Where to Watch the #WorldCup in Style if You're Not in Brazil

Soccer great Pelé vacationed at Le Sereno (no longer El Sereno) on St. Barth in the 1980s, and you can go now. (All photos courtesy of the resorts)

You don’t have to go to Brazil to celebrate the year’s biggest sporting event. You don’t even have to care much about who’s winning. As die-hard football — sorry, soccer — fans head to Brazil for the 2014 FIFA World Cup (June 12-July 13), destinations around the world are jumping into the party with themed deals and packages. We’ve tracked down some of the most notable. Get out the cachaça because it’s time to party! (And read to the end for some World Cup cocktails you can make right at home.)

The U.S.

America may not be the most soccer happy of nations, but the sport’s popularity is growing here — and besides, we never turn down a chance to indulge in athletics-related excess.

The elegant Shutters on the Beach hotel in Santa Monica is launching a World Cup-themed wine menu and hopes to have a wine representing every country with a team in the World Cup — a Chardonnay from Rio, a white meritage from Croatia. Once a team is out, so is its wine (so if you love Ouzo, start cheering for Greece!).

“The African nations were the most difficult by far, as most have no U.S. distribution or in some cases have no wine production at all, so we had to be creative,” general manager Gregory Day said. For Cameroon and Ghana, for example, they had to rely on colonial pasts, choosing wines “from old houses that would have been around during that point in the country’s history.”

Four Seasons Resort & Residences Vail will be showing World Cup matches in its Fireside Lounge. Besides the lounge’s usual 70-inch flat-screen televisions and 54-inch HD TVs, the hotel is putting up the largest screen in town: 7 by 13 feet. It will also have a rotating selection of dishes that coincide with which team is playing, so guests can munch on Brazilian flat steak churrasco tacos when Brazil is playing.

Europe

Looking to watch the Cup surrounded by genteel luxury? Le Royal Monceau, Raffles Paris will be serving custom caramelized popcorn as it shows World Cup games in its 99-seat private cinema theater. The renowned hotel in the center of Paris will also host free Brazilian-themed artistic workshops on June 14 and 21 as part of its children’s program. For the grownups, the hotel’s Michelin star-winning La Cuisine restaurant will be serving strawberry and basil caipirinhas.

Le Royal Monceau will also host a Brazilian DJ on June 21 as part of Paris’ Fête de la Musique music festival. Just make sure you stop in at the spa for your “Colors of Brazil” makeup application before you hit the dance floor.

Hoar Cross Hall Spa & Hotel in England.

Many Brits are opting for staycations during the World Cup. Why miss summer weather in Britain when you can watch the game amid your crazed countrymen? Locals and visitors in London can watch the action on a giant plasma screen at The Deck, a rooftop event venue atop the National Theatre that’s normally reserved for private functions. They’ll be sampling special meat-based delicacies like picanha and frango com pequi: “I wanted to create a menu that paid homage to the intense flavors of my home country,” said The Deck’s Brazilian-born executive sous chef, Ricardo Menta.

Then there’s the ultimate sports counter-programming: Although it’s hosting events for footie fans, including a Brazil-themed barbecue on July 6, Hoar Cross Hall Spa & Hotel in England is declaring its spa a “football-free zone.” The hotel, a stately former country home set on 50 acres in Hoar Cross, 30 miles from Birmingham, is offering specials that let you “indulge in your own game of relaxation” with a Brazilian-themed spa day featuring lemon and lime as the signature ingredients. Yum.

Barceló Hotel & Resort, Riviera Maya.

Mexico

I was in Mexico for the Winter Olympics earlier this year, and it was fabulous. For one thing, Spanish-speaking announcers are a lot more fun than the ones we’re used to (even if you don’t speak much Spanish). And since Mexico is in the World Cup, the crowds will be super excited.

Barceló Hotel & Resort on Mexico’s Riviera Maya will show World Cup games and host trivia and contests. They’ll also have their own version of the World Cup (both men’s and women’s versions) and Carnival-style festivities each Wednesday.

Temptation Resort Cancun

At the all-inclusive, all-adult (and topless-optional — how’s that for Brazil style?) Temptation Resort Cancun is offering a 45 percent discount for bookings through June as well as game contests and a free tour of nearby Isla Mujeres. Enter discount code WORLDCUP when you book.

The Caribbean

Here’s my idea of the perfect World Cup venue: one that lets you dash out to a warm white-sand beach between matches.

Hotel Guanahani & Spa, on the French-Caribbean island of St. Barths, is offering a World Cup Special package: 5 nights in a room or suite for the price of four, a daily buffet breakfast at the oceanfront Indigo Restaurant and free round-trip airport transfers. Book a second room and it’s 50 percent off. Guests can watch the game from The Barto Lounge while enjoying a soccer-themed tapas menu and specialty cocktails.

Hotel Guanahani & Spa on St. Barths.

Soccer great Pelé vacationed at Le Sereno on St. Barth in the 1980s. If this cozy family-owned retreat was good enough for him, surely it’s good enough for your World Cup-watching party. The beachfront resort’s seven-night World Cup package includes a bottle of Champagne, car rental, massage treatments, full breakfast and dinner or lunch at Le Sereno Restaurant.

During the World Cup, Grand Lucayan Beach & Golf Resort on Grand Bahama Island will be entertaining kids with themed activities including beach soccer. Adults can watch from a safe distance while making their selections from a special Brazilian drink menu. The resort will be projecting the soccer action onto a giant inflatable screen during hosted game-watching parties.

Red Lounge at Paradisus Resorts, Cancun.

Paradisus Resorts, on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and in the Dominican Republic, will jump into the World Cup in style, with opening-ceremony parties at all five of its properties. Games will be streamed into bars and lounges, and you can watch poolside dance and capoeira performances as well as samba shows in the bar. At halftime, guests can try for prizes (including Team Mexico jerseys at the Cancun resort) by playing games including World Cup trivia and “mini soccer.”

For our readers who plan to hunker down at home for the soccer-watching marathon (or host World Cup parties of your own), we’ve got a couple Brazil-themed drink recipes:

Batida de Coco (Serves 2)

¾ cup coconut milk
4 tablespoons of sugar
2 shots Brazilian cachaca (cane vodka)
ice cubes
2 Tablespoons shredded coconut

Directions:
1. Mix coconut milk, sugar and cachaca in a drink mixer or a blender.
2. Put the mixture in a pitcher.
3. Add the ice cubes to the pitcher and pour in glasses. Cover with the shredded coconut.

— Grand Lucayan Beach & Golf Resort

The Brazil

½ lime, squeezed
½ oz. simple syrup
2 oz. cilantro-infused cachaca

Shake and strain over crushed ice, garnish with cilantro

— Four Seasons Resort & Residences Jackson Hole

Keep coming back every day for Yahoo Travel’s series on the #WorldCup, with guides to the host cities, advice on safety, and great tips and insider information you won’t find anywhere else. You can also check out all our World Cup coverage here.