Six Senses Botanique

Fantastic experience and service! Excellent food and wine offer! This is a place to to try the brazilian wines since they get the best! Excellent spa service! Finally, i am making all the above claims even though this is my second visit. I will certainly be coming back even though i live abroad. In words, do not miss this one if you happen to come to sao paulo countryside.

We would not hesitate to recommend this hotel. Really unexpected in the best way, it was very easy distance from São Paulo. The surrounding area was stunning and well worth a visit, and the hotel itself was beautiful, and everything was done with warmth and generosity. Rooms were huge, clean and secluded with beautiful views. The owner was very welcoming and upgraded us as we checked in too early for the room category we had booked. The breakfasts were imaginative, fresh and varied. Surrounding grounds were utterly gorgeous; lots of birdlife, chickens, goats and huge butterflies! Tennis was well maintained and the gym spaces, although small, were well equipped and in the trees - v cool! A lovely atmosphere generally. Only things we thought could have been better was the WiFi in our villa was hit-or-miss (actually rather nice to be out of touch) and - like most of Brazil - some staff didn’t speak English. Not really a problem overall as they were all absolutely lovely and managed to work with Google translate. Transfers when booked directly though hotel were also much more expensive than booking independently.

Despite the fact that Six Sense has its brands on this hotel, and the reputation Botanique used to have in Brazil, they continues to offer a bad service. We stayed there 2 times and we had to change Villas a few times. Now, we booked a Panoramic Views and they put us on a Garden View. The hotel furniture at the reception is worn out, dirty. The Golf cart is old, dirty. Really a shame. We have deleted this option in Brazil.

2 days spent there left an excellent impression for the whole family. First: the place itself: sunken in the greenest mountain jungle, with a spectacular view on the peaceful valley from a number of view-points either within the territory or from the walking trail around it. Second - the interiors/exteriors, which are ideally integrated in the natural landscape + give a great balance to the guests between privacy and socialization. The approach of the hotel - to give you rest as peaceful as possible, and they really give effort. The food is remarkable and the staff is very friendly and eager to help. Spa is also deserving good words for the cleanness, quiet atmosphere, good massage and nice little transparent pool inside (outside pool also available). We were left very positive with the villas we stayed at, everything was very cosy, clean and operable. The only improvements i would suggest for the future: more training of the staff in english-speaking (although for us it did not create any major issue), as well as developing more walking trails around the place - to be able to dig deeper into the wild vibes of this fantastic place.

We travelled to Botanique 6 months after it entered the Six Senses network, and boy was it underwhelming. The prices were steep - on par or above with the best resorts in South America (including Explora, Txai, etc.), so our expectations were high. Getting there was easy and the setting was outstanding: beautiful views of the mountains, very graceful architecture (especially in the main house) and villas entrenched deep into the Brazilian forest. The farm-to-table concept of the restaurant was also interesting, so - as good foodies - our interest was piqued. However, during the four days of our stay it became clear that there is still much work to be done for Botanique to reach the level of hotels on comparable rates, or its Six Senses peers. - The wine list is uninteresting and of an unacceptable dearth for a hotel of this standing. A couple dozen international labels (many of which found in US supermarkets) and a few Brazilian wines. All of them outrageously overpriced for US standards and far above the prices we saw in other Brazilian restaurants. - Heating issues. The villa we stayed at had three large rooms: a bedroom, a bathroom/tub area and a living room. All of them had windows with horrible sealing: you could feel the cold wind blowing in the middle of any of the rooms. Worse, the only working heating system was in the bedroom, which meant that with temperatures in the 30-40s (below 10 celsius) the other rooms were freezing. - Fireplace disaster. Trying to light up the fireplace in the living room was a disaster. The exhaust system was poorly conceived, so the entire villa was filled with smoke in seconds. The hotel staff told us that there was a specific way to light it up to minimize smoke, but even after they set it up themselves, we were still left within a cloud of smelly smoke. - Privacy issues. My wife and I prefer to minimize how often hotel staff enters our room, so we usually leave the “Do not disturb” sign on the door during our stay. At Botanique, this was disregarded not one, not two, but three times. Such behavior is completely unacceptable in simpler hotels, let alone in a facility of this price range. - Other details that a hotel of this standing should not let slip: Spa pool with paint peeling off its walls, very poor offering of outdoor activity (1 trail only), very shallow room service menu, very inflexible meal times (especially breakfast - which only started at 8), etc. etc. It’s a pity that a hotel in such an amazing venue does not have the service or the facilities to match. For those prices, you can stay at much better resorts in Argentina, Chile, or even Brazil.