"Okay, start us off with the basics. What's the vibe here? São Paulo’s space-age sanctum is super sleek, from the staff to the architecture: a real design pin-up for Brazil with a rooftop bar that’s at the heart of the local scene. You're just pulling up outside the hotel. What are your first impressions? In the darkness of night, the hotel’s black Mercedes swishes past the crumbling mansions of São Paulo’s Jardim Paulista neighborhood. Suddenly the hotel comes into view like an illuminated space station, stark against the night sky. Completed in 2002, the independent Hotel Unique is the most recognizable of Paulistano architect Ruy Ohtake’s 400-odd projects. The landmark building prompts debate (some call it The Watermelon, others say it’s shaped like an ocean liner) and challenges the senses. From the cathedral-like lobby, guests rise in darkness in the lifts to silent, dark corridors—then open the door to any of the 94 bedrooms to find natural light flooding through oversized porthole windows. Do the rooms live up to the futuristic first impression? João Armentano’s contemporary interiors are vaguely Jetsonian, all shiny white-on-white and polished wood, with surround-sound speakers hidden in headboards. You might feel like an astronaut, albeit a junior one (standard rooms are intimate; more fun are those rooms running along the building’s elongated curve), looking out of your space-ship window down Brigadeiro Luis Antonio Avenue – a view you get from the bathtub, too. What are the food and drink options at the in-house restaurant? Seasonal spins on the Caipirinha, Dijon-born Emmanuel Bassoleil’s cooking and jaw-dropping city views are luring both visitors and locals up to the rooftop Skye restaurant. The menu is a mix of traditional Brazilian cooking, modern European and Japanese. The salmon sashimi was excellent. How's the service? Don’t be fooled by the perky young staff led by general manager Melissa Oliveira—they are as efficient as they are good-looking. Who are you likely to see staying here? Talitha Getty is the spirit animal of this tribe in their Havaianas (complimentary in the closet, by the way) and floaty kaftans which look just right beside the ruby-red rooftop pool, where everyone’s reading their iPhones. What is the surrounding area in São Paulo like? São Paulo is like Los Angeles in the sense that nobody walks anywhere, though five minutes’ walk through Jardim Paulista is Ibirapuera Park and Oscar Niemeyer’s Museum of Modern Art. Okay, say we're not quite ready to venture out yet—what's on site for us to do? In the basement, two indoor pools are bathed in rainbow lights and accessed by waterslides—although this is a place for adults to play, not kids (tiny dogs are fine). If you could improve anything, what would it be? The food is good rather than exceptional. Any parting advice for us? Have your driver stop en route at Adriana Bittencourt to pick up a bedazzled kaftan or two, then you’ll have everything you need to never leave this beautifully designed hotel." - Cynthia Rosenfeld
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