Review: Hotel das Cataratas, A Belmond Hotel, Iguassu Falls

The only hotel within Brazil’s 715-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 187 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.