The Bolsa Oficial de Café, the old coffee exchange building in the historic centre, is the single most impressive interior in Santos. Built between 1920 and 1922 in a heavy Beaux-Arts style, it has a vast trading hall with stained-glass skylights, marble floors, and a painted ceiling depicting the history of the region. For decades, the price of much of the world's coffee was set in this room.
The exchange closed in the 1960s and is now a museum dedicated to the bean that made the city rich. Galleries cover the cultivation, trade, and culture of coffee in Brazil. The café on the ground floor lets you taste single-origin coffees from across the country — well worth half an hour. Closed Mondays.