
Standard room
Fazenda beach across the bay : Pousada Picinguaba at www.NatureandKind.com (THE.NATURAL.CHOICE)
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