Uxua Maré

In 2009, Dutch fashion designer Wilbert Das transformed Trancoso—a 500-year-old fishing town in Brazil’s northeastern Bahia state—from laid-back stopover to one of South America’s hottest destinations when he opened the hippie-chic Uxua hotel on the main square. This year, the former creative director of Diesel has added Uxua Maré, a seaside spin-off located a 45-minute walk (or 15-minute drive) along the beach from ever-expanding Trancoso. Here on remote, white-sanded Itapororoca beach, within Brazil’s Mata Atlântica, the world’s largest biosphere reserve, jungle-swaddled casas sprawl across 15 acres. The one-bedroom Casa Azul debuted in December: a century-old wooden farmhouse, it was transported plank-by-plank to the beach and reborn as a boho shack with Das-designed furniture and woodwork from indigenous Pataxó artisans. From the pool, the only sounds are parrots, monkeys, and ocean waves. Up next: Casas Amarela, Branca, and Verde, each immersed in the forest for complete privacy. With an onsite nursery recultivating rare plants, reforestation of the surrounding plot, and solar power and groundwater wells for each house, Das is showing how sustainable tourism can preserve the imperiled Mata Atlântica.