Rio de Janeiro’s Hotel Santa Teresa features Amazonian folk sculptures alongside midcentury furniture by Brazilian modernist Sergio Rodrigues. Situated on the grounds of what was a 19th-century fazenda (plantation), the hotel now includes 44 suites decorated with such indigenous materials as coconut and banana fibers and canela wood. Take a swim in the green slate swimming pool, sample a caipirinha de maracujá (passionfruit and cachaça cocktail) on the terrace bar, and explore the hip Santa Teresa neighborhood, full of restored mansions and music-filled bars. —Vanessa Gregory

Hotel Santa Teresa, 55/(0) 21-2222-2755, from $325. Photo courtesy of Hotel Santa Teresa. This appeared in the December/January 2010 issue.