If you’ve visited Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo, you’ve gotten a good taste of Brazil, but not a fully-rounded one. However, add Belo Horizonte to your itinerary, and you’ll gain a greater appreciation of the country. “BH,” Brazil’s 6th largest city, is landlocked at the edge of Brazil’s heartland yet has everything you would want in an authentically Brazilian city break with its gastronomy, culture, and fashion. Its unofficial motto, “Bars, not beaches,” reflects a few of its many attributes, especially when it comes to fashionable neighborhoods such as Lourdes and Savassi with their eclectic mix of restaurants, bars, and boutique hotels such as the Fasano Belo Horizonte.

One such property, The Hotel Fasano Belo Horizonte  (a member of the “Leading Hotels Of The World” group), beautifully embodies the city’s spirit and aesthetic. The slim building is topped with a compact rooftop pool area and spa, which belies how spacious the public areas and 77 dwellings are.

Rooms and suites have a dark hardwood floor foundation and are framed in hues of cream, wood, and copper naturally occurring within rustic wood, patinas, soapstone, exposed bricks, and other traditional materials.

This provides a perfect backdrop for furnishings and accessories designed by Bernardes Arquitetura and other Brazilian designers. Large marble bathrooms are appointed with a high-pressure shower, soaking tub, rich toiletries with woodsy aromas, and Ipanema-brand flip-flops. King-sized beds are dressed with 300-thread count Egyptian cotton sheets and goose-down pillows (non-allergenic alternatives are available on request).

Gastronomy is a point of pride at Fasano properties, and this one is no exception. The rooms have a well-stocked mini-bar and a coffee tea area with organic Orfeu espresso pods and Brazilian teas. Guests are greeted on arrival with hand-crafted sweets from the hotel kitchen, including Brigadeiros chocolate truffles, cocoanut beijinhos, and dulce de leche fudge.

The lobby flows into ‘Gero, where executive chef Fabio Aiello renders flavorful Italian fare with Minas Gerais ingredients. The adjoining Bar Baretto serves up strong, elegant cocktails and live music bringing chic new meaning to the notion of “local flavor.”

By morning, a simple but pretty breakfast spread is laid out in the ‘Gero space, with juicy tropical fruit, fresh-squeezed juices, Minas Gerais cheese, and hot-from-the-oven bread.

After a long day of travel or meetings, you can take in a massage in the hotel’s compact spa, chill out on the rooftop pool patio, or head downstairs for some nightlife as Bar Baretto hosts live local bands and singers on a regular basis after a full and flavorful meal at ‘Gero. However, as the hotel is nestled into the heart of Lourdes, getting out and exploring the neighborhood is a must.

Some of the city’s best free-standing restaurants are minutes on foot or by car from the Hotel Faisano. Glouton, as the name and its décor suggest, has a French vibe but also wears its Minas Gerais culinary underpinnings proudly. French culinary-trained Minas Gerais native Chef Leo Paixão is regarded by the Brazilian food press as the “face of Nova Cozinha Mineira.” Pacato, conceived by Chef Caio Soter, is hinged on his goal to “elevate the backyard cuisine” of Minas Gerais and indigenous ingredients of the Jequitinhonha Valley into a “from-mud-to-clay” presentation that provides the guest interesting insights into Minas cuisine’s foundations. The 100-minute journey plays with the idea of serving a full day’s worth of meals.

While the interior décor of Felipe Rameh’s Olga Nur immediately communicates it takes wines seriously, its cocktail program is both expansive and innovative. Its food menu is made up of dishes mixing and matching influences from international cuisines (Italian, French, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, and Middle Eastern along with Minas/Brazilian). Its best appetizers are all over the map, with standouts that include vegetable tempura with Korean-inspired gochuja and ginger sauces, pão de queijo (traditional Brazilian cheese bread) pressed into waffles topped with salmon; codfish pie (empanada slices) with black garlic and pepper sauces; and toasted coalho cheese bites topped with ginger chili sauce. While caipirinas with premium quality cachaca and fresh fruit are readily available here and in other restaurants, order one of the signature cocktails with gin and vodkas from local distillery Yvy such as the “Olga Negroni,” the raspberry-rich “Englishman Pie,” and the “Black Mule” topped with a rich blackberry syrup and ginger foam.

Shopping adjacent to the hotel includes Loxus Jóias (exquisite Minas-mined gems in delicate, classic settings) and an elegant branch of ANIMALE, a Brazilian label providing a more tailored version of Brazil’s colorful fashion. Up the block, you’ll also find flagship boutiques for internationally-known labels such as Farm Rio.

After sampling the future of regional Brazilian cuisine in Lourdes on a Saturday night, head over to the “Hippie Fair” on Sunday between 8:00 am and 2:00 pm to take in regional and indigenous street food. The rest of the fair is neatly organized into sections dedicated to artisanal clothing, children’s toys and clothing, jewelry, leather goods, and, of course, smoky, aromatic conglomerations of mom-and-pop food vendors. The festivities, tucked into Lourdes, Savassi, and the Praça da Liberdade cultural enclave, draw in an estimated 100,000 people.

A short Uber ride or manageable walk will get you to the equally hip Savassi neighborhood (and Patio Savassi shopping center, favoring Brazilian labels and businesses) and lushly landscaped Praça da Liberdade, or “Liberty Square,” the city’s cultural heart. The three areas are concentrated with many of the city’s best museums and urban green spaces.  For additional information on Belo Horizonte, visit its page on the Visit Brasil website.