Contemporary Brazilian Art Is the Centerpiece of This Posh São Paulo Hotel — Here’s What It’s Like to Stay

Entering Rosewood São Paulo is nothing short of extraordinary.

Like walking into the dense Amazonian jungle and suddenly finding yourself in an open clearing, the entryway is a narrow, curving driveway that spits visitors into a cavernous inner chamber. Lined with lush foliage and warm wood walls, the entryway is filled with lounge seating and open-air library shelves stocked with Brazilian books on art and literature.

This artistic overtone continues throughout the grounds — from the bustling lobby area, which doubles as a bookshop and lounge, to the hallways covered in site-specific art and the guest rooms, which nod to Brazilian culture with thoughtful trinkets. As an oasis in the metropolitan city center, natural landscaping and verdant foliage make Rosewood São Paulo a luxurious escape for locals and visitors alike.

Developed and owned by French entrepreneur Alexandre Allard, the hotelier tapped world-class talent to bring the vision of Rosewood São Paulo to life: Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel designed the Torre Mata Atlântica and vertical garden, a new addition to the landmarked Maternity Hospital building that comprises Rosewood São Paulo’s main building. Philippe Starck led the artistic, architectural, and interior design of 160 rooms and suites, bars, restaurants, and numerous communal spaces. Waking up might mean a view overlooking the courtyard garden and dining at the hotel’s elegant 24/7 cafe, Le Jardin.

While this hospitality trifecta leans French, the design is inherently Brazilian: Starck only used materials, suppliers, designers, and artisans local to the country. More than 50 Brazilian artists were commissioned to create a permanent collection of over 450 artworks throughout the hotel.

In São Paulo, “Matarazzo” is a name you will often see — and hear. An industrialist family that emigrated from Italy to Brazil in 1881, the Matarazzo dynasty set up factories, amassing unbelievable wealth that led them to become one of the wealthiest families in Brazil, with interests in cement manufacturing, real estate, textiles, chemicals, agribusiness, mining, and supermarkets. When the family patriarch, Francesco Antonio Maria Matarazzo (or Count Matarazzo, as he was known), died in 1937, he had the fifth-largest fortune in the world at the time, with an estimated net worth of what would be $20 billion today.

In 1904, the Matarazzo family inaugurated the Matarazzo Maternity Hospital. This massive, sprawling complex includes the Chapel of Santa Luzia, built in 1922 (with an original Vik Muniz stained glass commission on the facade) and a neoclassical enclave. Allard purchased the 320,000-square-foot Matarazzo complex in 2011, intending to restore the original buildings and redevelop them into what is now known as Cidade Matarazzo. Rosewood São Paulo sits within the original Maternity Hospital building, while the rest of the complex is currently in development as a massive cultural center that will soon be home to many high-end shops and restaurants.

A stone’s throw from the iconic Avenida Paulista that serves as the city’s major thoroughfare, museums like the Lina Bo Bardi-designed Museum of Art of São Paulo (MASP) are less than a five-minute walk away.

Here, my review of Rosewood São Paulo.

The Rooms

With 160 rooms and suites, the Rosewood São Paulo offers a variety of room types, spread across the newly built Mata Atlantica Tower, designed by architect Jean Nouvel. All interiors are designed by Philippe Starck and encompass bespoke, luxurious Brazilian wood furnishings and restored Italian heritage architectural elements. Entering them feels like walking into a warm, cigar-like jewel box, enveloped by soft carpeting, plush textures, and eclectic, colorful decorative objects.

Each room has a curation of artwork by contemporary Brazilian artists and elements of Brazilian culture — a guitar, traditional musical instruments, and curated art books and literature are thoughtfully placed in each. Suites are also located in the restored, historic building, with a residential feel, thanks to a seating area and fireplace. Bathrooms are spacious, featuring contemporary design, fully marble floors and walls, walk-in rain showers, Toto toilets, and plush towels. The minibar is a treat — a mirrored nook filled with a full barkeeper’s kit to mix cocktails, and the coffee maker comes in the form of a vintage-inspired Illy iperEspresso Anniversary 1935 coffee maker — a retro throwback that isn’t as old-fashioned as it looks: It stealthily uses espresso pods to make coffee.

Food and Drink

The hotel offers many dining options, including three full-service restaurants, two poolside cafes, and a jazz bar. Each offers a different cuisine and ambiance.

Described as “a glamorous contemporary Grand Caffé with an all-day menu,” Le Jardin is the hotel’s ground floor anchor — an elegant, Parisian-style bistro that serves continental classics 24/7. Hotel guests can order breakfast around the clock, meaning no mad dash to make it downstairs by a particular time or lining up for a buffet.

Adjoining the space is Blaise, a log cabin-like space named for artist Blaise Cendrars. The dinner-only restaurant serves French-Brazilian cuisine in an artful room decorated with hand-painted ceramic tiles by artist Fernando de La Rocque.

Up a semi-hidden stairway is Taraz (a play on Count Matarazzo), a day-to-night restaurant that serves South American cuisine designed to be shared, highlighted by wood-fired cooking. After dinner, head to Rabo di Galo (“tail of the rooster” in Portuguese) to listen to live jazz and sip on inventive cocktails made with cachaça, the Brazilian liquor made from sugarcane. The curved-roof room is painted with a constellation mural that evokes the cozy feeling of another famed Rosewood property, Bemelmans Bar in New York.

Activities and Experiences

The hotel has two stunning outdoor swimming pools, each in lush surroundings. The ground-level Emerald Garden Pool & Bar is a mix between Niki de Saint Phalle’s Tarot Garden and Gaudí — a lagoon-like tropical pool made from vibrant green and blue mosaic tiles that curves around like a lazy river, emulating the natural pools native to Brazil’s Bonito region. An outdoor pool bar and cafe serves fresh salads and vegetable-forward fare. Higher up, the Bela Vista rooftop pool and bar has breathtaking city views

The fitness center is worthy of its own membership — a fully-equipped gym outfitted with brand new, state-of-the-art TechnoGym equipment, reformer Pilates and yoga classes, all included at no extra cost to hotel guests. Running on the treadmill means facing a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that look out at jungle greenery. The changing and shower area feels like walking into a private spa, and the facilities are so luxurious that you want to work out. Make use of the steam room, sauna, and jacuzzi, situated in a marble-clad room with marble lounge chairs; no appointment is needed.

Other experiences are the hotel Art Tour and Discover Everyone and OIÁ Casa Lençóis excursions.

The Spa

The Asaya Spa may be Rosewood São Paulo’s piece of resistance — an integrative wellness concept that includes holistic treatments such as guided meditation and sound therapy. Reiki is performed in the Crystal Room, a kaleidoscopic, fully mirrored space lined with hundreds of milky-white crystals.

Treatments include facials using Guerlain products, face-sculpting massage, and a Royal Honey treatment using bee products. Traditional shiatsu massage and alternative techniques, such as the Brazilian Feathers treatment with sensorial brushes, are designed to relax and rejuvenate. Visitors can also rent a private spa area, which includes a sauna, jacuzzi, massage beds, and lounge space.

Family-friendly Offerings

The hotel offers a Rosewood Explorers program for children, including activities incorporating creativity and local culture. A Petcation experience offers a pet-friendly hotel stay that includes a welcome drink, sleep setup, and dining with your fluffy friends, along with pet-sitting services. The Family Moments offering provides personalized games and gifts for children upon arrival and half-off an interconnecting room.

Accessibility and Sustainability

The hotel has on-site solar panels and renewable-sourced energy, is free of single-use plastics, and uses an in-house water filtration system to produce glass bottled water for guests.

Rosewood Empowers emphasizes diversity in hiring and employment while Rosewood Sustains focuses on environmental preservation through sustainability, including “a biodiversity program that repopulates the indigenous flora and fauna from the Mata Atlantica rainforest, including 250 trees up to 14 meters in height placed vertically on the Mata Atlantica Tower. The Cidade Matarazzo complex is Brazil’s largest upcycling project, constructed of 100 percent locally sourced and upcycled materials.”

Location

There are plenty of things to do in the metropolis of São Paulo. A car isn’t necessary with the hotel’s central location, although Uber works well in the city. The hotel is a few short, walkable blocks from Avenida Paulista, one of the city’s main thoroughfares, bustling with pedestrians, a botanical garden, and many shops and restaurants.

Located on the Avenue are cultural institutions such as the Museum of Art of São Paulo (MASP) and the IMS Paulistaa free art museum that hosts renowned photography exhibitions. Further afield is the upscale Jardins neighborhood, filled with many galleries, high-end boutiques and eateries, and Ibirapuera Park and the Museum of Modern Art (MAM).

Within the seven-acre enclave of Cidade Matarazzo complex is the newly-opened cultural center, Casa Bradescoa massive exhibition space currently hosting a standout exhibition by institutionally-acclaimed artist Anish Kapoor. The 100-year-old Santa Luzia Chapel onsite also hosts monthly concerts that are free and open to all.

How to Get the Most Value Out of Your Stay

Take advantage of the breakfast included in your room, the fitness center, sauna, and spa. The property has also partnered with Jaguar Land Rover to provide electric and hybrid vehicles on-site that Rosewood chauffeurs drive. The cars can be reserved by appointment by guests during their stay for easier city exploration.