Beautiful Brazil: Rio, Paraty, Salvador & Boipeba Island

Things to see and do - Visit the Museu de Arte Moderna, built in 1960 by Alfonso Eduardo Reidy, for its perfect architecture - shop for a bikini at aptly named Bumbum - chill on Ipanema - observe trends in contemporary art at the Anita Schwartz gallery - see the Maracana Stadium and the huge concrete cone of Sao Sebastiao Cathedral, Rio twin temples - indulge in churrasco (grilled meat) and feijoada (black bean and meat stew) - go shopping in the bohemian district of Lapa: Portuguese colonial houses in bright colours reinvented as second-hand clothes shops, vintage shops, and antique galleries full of lovely mid-century Brazilian furniture - sip Amazonian fruit juice in the shade of a courtyard in Leblon, after an afternoon's shopping.
Included in the itinerary - You have an appointment with a local who will take you to discover his favourite bars, to experience Rio by night, and spend your remaining energy on Ipanema rooftops, trendy bars in Leblon, electro bars in Botafogo's alternative neighbourhood (nicknamed by some BotaSoho) or samba clubs, or Lapa choro, the bohemian heart of Rio.

Already included in the itinerary - A hike in Ponta Negra. One cannot imagine a stay in Paraty without exploring its coastline: a myriad of islands in a bay protected from the prevailing winds, and hundreds of deserted beaches as pristine as when the first Portuguese sailors discovered them. You will reach Ponta Negra, in Juantinga Reserve by boat. 300 indigenous Caicaras live in this small village on a cove, a few houses between the dense rainforest and golden sand. Everyone here lives by fishing. In the late afternoon, the fishermen can be seen off the creek as they lift up their huge fish-laden nets by the strength of their arms alone.

Transfer by private car, with driver, to Rio airport and flight to Salvador de Bahia. Private transfer to the heart of the Pelourinho district and three nights' accommodation at Villa Bahia , which combines two colonial-era houses to create a discreetly sophisticated hotel. The rooms' furniture and colour palette evoke colonial Portuguese culture, while remaining unmistakenly Brazilian. In the restaurant, the chef brilliantly produces a cuisine that combines the best of both France and Brazil. There are two cool patios where you can relax with a caipirinha. You can fully unwind in the pool, a luxury in this district. From the terrace, a delightful panorama of the rooftops and bell towers of the Old Town. In the morning, when you open the windows overlooking Sao Francisco and the colourful walls of the ancient houses bordering the square, and an Angolan samba melody reaches your ears, you know you're in the spiritual heart of Brazil.

Founded in 1549, Sao Salvador da Bahia de Todos os Santos (to give the city its full name) was Brazil's first capital. It is divided into two parts: the upper town and the lower town. The lower town runs along the gulf, incuding the harbour, the Mercado Modelo (the old customs building) and the Cathedral of the Transfiguration. And also the beautiful houses at the base of the mountain; narrow, steeply sloping streets with glazed painted tiled facades, narrow staircases, the small bars of the old quarter of Ribeira. Huge elevators - the Lacerda and the Tabuao - and funiculars connect the lower town to the upper town, where, on the hillside, the criss-crossing steep streets of the Pelourinho district are found. Here you'll find large two-storey houses, lined up with their pink, blue or ochre facades, with broad wooden jacaranda panelled floors, and some of the masterpieces of the Brazilian Baroque: the Cathedral, the Sao Francisco Church, the largest Jesuit church in the country, completed in 1723, adorned with sculptures illuminated with gold, its cloister softened with glazed painted tiles. And everywhere, candomble (religious rites) squares and casas-de-santo (informal shrines) where orishas (minor deities) are worshipped.
Things to do and experience- Stroll through the streets of Pelourinho to experience the rhythm of Bahia - try capoeira (a martial art/dance) - enjoy the pleasures of a tropical beach - visit the Vila Velha Theatre, one of the most beautiful places in Bahia, where Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethania, and Gilberto Gil started their careers in the 1960s - lunch on acaraje 'fireballs' - white bean and shrimp doughnuts fried in palm oil, classified as part of Brazil's intangible heritage, bought from a Bahia woman dressed in white lace - attend a candomble ceremony in a Catholic church - sip a cachaca, sugar cane brandy.
Not to be missed: the Pierre Verger Foundation. The French ethnologist and photographer, born in 1902, settled in Salvador de Bahia in 1946 and never left. He discovered a culture influenced by the heritage of the descendants of African slaves and undertook to document the various aspects of Afro-Brazilian culture, including the candomble, a religion that combines animist beliefs of African origin and indigenous, Catholic influences, worshipping orishas, deities linked to natural elements. The foundation has displays of Pierre Verger's photographs, in the house in which he lived until his death in 1996.
Already included in the itinerary - A private percussion course. Percussive rhythms are part of the everyday life of every Bahian inhabitant and are at the centre of social life. This course offers the opportunity to become immersed in the atmosphere.

Included in the itinerary - a tour of Jorge Amado's Bahia. 35 novels and short stories, theatre, poetry, some 30 million copies sold in Brazil, and adaptations for cinema and TV series: Jorge Amado, 'Jorge', as everyone here calls him, is the most popular writer in the country. He was the first major Brazilian writer to have a black man as his hero (from his first book 'Bahia de Todos-os-Santos', written in 1935), throughout his works, going against the tide, he would describe the richness of Brazil's diverse population. 'You can go all around the world, but never will you find a city so rich in history, lyricism, picturesque and profound poetry,' he said of his city, Salvador. Included in the itinerary: an immersion in the world of the great writer, with a visit to the house where he lived with his second wife Zelia, and their family; then a visit to a house in Yemanja, orisha of the sea, fish and shipwrecks - Jorge Amado was one of the first to rehabilitate candomble religious beliefs so despised by the elite.