Smith reviews: Brazilian boutique bolthole Casa 32 in Rio de Janeiro
Posted by Lucy on December 9th, 2008
Rio: what are you thinking? (as in, what does that city make you think of? Not, ‘Oi, Ferdinand, get it together’). Samba, bikinis, Carnival, baile funk, that giant statue of Christ the Redeemer… there are a lot of things that make Rio de Janeiro one of the most exciting cities in the world, and for us, one of them is the number of amazing boutique stays.
We’d already covered maxi-minimal hotel La Suite, boutique B&B La Maison and laid-back guesthouse Relais Solar on our last trips, but while our Smith spies were in Brazil recently, they checked into the latest addition to the Rio hotel collection, Casa 32.
As you know, we visit every property in our luxury hotel collection in person, as well as getting each one anonymously reviewed. To read the full review, you’ll have to check out the hotel’s second home on the Mr & Mrs Smith site, but just to get you in the mood, here’s a little peek inside Casa 32, as experienced by a real-life Smith couple…
‘Boa Noite!’ Father-and-daughter team Lucio and Johana are waving to us from the main entrance. They rush out, and smother us with hugs and kisses, as though we’re just a couple of family members who’ve been out of town for a while. Immediately, we’re plied with hand-mixed caipirinhas, prepared with local fresh limes, raw sugar and premium cachaça.
The personal touch is everywhere at Casa 32, and it’s clear our hosts have gone just that little bit further to make the hotel work. Even the façade of the house has been shipped over from Europe. As soon as we walk through the entrance, we’re struck by the smell of fresh, crisp linens, an aroma that takes me right back to a childhood where laundry was always dried in the sunlight. Our room, the Magu Leão suite, is a creative mix of 19th-century colonial and 1950s glamour, with a bold red-and-brown colour theme running throughout. Mrs Smith enters the bathroom, and I hear her squeal – part with delight at the sight of the freestanding bathtub and part in surprise at seeing a large mato gecko relaxing on the wall above it…
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