We review the top 10 best luxury hotels in South America. These include Hotel del Parque, Belmond Casa de Sierra Nevada, Belmond Copacabana Palace, Belmond Hotel Monasterio, Emiliano Sao Paulo, Four Seasons Hotel Bogota, Four Seasons Hotel Buenos Aires, Four Seasons Hotel Casa Medina Bogota, Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica, and Ritz-Carlton Santiago.
The best luxury hotels in South America include some beautiful boutique hotels such as the Hotel del Parque in Guayaquil and some equally magnificent Four Seasons branded hotels. All these hotels provide a safe and luxury haven in the lively South American cities and the countryside beyond.
1. Hotel del Parque
Hotel del Parque is Guayaquil’s first luxury boutique hotel. Staying here is like stepping back into the past, stepping into a grand, historic mansion complete with original features. Hotel del Parque is a magical time capsule hidden away from the hustle and bustle of the great Pacific port of Guayaquil. It is definitely the best luxury hotel in the city.
In the 1980s, historic buildings were moved, rebuilt, and renovated plank-by-plank on the banks of the Daule. Hotel del Parque was one of these buildings. Now, you find this elegant hotel sitting within a vast botanical garden. Inside, you will find an eclectic mix of modern and antique furniture, and beyond this graceful setting, there is a constant backdrop of tropical foliage and flowers. The effect of the green surroundings and the river beyond gives the entire hotel a peaceful and tranquil ambiance.
Sitting on the waterfront, the hotel’s restaurant, Casa Julián, specializes in the finest seafood and freshest fish and is one of the best places to eat in Guayaquil. It combines excellent food with stunning sunsets.
Spacious guestrooms and suites are thoughtfully adorned with boutique hotel touches like grand beds with premium linens, luxury amenities, and stunning marble bathrooms. Once again, the historic 19th-century setting is the highlight, with rooms featuring original detailing and high ceilings. Bathrooms have been designed using stunning white marble and are modern with huge showers and double basins.
Finally, two alfresco patios adorned with greenery offer relaxing outdoor spaces. One serves as the alfresco part of the restaurant while the other is ideal for relaxing and reading a book amongst the flowers.
2. Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica
Several Four Seasons hotels in South America are located in Bogota in Colombia, Buenos Aires in Argentina, São Paulo in Brazil, and Costa Rica in South America. In fact, Bogota is the city with the most Four Seasons hotels in South America.
If you are looking for the perfect beach and a superb pool, all framed by a backdrop of jungly mountainsides, the Four Seasons in Costa Rica is your best Four Seasons hotel choice. The resort stretches over 250 acres, with a bay on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other. This is probably the best luxury beach hotel in South America and also features in our best Four Seasons beach resorts in the world.
No setting sun is more gorgeous than one dozily sinking behind the ocean, which is why Costa Rica is one of our favorite beaches at the day’s end. With warm gulf waters, pristine white sands, and tropical trees swaying inland, the Gulf of Papagayo is paradise. Four Seasons Costa Rica sits on a hillside by a picture-perfect beach and just up the peninsula from the Park Hyatt Papagayo.
The entrance gate is cleverly positioned where the bay first comes into view, making the Vista look straight out of the movies. The hotel foyer is an airy mix of pillars and bamboo ceilings. Head down the stairs, and the room opens up to showcase two of the hotel’s pools, including a main pool and sundeck and a separate family pool. Staff cannot do enough, offering towels, cool washcloths, and ice water, plus the stations supply complimentary sunscreen or after-sun.
To one side of this Four Seasons peninsula is a grey–sand beach. On the other, a crescent of palm-shaded white sand. Other facilities include an excellent spa, golf, numerous eateries, and a lobby bar.
Wherever you are in the world, Four Seasons hotels are consistently one of the best hotels in that city or resort. There isn’t a Four Seasons loyalty program, so you will never be able to book a free stay by racking up and redeeming points, or by collecting points on your credit card and spending them at a Four Seasons hotel. It can’t be done. But you can get discounts at Four Seasons hotels and benefit from special rewards at Four Seasons hotels for no extra cost by booking your next stay via our luxury travel concierge.
3. Belmond Copacabana Palace
“At the Copa Copacabana, The hottest spot north of Havana”… I wonder if it is possible to stay at this hotel and not have a jiggle to the catchy 1970’s tune?
Belmond Copacabana Palace is, we think, the best luxury hotel in Rio de Janeiro. Situated on the promenade facing the magnificent Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, this art deco icon has 239 rooms, including 101 suites, a half Olympic size swimming pool with a sunbathing area, a tennis court, and the best spa in town. Three restaurants at the Hotel offer elegant surroundings, exemplary service, and gourmet cuisine. Known as one of the best restaurants in Rio, Cipriani offers exceptional Northern Italian cuisine. Stay there dance the nights away. “Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl…..”
4. Four Seasons Hotel Buenos Aires
Our best hotel choice in Buenos Aires is the luxurious Four Seasons Hotel Buenos Aires on the edge of Recoleta, one of the city’s most historic neighborhoods with tree-lined Avenues lined with French architecture and appealing cafés and high-end boutiques.
White and grey marble adorn the foyer walls and floor, and artwork and installations have horse, wine, and tango themes. These works of art can be found throughout the hotel. Rooms are classic and historic, with many original features, including original fireplaces and high ceilings with chandeliers. Suites feel like they have stepped out of a Parisien Palace. Bathrooms are modern and swish with marble and L’Occitane toiletries. Immerse yourself completely in the setting by staying in their seven La Mansión suites, decorated in French style with carefully chosen antiques.
The outdoor pool here is smart and flanked by loungers, ideal for enjoying the Argentinian sunshine. Cielo Spa offers wine massages and backrubs to the background of Argentine Tango.
The hotel’s restaurants and bars are surprisingly trendy, given the more traditional look of the hotel. Expect to enjoy live DJs while you sip your cocktail.
5. Emiliano Sao Paulo
Emiliano Sao Paulo is a chain of luxury boutique hotels in Brazil. The Emiliano Sao Paulo hotel is one of the best luxury hotels in Sao Paulo and is very impressive, located in the heart of the city on Oscar Freire Street, in the exclusive Jardins neighborhood of Sao Paulo.
Here, guests can experience authentic and modern Brazilian sophistication through a contemporary ambiance, refined cuisine, and warm service. The interior embraces clean lines and spaciousness, which mixes with award-winning architecture.
Described as sleek, dramatic, and drop-dead gorgeous, the 56-room Emiliano encapsulates the modern Brazilian ethos. Land your chopper on the private helipad, escorted by service-oriented butlers, and head to the country’s first champagne and caviar bar, where more than 80 brands of bubbly and rare Beluga roe await you.
Soak in the Japanese hot baths before taking a shiatsu massage at the spa. Then, take a table at the hotel’s namesake Italian restaurant for homemade pasta and organic, locally sourced produce. The fashion houses and galleries, along with Oscar Freire, São Paulo’s version of Rodeo Drive, lie just beyond the lobby’s window wall.
6. Four Seasons Hotel Casa Medina Bogota
The landmark 1946 building of Four Seasons Hotel Casa Medina Bogota was designed by Colombian artist-architect Santiago Medina Mejia and is one of the best luxury hotels in Bogota. The building has been declared a cultural monument, its stoned columns, brick walls, beamed ceilings and contemporary furnishings.
This hotel has some of the most quietly elegant rooms in the city, complete with beamed ceilings, hand-carved wooden furnishings, and fireplaces to cozy up to. No two rooms are alike. This is also a very small Four Seasons hotel. A boutique hotel with just 62 rooms.
The hotel is located steps from the buzzing financial district and the gourmet paradise of the Zona G, ideal for foodies. This district north of downtown hosts the capital’s finest restaurants (the “G” is for gastronomy).
The hotel also houses a stylish Mediterranean bar & restaurant, with a greenhouse atrium perfect for languorous romantic evenings or a quick bite with a signature cocktail. The Spa is also excellent here and offers green coffee wraps, coconut scrubs, and other locally inspired spa treatments.
7. The Ritz-Carlton, Santiago
The Ritz-Carlton, Santiago, is strategically located in the capital’s most prestigious and refined neighborhood, El Golf. The hotel is just 30 minutes from Santiago International Airport and within walking distance to exclusive boutiques and restaurants.
The Ritz-Carlton, Santiago, has 205 guestrooms, including 49 Club-level rooms and 3 Club Suites, 15 Executive Suites, and a Ritz-Carlton Presidential Suite located on the 14th floor. Rooms and suites are distributed among 14 floors crowned by a glass dome housing an indoor pool and Jacuzzi. All rooms feature a delicate and warm combination of earth tones and golds in a classic décor.
Dining facilities include The Lobby Lounge for Afternoon Tea, cappuccinos, and light meals. In the evening, The Ritz-Carlton Bar features premium cocktails, fine wines, champagne, and an exclusive pisco menu, accompanied by live Jazz entertainment.
A 7,440 ft² spa and fitness center with floor-to-ceiling windows welcomes guests under a glass cupola that offers a magnificent view of the Andes mountains and the city of Santiago. In addition to sports equipment, there are spa treatment rooms for massages and special beauty treatments, a whirlpool, a sauna, an indoor heated swimming pool, and a sun deck on the terraced roof.
The Ritz-Carlton Club Level in Santiago is located on the 10th floor, it is a hotel within a hotel and features as our best club lounge in Santiago.
8. Four Seasons Hotel Bogota
Four Seasons Hotel Bogota is the newest boutique Four Seasons in Bogota and provides a warm haven of customized service and sophisticated style for its guests. Inspired by the natural beauty of the surrounding mountains, Rottet Studio has created a design aesthetic for Four Seasons Hotel Bogota, combining pattern, texture, color, and craftsmanship that is epitomized in the bright new lobby. Here, wooden screens form airy “walls” that climb up across the ceiling, enveloping guests in warmth accentuated with touches of rich green evoking Colombia’s famous emeralds.
Four Seasons Hotel Bogota provides an oasis of quiet glamour with 64 rooms and suites, with custom-made beds framed by dark leather headboards and paneling and pale floors of locally sourced hardwood. Throughout the Hotel, nearly all materials are Colombian, with furnishings, finishes, and artwork all handcrafted by the country’s artisans and artists.
After beginning the day at Biblioteca restaurant, guests of Four Seasons need not go far to experience Bogota’s red hot culinary scene. Next door, Four Seasons offers Kūru, a fabulous new Japanese restaurant and bar opening for lunch midday and continuing into the night for cocktails, dinner, and late-night dining.
Their Spa encompasses five luxurious treatment rooms, including an oversized couple’s suite, as well as relaxation lounges, steam rooms, and a spa shop. In the 24/7 Fitness Centre, state-of-the-art cardio machines and weight training by Matrix keep guests in shape. For those who prefer to get their exercise outdoors, the Front Desk team can also connect guests with bike rentals to partake in the ciclovía in this cyclist-friendly green city.
9. Belmond Casa de Sierra Nevada
San Miguel de Allende sits at an altitude of 6,435 feet above sea level. It is located in Central Mexico, easily reached from Mexico City, 171 miles away, or the nearby León Airport, which is 1 hour and 30 minutes from the hotel, or Queretaro Airport, just 1 hour from the hotel.
Situated close to the cathedral and main city square, the boutique hotel of Belmond Casa de Sierra Nevada is a mixture of 16th to 18th-century Spanish colonial buildings with 37 deluxe rooms and suites, distributed among four mansions and the Casa del Parque, a few minutes walk away.
Each of the rooms and suites has its own individual décor and is characterized by the furnishings, art and antiques, exquisite fabrics, and richly colored Talavera-tiled bathrooms that add a touch of charm. Many rooms have working fireplaces (some have two), others boast private terraces with outstanding views of San Miguel, and some have both fireplace and terrace.
The Casa de Sierra Nevada’s restaurant Andanza is at the top of hotel dining establishments in Mexico, and the culinary choices on offer are as exceptional as the hotel itself. Andanza also offers a bar where the boleros of a local trio provide the perfect backdrop to indulge in a refreshing cocktail or aperitif before dinner. The Blue Bar extends onto the patio, where you can sip your drink of choice while soaking up the atmosphere of the town passing by.
10. Belmond Hotel Monasterio
Belmond Hotel Monasterio is a 1592 monastery converted into a luxury hotel in Cuzco. Guests can learn about Spanish and Inca cultures during their stay as well as enjoying an Andean massage based on a ritual developed by Andes natives; an aromatherapy treatment is administered using Kantu, the sacred flower of the Inca.
The Lobby Bar offers a wide selection of pre-dinner cocktails before you dine on Peruvian and international dishes at El Tupay restaurant. Take time to meditate on your sacred destination in your Spanish colonial–style bedroom, where religious art and local décor adorn the walls. From here, you may want to transfer to Machu Picchu by train to Aguas Calientes, which takes around three and a half hours.
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