Top 20 Hotels in South America: Readers’ Choice Awards 2023
View all of the 2023 Reader’s Choice Awards winners here.
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Courtesy Faena Hotel Buenos AireshotelFaena Hotel Buenos Aires
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Readers' Choice Awards 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023The neighborhood is Puerto Madero, right on the waterfront. From outside, the red brick building that Faena occupies does nothing to hint at the over-the-top decor of what lies inside. The place is designed by Philippe Starck—need we say more? It's dark and dramatic, with red velvet curtains, deep carpets, rose-tinted glass, firetruck red leather sofas. Lots of red and black everywhere with a touch of the ridiculous. Thankfully, Starck showed a bit of restraint when designing the rooms. Instead of dark and moody, rooms are a study in moderation, Faena-style. Faena is pricey, but if you want to be right in Puerto Madero and are a fan of Starck's brand of design, this hotel is for you.
RosewoodhotelRosewood São Paulo
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Hot List 2022 Readers' Choice Awards 2022, 2023Rosewood’s first property in South America is already one of the city’s hottest destinations—the lobby restaurant and bar are buzzing every night of the week with Brazilian models and well-heeled entrepreneurs. And who can blame them? Though the hotel is unlike any other property in the city, it feels distinctly of São Paulo. Perhaps that’s thanks to the art commissioned for every space imaginable, from the illustrated rooftop pool floor to the custom pillow covers in each room. Or perhaps it’s the fantastic dining concepts, ranging from Brazilian-French fusion to pan–Latin American cuisine. It no doubt owes some thanks to the living and breathing Paulistas who are already flocking, infusing the space with life around the clock. Rooms from $530. —Megan Spurrell
Courtesy SofitelhotelSofitel Legend Santa Clara Cartagena
$$$ | Readers' Choice Awards 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023This former 17th-century convent mixes elements of its past (exposed wood ceilings, beautiful arched walkways) with modernity in a very graceful way. Set within strolling distance of the Palace of the Inquisition and about a seven-minute walk to the beach, it's a super-sized hacienda, complete with a courtyard toucan. Rooms are either contemporary or colonial-style; the newer ones offer views of the pool or the Caribbean, while colonial suites have antique furniture and overlook the Old Town or interior gardens. To play at being pious, check out Restaurant 1621, once the Clarist nuns’ dining room, that now serves French-inflected cuisine.
Courtesy W BogotahotelW Bogota
$$ | Readers' Choice Awards 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023Colombia has been rising through the ranks in terms of destinations in the past decade—and you can always trust W Hotels to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with the hottest trends. Opened in late 2014, W Bogota is situated right in the heart of the capital city's upscale Usaquen neighborhood, putting guests next to embassies, restaurants, and boutiques. You can expect colorful, modern decor in all 168 guest rooms—especially in the Extreme Wow Suite, which includes a king-size bed with floral canopy, an avant-garde (and purple!) circular sofa, and 180-degree views of the city's skyline. Grab brunch or dinner at JAIRO before kicking back with a drink and live music at the W Lounge. Then it's back to your room to detox before repeating it all the next day.
Courtesy Belmond Miraflores ParkhotelMiraflores Park, A Belmond Hotel, Lima
$$$ | Readers' Choice Awards 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023Always fashionable Miraflores (which translates to “look at the flowers” in Spanish) is synonymous with glamour in the Peruvian capital. The recently refurbished Belmond does the district proud with its stunning glass-enclosed rooftop pool overlooking the Pacific and the Zest Spa, which incorporates ingredients from the Peruvian Amazon. If your tastes skew more whimsical, there's also a turtle pond out front. The see-and-be-seen restaurant Tragaluz boasts a refreshing menu of ceviches and tiraditos, while the 11th-floor Observatory offers a stunning panorama of the ocean. And the garden-facing suites will remind you just how this bougainvillea-filled district got its name.
Courtesy Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo HotelhotelInkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel
$$$ | Readers' Choice Awards 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023Village recreations can seem a little hokey, but this Inkaterra outpost deftly carries off the conceit. Set amid waterfalls and gardens at the foot of Machu Picchu, whitewashed casitas with eucalyptus beams are strewn along stone paths. Rustic rooms, lined with tile floors, are furnished with colorful Peruvian blankets, local art, and views of the gardens of the Vilcanota River, and manage never to feel tacky. But nature, not performance, is the real draw of this hotel: Amid its 12-acre grounds are 214 identified bird species, including the golden-headed quetzal, and the world’s largest native orchid collection (372 species) have been registered.
Courtesy Belmond Copacabana PalacehotelCopacabana Palace, A Belmond Hotel, Rio de Janeiro
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Gold List 2018, 2024 Readers' Choice Awards 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023The first time, I came for the beach. I was tracing a palm-fringed world of cold beers and hot swimsuits, beach volleyball, tan lines, and pristine sands, 3,000 miles around the Brazilian coast. Copacabana was where I began. For glorious Brazilian beaches, Copacabana is ground zero. But the last time—and there were many visits in between—I came just for the hotel, the elegant Copacabana Palace. It was the hotel that created this place; that made this strip of sand famous and helped to conjure the idea of the beach as central to Brazilian identity. When the Copacabana Palace opened a hundred years ago, it occupied an unheralded neighborhood, amid modest houses and fishermen’s shacks. Until then, Rio de Janeiro had been centered on the old downtown areas of Centro and Castelo, and the 19th-century mansions of leafy Santa Teresa. But a new age of leisure arrived in the post-war years. Sunbathing was suddenly a thing, and Coco Chanel made having a tan fashionable. Designed by French architect Joseph Gire, the Copacabana Palace adopted the elegant art deco lines of the grand hotels of the French Riviera. A Parisian dancer, Mistinguett, reputed to have the most beautiful legs in the world, arrived for the hotel’s inauguration, and suddenly everyone’s gaze turned south to Copacabana, to the new hotel and to the glorious beach that was its doorstep. A century on, the Copacabana Palace is still a Rio icon, bestriding the Avenida Atlântica on that incomparable bay. The style is classic opulence: vast chandeliers, acres of marble and Brazilian hardwoods; a sanctuary among the city’s endless partying. But this is Brazil. The Palace may be grand, but it is also fun. It pulls you into a cheeky Brazilian embrace: comforting, perhaps, but always a little flirtatious. At breakfast overlooking the famous pool, beautiful and lively Brazilians are all around. Ken Hom is the storied chef behind Michelin-starred Pan-Asian restaurant Mee, though my favorite is the Cipriani, an elegant Italian that would impress in a top Roman hotel. There is a rooftop tennis court, and, across the avenue on that famous beach, hotel staff attend guests with umbrellas and loungers, cold towels, and sun lotion. Around the hotel’s centenary, it is still impossible to think of Rio, or that famous beach swooning round the bay, without the Copacabana Palace. From $441. —Stanley Stewart
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Photo by Javier CsecshotelPalacio Duhau - Park Hyatt Buenos Aires
$$$ | Gold List 2018, 2019 Readers' Choice Awards 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023Before Buenos Aires surrendered to the motor car—and every Argentine male modeled his ego on that of Formula One legend Juan Manuel Fangio—Avenida Alvear was one of the city’s main thoroughfares, with horse-drawn carriages and trams rolling by en route to Palermo’s gardens and shaded parks. Something of this Belle Epoque spirit still endures and nowhere more so than at the Palacio Duhau, completed in 1934 as the city mansion of a landed family. Its grand neoclassical façade is right on the avenue, and the lobby is a stately, serene space where light pours in from the terrace onto the fluted marble columns, intricately carved wooden doors and low-slung white leather sofas. The tiered gardens on the terrace are worthy of a scene in The Great Gatsby. Rooms range from spacious and functional to sumptuous and palatial; the boudoir suite has butler service, an enormous marble bathroom and, perhaps more impressive, two private terraces overlooking the avenue below. The Duhau restaurant and public spaces channel the property’s storied glamour, with local couples having lunch and out-of-towners sipping rum-laced Arnaud’s milk-punch cocktails. The surrounding barrio of Recoleta is known for its old-world architecture, and this hotel, modeled on the Château du Marais near Paris, is the maximum expression of Argentine Francophilia. Its only rival on this stately strip is the Alvear Palace—but where the latter flaunts its ostentation, the Hyatt’s grandest South American hotel rather keeps itself to itself.
Courtesy Fasano Rio de JaneirohotelFasano Rio de Janeiro
$$$ | Readers' Choice Awards 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023The modern antidote to the Copa Palace’s grand hotel glamour, Philippe Starck’s Brazilian debut— which opened in 2007— has design cred in spades. Somehow the Union Jack flags draped against Argentinian brick walls give the place the swinging feel of Rio’s 1960s hey-day.)The 89 all-white rooms have balconies (42 with ocean views), but you’ll want to spend time at the rooftop bar by the infinity pool to gaze at Ipanema, Leblon, the Two Brothers Mountain and Corcovado, watch the sunset, and sip rum muddled with fresh strawberries (a local fave). Other amenities include a spa and a private beach, a fitness center, and bike rentals. Proximity, too, is key: The Fasano is across the street from Ipanema beach, and a seven-minute walk from General Osório metro and 12 minutes from Copacabana beach.
Courtesy Leading Hotels of the WorldhotelThe Singular Santiago Lastarria Hotel
$$$ | Hot List 2015 Readers' Choice Awards 2017, 2019, 2020, 2023An offshoot of a dramatic Patagonia lodge, the Singular Santiago Lastarria lives up to its name. In the heart of the city’s lively Lastarria neighborhood, known for its restaurants and nightlife, the neo-classical building is firmly a part of the scene with its own buzzy rooftop bar, but guests find calm in the spacious rooms, muted with a color palette of cream and gray, and marble bathrooms with deep soaking tubs. Bird print-bedecked Bar Merced is the perfect pre-dinner spot for a drink—try the Clover club, a mix of Bombay, lemon juice, raspberry puree, albumin, and a dash of syrup—though the rooftop bar is where to take the party, post-meal.
Courtesy Belmond Hotel das CataratashotelHotel das Cataratas, A Belmond Hotel, Iguassu Falls
$$ | Readers' Choice Awards 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023The only hotel within Brazil’s 187-square-mile Iguaçú National Park , the 1958-built Das Cataratas is an elaborate Portuguese colonial–style building in delicate pink; lintels, porticos, and balustrades in brilliant white; a spacious pool, and a spa. The 193 rooms—stuffed with heavy wooden furniture, florid Portuguese tilework, and repeated subtropical motifs—feel a bit cramped, and the reception desk appears understaffed. What’s unbeatable, though, is the location: The hotel’s lawns slope down to a splendid lookout over Iguaçú Falls, its sound and fury overpowering. Activities include helicopter and boat tours, and a simple stroll down paths of the park during daytime hours is a privilege afforded only to hotel guests. It’s possible to observe tapirs, corzuela deer, and raccoon-like coatis bedding down for the night, before you return to the poolside open-air restaurant and a feast of grilled tilapia, partridge, and duck ravioli served amid verdant gardens of palm, mango, and tropical apricot.
Courtesy JW Marriott El Convento CuscohotelJW Marriott El Convento Cusco
$$ | Readers' Choice Awards 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023If the altitude of Cusco lays you low, El Convento will provide pumped-in oxygen to your room, along with its other amenities. The namesake convent dates to the 1500s and archeological ruins are maintained on property. Décor continues the old-new pairing, with stylish rooms and public areas lined with stone arches, while weavers in the courtyard give demonstrations and must-have textiles are available for purchase.
Courtesy Casa San AgustínhotelCasa San Agustín
$$ | Gold List 2020 Readers' Choice Awards 2018, 2022, 2023Sometimes, a hotel telegraphs such a romantic version of a place that it becomes a stand-in for an entire destination. Casa San Augustin, the dreamy retreat in the city’s Old Town, has become that synecdoche for Cartagena. With crumbling 17th century white-washed walls laced with climbing vines, soaring wood-beamed ceilings, original frescos, and a terracotta-tiled courtyard shaded by a profusion of palms, it feels straight from the pages of Márquez—equal parts sultry and monastic, Caribbean and Colonial. Guests may half expect a horse and carriage (or a specter of one) to roll on through, just as it would have when this 20-room hotel was a trio of colonial villas on a quiet cobblestone alley. The showpiece of that courtyard is the pool, L-shaped and passing through a hole cut into the wall of an aqueduct from the time of the conquistadors. Dinner should be lobster tail and ceviche at the hotel’s wonderfully high-end, but no-fuss Alma restaurant that spills out onto the open air terrace. Of those few diners with a room upstairs, the luckiest will be the one in 102, the only suite with a private plunge pool. Doubles from $385.
Courtesy Country Club Lima HotelhotelCountry Club Lima Hotel
$ | Readers' Choice Awards 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2023Built in 1927, Peru's Country Club Lima Hotel has long been the go-to stay for visiting heads of state. From its historic architecture, to the collected antiques and artwork housed throughout, the entire estate oozes sophistication with an elevated country club aesthetic. Its 83 rooms have been updated so that their traditional, colonial style—think dark mahogany furniture, high ceilings, and ornate headboards—is complimented by modern amenities, like a whirlpool bathtub in some rooms, and designer toiletries. Plus, the property, which is located in the upscale business district of San Isidro, has a full-service spa, small plunge pool, gym, 24-hour business center, and a lobby bar that serves what some say are the best pisco sours in the city.
Cristobal Ganderats/Courtesy Hotel MagnoliahotelHotel Magnolia
$ | Readers' Choice Awards 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023Santiago’s first true design hotel, Hotel Magnolia opened in the summer of 2016 to understandable fanfare: Set in a renovated 1929 mansion at the foot of hilly Cerro Santa Lucía park, a few paces from the city’s old town and the Bellas Artes national gallery, the 42-room pad gifted the city’s visitors a truly fashionable (albeit sufficiently charming) place to lay their heads. There’s a just-right juxtaposition of the old with the new: a Neo-Gothic facade, stained glass windows, and black-and-white marble floors in the foyer add gravitas to an otherwise-modern design, where rooms boxed up in light wood paneling and finished off with neutral linens give off more than a hint of Scandi sensibility. Pick any night of the week to swig a glass of silky Santa Ema cabernet sauvignon on the open-air rooftop terrace, with a sprawling view of downtown and Santa Lucía hill to keep you company.