Altar House

Trancoso, Bahia, Brazil
7 guests
3 bedrooms
3 bathrooms

Luxe Living: A property with a high level of craftsmanship in architecture and design, as well as comfort.

Palapa: A shelter with palm leaves or branches for a roof

Tropical: In the tropics, with year-round high temperatures

Intersectional Sanctuary

Inspired by Saint Benedict’s cross design, this property is a cross-shaped, giant domed palapa with a kitchen at its center and bedrooms filling its transept. A swimming pool pours from its intersection, lined with loungers and a rich wood staircase leading into the tropical landscape, and its impressive central palapa is held up by sturdy timbers and topped by solar panels. A cook and two housekeepers are on site daily.

Thatched and Domed Cruciform

A generous, cross-shaped tropical outpost, this oversized palapa features, at its heart, a kitchen opening onto to a long swimming pool. Tropical vegetation insulates the open, thatched property that’s looked over by cooking and cleaning staff who also deliver upon-arrival groceries selected according to guests’ preferences.

The kitchen is fully equipped with a farm table, prep island and stools, opening onto a generous circular common area for living, dining, lounging and swimming, making this property is a great place for gathering and sharing meals with family and friends.

Two bedrooms are king rooms, and the third has three singles, each opened to the common area if desired, via classic shuttered doors and windows. There’s an outdoor shower by the lushly landscaped pool terrace and an artesian well on property, too.

Around

Trancoso is a small beach town that’s lack of resort development has made it a darling of the jet-set crowd seeking simplicity and seclusion. A former fishing village, Trancoso is located in the Bahia region of Brazil, a slightly off-the-beaten-path destination bathed by dense rainforest and surrounded by miles of beaches. The town is famed for its charming quadrado, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage site, with its whitewashed wedding chapel and colorful houses surrounding the square. The town became a favored hippie destination in the late 1960s, yet today the town is more hipster than hippie, its stylish cobbled streets and candy-colored houses increasingly popular with international trendsetters. Set on a bluff overlooking the ocean, Trancoso was originally settled by Jesuit priests in the late 1500s, and it is still pristine and relatively undeveloped today. The nearby villages of Arraial d’Ajuda and Caralva are worth a day trip, and one of Brazil’s most beautiful beaches, Espelho, featuring remarkably warm swimming lagoons formed at low tide by the coral reefs, is easily accessible nearby.