Pousada Sage Point

Wow, what a pleasure to write this review. My wife and I stayed at Sage Point during the December 2024 – January 2025 New Year’s holiday for 7 days and it was a fantastic experience. I’ll break this review up into sections to better organize. ** The Overall Resort (Pousada) and Beach Location This boutique resort is nestled immediately above and on the edge of a beautiful public beach (see pics). You are literally 50 feet from the water’s edge. Each night the city crews clean the beach so every morning you wake up to a pristine white beach with umbrellas beginning to sprout as the beachgoers begin to arrive. But while very beautiful and popular, the beach never seems crowded or unruly – and keep in mind we were there at the absolute PEAK of holiday season. Just lots of groups having fun playing “foot volley” (basically hacky-sack with a soccer ball), surfers paddling around, and sun worshippers. Sage Point has plenty of reclining beach chairs available free of charge sitting on the edge of the beach – you walk down the steps from the resort and pick up your lawn chair and walk the 20 feet to the beach. There are several open-air simple restaurants along the street side of the beach, along with stands that sell chilled coconuts for $1.50. Just pay your money (credit cards accepted) and the gentleman will pull a green coconut out of the cooler, hack the top of it open with a machete, pop a straw into it, and hand it to you. Delicious. The resort is located about 900 feet (think 3 football fields) from the festive, quaint downtown. An easy, safe walk along wide cobblestone streets that go up and down several gentle hills and enter the cobblestone streets of downtown (more on the town later). We walked this path every night, sometimes as late as 2:00 am and always felt completely safe, often encountering other couples strolling hand-in-hand back to their pousadas. ** The Pousada Itself Where to start on this amazing resort . . . The owner (Anna) – who is typically at the pousada every day to chat with guests – is an amazing woman who has lived in Itacare for 30 years. She speaks very fluent English, Portuguese and Spanish. She built the pousada from her own imagination and it’s literally a work of art. The motif is tropical and constructed out of rustic native woods, with stone paths leading to custom wood staircases and rooms similarly built out of rustic native wood structures. The rooms all have decks with hammocks, gorgeous beds with beautiful mosquito netting (the mosquitos aren’t bad, but they do exist . .) and large glass doors that open out onto the decks and balconies. And for those wanting a dose of creature comforts, all the rooms have modern air conditioners that will freeze you out if you so desire. But it’s a pretty cool deal to just sleep with the doors open and listen to the sound of the waves . . . There are also small refrigerators stocked with water and beer (and yes, you can drink the tap water. I’m an environmental engineer who designs/builds water treatment plants, so I’m confident saying this). The bathrooms are spacious with huge showers with plenty of warm water, and everything is built and decorated in the same rustic native wood design. Imagine Robinson Caruso if he was stranded on a deluxe tropical island. You won’t go wrong selecting any of the various types of rooms. (see all my room pics). Breakfast is available till 10:30 am, and – depending on season – is either a scrumptious tropical buffet or made to order and brought to your table by the always cheerful and friendly kitchen staff. Speaking of, the large, super-clean kitchen is next to the breakfast area and you can watch the uniformed staff preparing all the fruits, omelets, breads and cakes. In keeping with the motif, the tables are gorgeous giant slabs of native wood, with comfortable chairs and cushions for sitting. The view from the breakfast area is -- like everything else – a gorgeous view of the beach and surrounding reefs and jungle. (see breakfast pics). There are so many nice touches at Sage Point it’s hard to mention them all. For example, walk through a thatched roof passageway and there’s a tiled wall with ceramic animal heads that spout water for you to wash the sand off your feet. Another example – the common area bathrooms near the breakfast area are beautifully decorated and super clean (see pic). Just a lot of very thoughtful touches. You can see that Anna has put her heart into building and running this pousada. ** The Town (Itacare) First of all, it’s completely safe – you won’t feel the slightest concern walking anywhere at any time, and it’s definitely NOT one of those type place where you feel like you need to keep your wallet in your front pocket. As you walk from the pousada you’ll arrive into the main tourist area of downtown – which is closed to car traffic after 6 pm. And when I say “tourist area” I don’t mean “tour-isty” in the negative sense, but rather an area with a lot of open-air restaurants, tables in the streets, and mood lights strung overhead. Multiple locations will have live music and you’ll enjoy just strolling through the streets with wonderful dinner smells intermingling with people laughing and enjoying the evening. All the streets are quaint cobblestone. From there, if you desire some evening beach time, it’s only about a 4-block walk down to another beach with lots of restaurants and street vendors. Overall, the town is just a gem. Big enough to have what you need (pharmacies, supermarkets, etc.) but still has that small-town “surfer vibe.” Getting to the Pousada is easy enough. Typically you’ll fly into Sao Paulo Guarulhos (GRU) and then catch a1.5 hour flight north to Ilhéus (IOS). From there it’s about an hour drive to the Pousada along a very well-maintained 2-lane road that winds past seaside towns and through dense jungles. It’s a straight shot and an easy drive. You can either rent a car at the airport, or Anna can arrange for someone to pick you up for an extra charge. Google Maps and Apple Maps work fine and will get you to about 100 feet from the Pousada. Parking is available along the (cobblestone) street that runs past the beach next to the open-air restaurants. Park there and walk down the path between the restaurant and the neighboring pousadas. When you see the beach, turn right, walk 15 feet and you’re at Sage Point. Overall, I wholeheartedly recommend Sage Point as a truly outstanding tropical bed-and-breakfast / resort and fantastic value for the money. And the town is a hidden gem. You’ll feel at home and never want to leave, I guarantee it. Feel free to message me if you have any questions.