Brasil - Trancoso - UXUA Casa Hotel

ABOUT UXUA CASA HOTEL - in their own words:
UXUA Casa Hotel is a five-star boutique hotel opened in 2009. UXUA Casa Hotel & Spa features eleven unique casas which blend seamlessly into the historic center of Trancoso, a small fishing village on Brazil’s idyllic southern Bahian coast. UXUA was conceived and designed by Wilbert Das, former long-time creative director for the Italian fashion line Diesel. The name UXUA means “wonderful” in the native Pataxó Indian language.

Dating back to a clearing built in 1586 by Jesuit missionaries who wished to create a utopian community, Trancoso’s Quadrado is a town green at the heart of the fishing village. This location, called by many a paradise on earth, is where Wilbert Das restored four antique casas and built an additional six in collaboration with local artisans using traditional building methods and repurposed materials. The result is an exceptional, intimate and hidden hotel providing discerning travelers with rustic-chic accommodations and world-class services.

LOCATION & GETTING HERE
UXUA Casa Hotel is located in Trancoso, Brazil, a historic fishing village nestled along the coastline in Bahia,750 km (466 miles) south of its capital, Salvador. . The hotel has no signage and merges harmoniously into the village.

ACCOMMODATIONS
All eleven casas feature full kitchens, private gardens, indoor / outdoor living rooms, open-sky bathrooms, antiques and Bahian artwork, king-size beds, wireless internet and satelite television. Some casas include private plunge pools, jacuzzis, hanging terraces, as well as private dining space on the historic Quadrado.

DINING

Bahian cuisine, with its spices and abundant African influence, is revered in Brazil and gaining fame worldwide.

UXUA’s kitchens offer Bahian cooking with a very regional emphasis, and presented with the same joy and pride which food is served in any local home. Ingredients include produce from UXUA’s own garden and other organic farms of Trancoso, as well as the freshest fish caught using traditional techniques.

Cooking in Bahia is a social event, and the hotel’s main kitchen is an open structure featuring a counter with bar-stools where guests are welcome to sit and chat with the chefs, watch and learn, or just sample what’s cooking.

Any meal can be enjoyed at the poolside restaurant or beach lounge, or can be taken seated at a rustic table on the Quadrado, or in-casa.

Nine UXUA Casas contain kitchens and guests can cook any time, if desired in the company of local chefs happy to teach the joys of Bahian cooking.

Bahian Cooking Classes
Can be organized spontaneously, or pre-planned such as our Essence of Bahian Cooking Experience

ESSENCE OF BAHIAN COOKING
A 4-night stay offering an intimate and personal introduction to Bahia through its much-loved cooking.

Moqueca fish stew is the iconic dish of Bahia, learn to prepare it together with UXUA’s chef from the comfort of your casa’s private kitchen – and enjoy an authentic Trancoso-style home-cooked meal

Master chocolate-making using fresh cacau from UXUA garden

A lesson in preparing Bahia’s signature dessert – sweet coconut cocada – featuring UXUA’s own home-grown coconuts

Mixology with UXUA barstaff – mastering the perfect Brazilian caipirinha

Spicy pimenta dressing is a famed compliment to Bahia’s African-inspired cuisine – make your own batch spiced to your personal taste – bottling your own pimenta to take home or give as a gift in the local tradition

OPTION: for weekend stays visit Trancoso’s Saturday morning farmer’s market

Dining Out in Trancoso
Trancoso’s unique restaurant scene is one of the charm’s of the town. With a history of joyful traditionalism fused with openness to foreign influence – from Jesuit missionaries to hippies of the ’70′s – local kitchens enjoy a legend for both authenticity and innovation.

From the most local and traditional to sophisticated fusion and international options, the atmosphere is intimate and rustic, with most restaurants just a short walk from UXUA in the cozy Quadrado setting. To learn more visit Trancoso Restaurants.

QUARTZ POOL
UXUA’s stunning lake-like pool was created entirely from 40,000 specimens of unique green aventurine quartz, a native Bahian stone considered by many to have powerful healing qualities and be among the most therapeutic minerals in the world.

Featuring vast, cushioned wooden sofas and flat-roofed pergolas, UXUA Praia Bar (praia is Portuguese for beach) was built using abandoned fishing boats which had previously languished on the site for years. Private showers, dining patio, and Trancoso river dock were built while accommodating and protecting the nearby Atlantic mangrove.

Guests can dine on creative Bahian specialties and sip on expertly mixed cocktails in one of the most relaxed environments in southern Bahia.

That’s not all. guests with more active fare in mind than a simple soak in the sun can test out the beach volleyball area, have a go at sea kayaking, or try their hand at capoeira training – the outcrops of sand surrounding UXUA Praia Bar are popular spots for practicing this traditional Brazilian martial art.

SPA
UXUA’s Almescar Spa is about the luxury of local. The tranquil spa area features both indoor and outdoor treatment rooms where guests can indulge in a variety of wellness and local beauty treatments. The spa boasts a jacuzzi and a studio for instruction in yoga and Pilates, as well as for private courses in capoeria and forro dancing, popular local activities around which the social life of Trancoso turns. Various styles of massage, as well as acupuncture, are available not only at the spa, but also can be enjoyed by guests in the comfort of each casa. Gym equipment is by Lifefitness as well as various freeweights, Waterrower, and TRX suspension system.

UXUA’s spa offers Bahia’s first vichy treatment suite, featuring five water jets flowing from carved eucalyptus trunks in a tropical wet room with views over treetops, making full-body masks and organic oil treatments a true indulgence.

Some of our signature therapies:

Relaxing Almescar Oil Massage
Moonbath Pre-Sun Body Scrub and Hydrating Massage (in vichy treatment suite, with fresh coconut or passion fruit)
After-Sun Skin Repair with Fresh Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
Reflexology with Almescar
Bahian Hot Stone Massage with Almescar Oil or Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
Lymphatic Drainage Massage with Essential Oil of Ginger (option of Cinnamon, Rosemry, Lime, or Cloves)
Almescar Facial
Bahian Cacao Facial
White Clay Body Mask Lagoon Trip

Spa treatments can be scheduled for guests at any moment, or planned in advance such as our Bahian Spa & Wellness Experience.

BAHIAN SPA & WELNESS EXPERIENCE
A 5-night stay guaranteed to restore and renew with a full program from UXUA’s famed Almescar Spa.

An UXUA welcome in your casa featuring our homemade herbal tea and warm footbath with aventurine quartz stones

Daily sessions of morning Yoga at UXUA Almescar Spa

Daily massage treatments:

Rare almescar tree oil massage at UXUA Spa

Moonbath – Pre-Sun Body Scrub and Hydrating Massage

After Sun Skin Repair with Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

Lymphatic Drainage Massage with Essential Oil of Ginger

Spectacular white clay lagoon trip, with on-location mineral-rich mud treatment

Bahian cacao facial treatment

Classic Brazilian hand and feet spa – with manicure / pedicure

FITNESS
Our fitness studio specializes in personalized classes of capoeira, traditional Bahian dance-inspired martial art which provides a spectacular aerobic and full-body workout.

Through cooperation with Trancoso’s capoeira academy – sustained since 2008 by sponsorship from UXUA – guests are welcome to join classes with local children and young adults, a unique cultural immersion.

Northern Brazilian forro dancing (much-loved in Trancoso) is also taught in personal lessons, as well as traditional yoga, pilates, and fitness training, and UXUA’s resistance training suite – new from November 2012 – is equipped for the most advanced workouts.

Outdoor fitness and ecosport options are limitless around Trancoso with its spectacular and varied landscape and expert guides. A breathtaking cliff-top championship golf course, Terravsita, is located 10-minutes from the hotel.

For for a stay focused on fitness consider our Bahian Eco-Sport Experience.

BAHIAN ECO-SPORT EXPERIENCE
A 5-night stay with a spectacular program combining Bahian sports like capoeira with eco-sports in the spectacular natural setting of Trancoso.

Morning sessions of stretching and Capoeira fitness at UXUA Spa

Eco mountain-bike trip through Indian villages and the spectacular, environmentally-protected buffalo valley, followed by a kayak voyage down Rio dos Frades through jungle and mangrove, ending on a remote beach

Half-day surf lesson at Trancoso’s famed Itaquena or Nativos beache

Kite-surf day for experienced surfers, or lessons available for novices (under consultation with local instructor and UXUA concierge)

Horseback riding with local cowboy – 2 to 4 hour ride over remote beaches and through Atlantic rainforest

Paragliding, launch from the amazing red cliffs of Taipe beach

Daily Bahian massage treatment at UXUA Almescar Spa

L A D A T C O T O U R S
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