On Ilha Rasa, in Búzios, an address that helped shape the city’s history begins a new chapter between memory, gastronomy, hospitality, and life by the sea.
To reach Nas Rocas, you first have to leave Búzios behind. From Continental Lounge, a short crossing takes you to Ilha Rasa, about 700 meters from the mainland. The city gradually fades from view, the sea takes over the landscape, and a few minutes later, the island appears. Between September 25 and 27, this was how the first guests arrived to experience the new Nas Rocas.
The address has had other lives. In the 1980s and 1990s, Nas Rocas was part of that cosmopolitan, slightly improbable Búzios that drew people from all over the world. Madonna stopped by. So did Bono Vox, who even had his own suite at the hotel. The kind of story that, decades later, still circulates around town.
Now, the roughly 120,000 square meter Ilha Rasa belongs to Resid Club & Hotels. Nas Rocas Club marks the beginning of this new chapter. The island club will follow, and then, eventually, the hotel.
Recreating the past was never the plan. The experience was conceived by Claudia Ribeiro Bernstein, Resid’s partner and Director of Concept and Hospitality, together with partners and co-founders Paulo Henrique Barbosa, Rafael Caiado, and Francisco Costa Neto. From the atmosphere of the spaces to the hospitality journey itself, the intention was to look at what was already there and reinterpret it, without turning history into a theme.
“From the beginning, we didn’t want to recreate the old Nas Rocas. We wanted to understand what made this place so special, preserve that essence, and build a new experience from it,” says Claudia.
There is a quiet sense of Brazilian identity in this new version. It is less about symbols and more about the way guests are welcomed, the informality, the music, the food, and the relationship with the outdoors. Tables sit close to the water, spaces open onto the landscape, and the sea remains almost always in view.
Lunch does not seem particularly interested in ending. Someone gets up to take a dip in the sea, someone else looks for a patch of shade, returns to the table, orders another drink. On the island, time itself seems to have been included among the amenities.
Alex Atala created the culinary concept for Nas Rocas and chose chef Lucas Novais to lead it day to day. Felipe Monteiro oversees the drinks, while sommelier Gabriela Montaleone is responsible for the selection of wines and sparkling wines.
At six in the evening, the rhythm shifts. It is time for AgradeceR, the daily ritual that accompanies the sunset. For a few minutes, everyone looks in the same direction. In this part of Búzios, the spectacle had been ready long before anyone thought to program it.
The past, naturally, continues to surface. Not as a recreation, but through encounters that seem to stitch the two eras together. At the opening were Fabiana and Alessandra Modiano, granddaughters of Umberto Modiano, the visionary Frenchman behind the original Nas Rocas. Decades later, the family returned to the island to witness the beginning of a new story.
“Bringing Nas Rocas back is not simply about restoring a historic address. It is about creating a new chapter for the island and making it part of the world we are building at Resid,” says Paulo Henrique Barbosa, CEO and co-founder of the group.
Exclusive to Resid members, Nas Rocas begins its new life without trying too hard to explain what it intends to be. For now, there is the sea, good food, shade, a beautiful table, and a few hours in which no one seems particularly interested in returning to the mainland.
Some things have changed since the 1980s. Fortunately, not everything.
To understand Nas Rocas, you still have to make your way there.
