If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (BRL2,700.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
Backed by a flourishing nature reserve overlooking the wild Atlantic coast, Kenoa Resort feels far from civilization. This is a ‘do nothing’ kind of place, where remaining motionless for hours on end is virtually an art form. Practise it for yourself: by the outdoor infinity pools, clutching a paperback in one hand and a Malibu cocktail in the other; in the tranquila grottoes of the extensive spa; or on your own private patio, watching the native iguanas saunter across the rooftops and allowing yourself to be lulled into a gentle reverie by the hypnotic effects of the rolling surf (and that second rum cocktail, natch).
Smith Extra
Get this when you book through us:
A couple’s massage treatment, check-in from 10am and check-out till 4pm (subject to availability). Just-married GoldSmiths (let the hotel know prior to arrival) get a honeymoon spa ritual and free return transfers from/to Maceió Airport
23 seaview suites with private terraces; some with plunge pools.
Check–Out
Noon. Check-in is at 2pm. Both are flexible by up to two hours where availability permits. The fee to check-in from 10am or to check-out up to 4pm is equivalent to half the standard daily room rate (but included as your Smith Extra when you book with us).
Prices
Double rooms from £437.38 (BRL2,795), including tax at 3.5 per cent.
More details
Rates include à la carte breakfast served in the restaurant. Or enjoy yours in the privacy of your suite, for an extra fee.
Also
Unfortunately this barefoot beach resort is unsuitable for wheelchair users.
At the hotel
Gym, free WiFi, beach loungers and parasols, board games and card games, welcome drink, free daily fruits and sweets. In rooms: LCD smart TV, Nespresso machine (in Villas), minibar, monogrammed flip-flops, two bottles of mineral water (replenished daily), and organic Okira bath products.
Our favourite rooms
Suites make excellent use of natural light, with huge windows that cast sunbeams over reclaimed wooden furnishings, exposed brick walls and mighty, hand-hewn stone sinks. Indigenous art adorns the walls, patterned scatter cushions add pops of colour to creamy seats and sofas, and beds are dressed in luxury Egyptian cottons and goose-down pillows. Jaobi Villas give you the best of all worlds: oodles of interior space, an infinity plunge pool on the terrace and – uniquely among the various accommodation types – direct access from suite to beach via a wooden walkway.
Poolside
Twin infinity pools that directly overlook the beach invite long bathing sessions spent gazing wistfully out to sea. Each has a window set into its front wall, allowing underwater swimmers a glimpse of the beach as they glide gracefully past. (Equally, fans of the movie Jaws may enjoy ogling flailing arms and legs from dry land, on the other side of the glass.)
Spa
Step inside the hushed grottoes of the spa, where guests enjoy free access to the sauna, hot tub and relaxation areas. The variety of treatments available in its four rooms includes massages, facials and exfoliating body scrubs, all using Caudalie products.
Packing tips
The rolling waves along this particular stretch of Atlantic coast are manna for surfers, and prone to make even novices come over all Patrick Swayze in Point Break. Feel free to bring your own board, or bandages, depending on your skill level. Prefer your holiday pursuits a little lower octane? A battered paperback of Brazilian novelist Graciliano Ramos’ 1938 masterpiece Vidas Secas, set in the region, should provide suitably cerebral beach reading if you plan to sit the surfing out.
Also
There’s a gym with treadmills, bicycles, dumbbells and more. Personal training sessions are available and surf lessons can be booked with local instructors.
Children
Cots are available for infants and extra beds can be requested for older kids. Babysitting services are available on an hourly rate and must be booked well in advance.
Sustainability efforts
Built using reclaimed timber and stone, and featuring thatched roofs for improved insulation, this barefoot resort’s eco credentials are stitched into its very fabric. Inside, indigenous art pieces lend local flavour to suites flooded with natural light, where solar energy is par for the course and bathrooms come with water-saving devices and organic toiletries in refillable bottles, part of the resort’s commitment to zero plastics. The majority of ingredients used in the restaurant are organic, sustainable and locally grown (or fished), and many of the staff here are local residents, too. This crack team of nature-lovers cleans the stretch of beach in front of the hotel daily, as well as maintaining the flourishing natural reserve that surrounds it. Community projects include partnerships with local food bank initiatives, helping to deal with the twin issues of hunger and social exclusion.
The best sunset seats are on the nature-reserve side of the restaurant.
Dress Code
The restaurant’s dress code is strictly laidback and comfortable, but don’t let that stop you busting out your finest tropical-print shirts and dresses.
Hotel restaurant
Kaamo is the buzzy focal point of Kenoa Resort, its dual-aspect location right in the heart of the resort affording panoramic views of both the Atlantic coast and the lush nature reserve behind. Inside, expect seafood plucked from the ocean by local fishermen that very morning and Portuguese wines from the restaurant’s extensive cellar. Highlights of a highlight-heavy menu include grilled reef lobster with brie risotto and rocket, traditional spicy fish cataplana, and the catch of the day served with cashew rice.
Hotel bar
Towering tree-like columns flank the Pool Bar, where a mountain of fresh tropical fruits adds sweetness to signature cocktails including the Kaamo Secret (gin, kiwi, passionfruit and lemon juice) and Wako (citrus vodka, vanilla liqueur, peach juice and mango purée). Up on the second floor, the rooftop Lounge Bar opens 4pm to midnight to make the best of those spectacular sunset views and boozy starlit evenings. There’s also a smart wine bar, serving up fine vintages from across the world throughout the day.
Last orders
The restaurant is open round the clock, with a limited menu available between midnight and 7am.
Room service
24-hour room service means you need never wonder where your next caipirinha is coming from.
Shipwrecked on the wild Atlantic shores of northeast Brazil, Kenoa Resort promises lazy days on the beach and starlit nights soundtracked by crashing surf, all just 20 miles south of Maceió, the region’s colourful capital.
Planes
Maceió International Airport is an hour’s drive from the resort; transfers can be organised on request.
Automobiles
The public transport system here can be unreliable at best, so you’ll likely want your own wheels for exploring the region’s more secluded spots. Rental vehicles are available at the airport and there’s free valet parking at the hotel.
Other
There’s a landing pad at the resort, meaning you can make like a Brazillionaire and arrive by helicopter: the thrilling experience of descending over Barra de São Miguel’s tropical forests and bone-white sands is worth every penny.
Worth getting out of bed for
So you’re sat there by the pool, meditating to the symphony of birdsong from the adjacent nature reserve, soaking up the sea views, arm outstretched for another mimosa. There’s no need to be anywhere else, right? Right. But… should you feel the nagging urge to – ugh – go out and do something, there’s plenty of opportunity here without necessarily breaking a sweat.
Outdoor pursuits in Barra de São Miguel tend to be less of the noisy jet-powered variety and more of the meditative kind: think horse-riding on the beach and canoeing through mangrove forests rather than boozy and boisterous banana boating. Mount your trusty steed at dusk to trot along the shoreline, keeping eyes peeled for native white-bearded manakins swooping and calling for prospective mates. Or join one of the resort’s canoe expeditions, in which participants paddle through dense vegetation, discovering freshwater springs and tiny villages where oyster and honey producers live in traditional taipa houses. You can even sample some of their delicious wares, fresh from the oyster nursery.
Journey further afield on a speedboat excursion to where the São Francisco River mouth and various lagoons, reefs and islands of the Barra de São Miguel coastline offer multiple opportunities for diving, swimming and snorkelling. You can also learn to surf and kitesurf with experienced instructors along this wild, sandy stretch.
It’s a one-hour journey up-coast to Maceió, where culture-seekers and keen photographers can revel in the kaleidoscope of colourful colonial architecture. There’s also a fine 19th-century cathedral, a candy-stripe lighthouse, a stately Natural History Museum, a palm-lined promenade with a sandy beach, and stacks of buzzy bars and restaurants.
Local restaurants
Among the smattering of restaurants in the immediate vicinity of Kenoa Resort, Marjestoso, 10 minutes’ drive up-coast, is a colourful highlight. Here, vibrant painted murals and tile mosaics set the scene for a menu of Mediterranean classics and excellent pizza: crispy wood-fired bases topped with serrano ham, rocket and great fluffy balls of buffalo mozzarella for the win.
A foray further north to Maceió is amply rewarded at Wanchako, a Peruvian potpourri of gourmet delights with art-lined walls and equally gallery-worthy seafood. This acclaimed stalwart of the Maceió dining scene boasts a dozen or so varieties of ceviche and tiradito (Peruvian sashimi), alongside perennial seafood favourites like grilled octopus and langoustines
Local bars
There are plenty of beach bars to choose from in the resorts that dot the coast here, among them nearby Praêro Beach Club and Stella Marina in Barra de São Miguel. Head north to picturesque Praia do Francês for sundowners with a (slightly) different view.
Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this barefoot tropical paradise in Barra de São Miguel and wistfully shaken the sand from their shoes, a full account of their idyllic beach break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Kenoa Resort in Alagoas…
Kenoa Resort is one of those places that feels truly connected to nature – and not just because there’s a literal forest on its doorstep. Brazilian architect Osvaldo Tenório has successfully achieved the illusion of bringing the outdoors indoors, thanks to deft touches such as textured stone walls, worn-wood furniture and suites with interior gardens, striking sea views and bathrooms that seem to have been hewn out of rock.
But it's the views that will really have you going nuts for this Brazilian beach babe. Your suite’s widescreen sunrise vistas will have you waxing lyrical for month afterwards, while the rooftop bar opens promptly at 4pm – plenty of time for a couple of sundowners before the nightly fireburst of sunset commences over the reserve, accompanied by a sing-song soundtrack of jungle nightlife. Incontrovertible evidence that achieving oneness with nature needn’t require you to first lose a fight with your pop-up tent. Quite the opposite, in fact.
