Hotel Colline de France

The Only South American Hotel on a World's Best List

In 2021, TripAdvisor's Travelers' Choice Awards named Hotel Colline de France the Best Hotel in the World, placing a 34-suite address in Gramado alongside properties in Switzerland, the Maldives, Greece, Indonesia and Italy, and making it the only South American hotel on that particular list. The hotel builds its identity around France, carried from its architecture through to its breakfast table, with each of its 34 suites individually decorated and furnished with handcrafted pieces. Marble-finished bathrooms stocked with L'Occitane toiletries extend the same attention to detail into the daily routine, in a town, Gramado, already built around a European mood.

Why It Works

The TripAdvisor recognition is the headline, but what carried it is consistency: 1,018 reviews averaging 9.9 out of 10 is a volume and a score that few boutique hotels anywhere sustain. The French theme avoids kitsch by running all the way through, from the handcrafted suite furniture to a breakfast of croissants, baguettes and brioche, rather than stopping at a few decorative flourishes. A modern gym and a wellness center offering massages add a practical layer for longer stays, and the marble bathrooms and L'Occitane toiletries confirm the attention to detail suggested by the hotel's reputation.

Why This Location

Gramado built its reputation on European references, and Avenida Borges de Medeiros carries the theme through the town center, lined with cafés, restaurants and chocolate shops, past the Igreja Matriz São Pedro, the Praça Major Nicoletti and the covered pedestrian street known as Rua Coberta. Lago Negro, a free, 24-hour park where visitors rent swan-shaped pedal boats, sits within the same town, as does the Museu do Perfume and the Reino do Chocolate theme park. German, Italian and Portuguese influences run through Gramado's architecture and food alongside the French note Hotel Colline de France adds to the mix.

• Prix: €€€€ (Luxe)

• Vibe: French-inspired, polished, romantic

• Chambres: 34 suites, each individually decorated with handcrafted furniture

• Best For: couples and travelers seeking an award-winning stay

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: the French-themed breakfast of croissants, baguettes and brioche

• Dining: breakfast built around French classics, with room service available

• Amenities: modern gym, wellness center with massages, marble bathrooms, L'Occitane toiletries

• Attractions: Avenida Borges de Medeiros, Rua Coberta, Lago Negro, Museu do Perfume, Reino do Chocolate

Thirty-Four Suites, No Two Alike

Each of the hotel's 34 suites is decorated individually rather than built to a repeatable template, with handcrafted furniture carrying the French theme from room to room without duplicating it. Marble bathrooms stocked with L'Occitane toiletries standardize the quality without standardizing the look, a balance that helps explain why a hotel this size sustains a 9.9 out of 10 average across more than a thousand reviews.

A French Breakfast and a Wellness Routine

The hotel's French identity shows most clearly at breakfast, built around croissants, baguettes and brioche rather than a generic buffet, and it continues into a modern gym and a wellness center offering massages. Together they give guests a reason to spend the morning on-site before heading into Gramado's town center, where the chocolate shops and the Rua Coberta wait a short trip away.

A Town Built for the Season

Gramado draws its heaviest crowds in autumn and winter, when the cooler climate matches the European mood the town and the hotel both lean into, though the Praça das Etnias and its colonial-style houses, organic market and agrotourism outings keep the shoulder season active too. Le Jardin, a lavender park in bloom from October to December, adds a second seasonal draw a short trip from the hotel, giving Hotel Colline de France a reason to recommend different months to different travelers rather than funneling everyone into a single high season.