Ponta dos Ganchos Resort is located on a privately-owned peninsula that juts out from the southern Brazilian coast between picturesque fishing villages, making it one of the most exclusive beach resorts in Brazil. A single hop from São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro or Buenos Aires, this romantic hideaway has a few ultra-luxe bungalows surrounded by postcard-worthy scenery: turquoise sea, lush forest.
Ponta dos Ganchos offers a fitness centre, cinema, restaurant, bar, lounge, games room, tennis court, heated swimming pool, massage tents, SPA by Christian Dior and nature trails. Close to the resort is the best site for scuba diving in South Brazil, Arvoredo Island, in addition to excellent destinations for boat trips, such as Anhatomirim Island and the Baía dos Golfinhos.
It is located just 25 miles (40 km) from the state capital Florianópolis, and is a region immersed in history and tradition, with its small fishing villages first settled by immigrants from the Azores.
I have a friend who is on the road most of the year staying at dozens of hotels (and always paying his bills so he can express his opinions freely). He writes Brazil's best travel blog, Viaje na Viagem.
Ricardo Freire calls himself a professional tourist, and that's exactly what he is. Although he tends to focus on mainstream travel, and gives lots of advice to first-time travellers, once in a while he goes upscale. And that's what he did recently, as he chronicled his stay at the ultraposh Ponta dos Ganchos.
It was Ricardo's third stay at Ponta dos Ganchos (he was also there in 2003 and 2005). I've taken the liberty of reproducing here, in a loose translation, what he said about his latest stay. Here it goees:
"My opinion about the hotel is that it couldn't be better, but I've thought that for years. I'd seen photos of their new wing of bungalows. And I'd already stayed in one of their top-of-the-line bungalows. So I must admit that even though my bungalow was indeed wow-worthy, I sort of already expected that...
But... who says I didn't end up being surprised? It turns out that Ponta dos Ganchos invented the most elegant breakfast I've ever heard of. You wake up and your breakfast is there to remind you: yes, you are at a Relais & Châteaux. It is a small banquet of mini-dishes, listed on a nicely printed menu that changes daily.
This is what I got:
Kake, pineaple and lime shot, to start me off on a healthy note.
Followed by watermelon and 2 melons with julienned mint, paired with a juice blending tangerine, prune and strawberry.
The yogurt changes daily; mine had berries and shaved almonds.
The basket of croissants was a problem, since I knew that next up were mini-sandwiches....
… like these, filled with salmon and cucumber…
… or these mini-croques-madames, made with quail eggs...
At this point I'd been knocked out long ago (remember the croissant basket?), so I just had a taste of the following rounds: omelet and mini-donut filled with papaya cream.
Only a breakfast like this could get one out of bed early, right?
To visit Ricardo Freire's blog please click here.
Ponta dos Ganchos
Rua Eupídeo Alves do Nascimento, 104
Ganchos de Fora
Governador Celso Ramos, Santa Catarina
Tel. +55 48 32625000
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