An oasis in Brazil’s megacity

With more high-rise buildings than New York, Shanghai and Hong Kong combined, São Paulo is not the most idyllic of holiday destinations. But South America’s greatest metropolis makes a fascinating stop on any tour of the continent, thanks to fantastic museums, a burgeoning arts scene and a host of excellent restaurants (there are more descendants of the Italian and Japanese diasporas here than in any other city on Earth). What it has lacked is a grand hotel. But that changed earlier this year, says Steve King in Condé Nast Traveller, with the opening of the Palácio Tangará – the most luxurious place for visitors to stay in Brazil (or perhaps, on the whole continent), and a “triumphant” addition to the Oetker Collection, a hotel group that includes The Lanesborough in London. The hotel sits in the middle of a large forested park designed in the 1950s by the famed Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx. Home to white-tufted marmosets, opossums and many exotic birds, the park is a magical oasis in this grittiest of cities – and its spell extends into the building’s “elegant, thoughtful” interiors. The architecture is “faintly neo-classical”, but the public spaces are full of modern Brazilian art, including a “glittering” golden installation by Laura Vinci. New York-based chef JeanGeorges Vongerichten has “sprinkled his Michelin stardust” in the restaurant, and there’s a spa, two huge pools (indoor and outdoor) and a deeply chic cocktail bar. Cazenove + Loyd (020-7384 2332, www.cazloyd.com) has a sevennight Brazil trip from £2,750pp, excluding flights.