Via Avantgarde Suites

Via Avantgarde Suites is a small collection of design-led apartments in the historic heart of Salvador, in Bahia — each one an individual take on bohemian luxury, with antiques gathered across the state, brass and emerald, brutalist lines softened by rococo curves. The suites sit in the Cidade Alta, a short walk from the Lacerda Elevator and the Pelourinho, and are booked directly with the house.

The one pictured here is the Penthouse Jacuzzi, the loft beside the elevator: a bamboo-slatted ceiling, theatrical lighting, a gourmet kitchen with Brazilian granite counters, and a deep soaking jacuzzi raised to the windows for the end of the day. Other suites in the collection trade on the same ideas at different scales — a sea-and-elevator view, an intimate historic loft, an elegant colonial address near the Hotel Fasano.

The setting

The Cidade Alta — Salvador's upper town — is the old centre: the Lacerda Elevator dropping to the port, the painted houses of the Pelourinho, the churches, the terreiros, and the music that spills onto the stones toward evening. The suites put you inside all of it, on foot, with the Bay of All Saints below. Several rooms look straight onto the elevator and the water; the light in the afternoon, and the sunset over the bay, are the reason the jacuzzis face the windows.

Who it suits

Each suite is sized for two, which makes the collection a good fit for couples and for travellers who want to sleep where the old city actually happens rather than out by the beach hotels. The trade-off is the same as anywhere in a living historic centre: the streets are steep and lively, and the character comes with the noise of a real neighbourhood.