The best three days in Sao Paulo! ☀
Know Before You Go
🚍Getting around
Sao Paulo has a pretty reliable metro system - it's actually one of the busiest in the world. We've linked a great guide to using the metro below, alternatively they do have Uber, and there are city buses, but traffic is pretty bad at times.
We also recommend pre-booking a taxi from Sao Paulo airport to wherever you're going, as it can be a little awkward standing around trying to negotiate for one otherwise, and the Ubers don't always go to the right place. You can pre-book here - it is more expensive than on arrival, but it's all sorted for you in advance.
💰 CURRENCY: Brazilian Real (BRL)
🗣LANGUAGE: Portuguese
Where To Stay
💲On a Budget
This is a sweet little place in Pinheiros district, which has a lot of fun street art, great places to eat and lively nightlife.
This hostel is very close to Avenue Paulista, often considered the 'central area' of Sao Paulo (though it doesn't really have a central area, as each area has its best bits) and the Museum of Modern Art.
💲💲Mid-range
This hotel is in a great location with awesome views.
The Grand Mercure in Sao Paulo is in an ideal location right next to the best park in the city: Ibirapuera. The views are fantastic and the food is amazing!
💲💲💲Luxury
This is one of Hilton's boutique hotels and they have free bikes you can hire to get to Ibiropuera Park (only 20 minutes' walk away!) and gorgeous views of the city,
A very centrally located luxury hotel.
This hotel is gorgeous! Super high end luxury and really cool setting.
Safety in Sao Paulo
Many visitors to Brazil's big cities (Rio, São Paulo, Brasilia etc.) worry for their safety and we can definitely understand this. They don't have a great reputation when it comes to safety, even for tourists. We have spent quite a lot of time in a few cities including Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Manaus, and have had a few unsettling incidents, but for the most part the interactions have been very positive. The advice we'd give is as follows:
✨Be sensible, and don't flash valuables around, even during the daytime. This is really important in busy areas - keep things you care about close about your person and only take them out when you are somewhere safe
🚕If it's your first time in the city and you're a little nervous, stick to taxis (apps like Uber are helpful for tracking your whereabouts) instead of public transport
🛌Choose a nice, well-reviewed hotel that lots of travellers say good things about
✅Have great travel insurance, just in case anything goes wrong
Do you have your travel insurance yet? If not, we highly recommend SafetyWing, we use them ourselves and love them.
Day 1
Start your day with a hearty and delicious breakfast in Santiago Padaria Artesanal.
Trust us when we say this will be one of the most delicious breakfasts of your life, and you do not want to skip the coffee, nor the freshly squeezed tangerine juice.
After breakfast, hit up Sao Paulo's best outdoor space, Ibirapuera. You'll find so much going on here, such as open air art exhibitions, museums, galleries, tennis courts, sometimes street performers etc. But if you don't want to do anything, that's totally fine too!
You'll find loads of stalls where you can grab a drink or bite to eat if you're not full from breakfast, or you can just wander round or sit and enjoy the atmosphere. The park is bound to be full of locals exercising and having fun!
Don't miss the fresh coconut stalls, which are iconic in the park!
After your exercise in Ibirapuero, you should be ready for a hearty lunch, and you're in for a treat at Fito.
The café itself is super inclusive, and prides itself on being a safe space for everyone. It's entirely run by women only (including non-binary and trans-women), right down to the founder and creator, chef Cafira, and is also seen as a safe haven for the gay and trans communities in São Paulo. We love a place that makes space for everybody!
After you've finished at Fito, you can explore the surrounding area of Pinheiros, which has a really cool street art scene!
Pinheiros should have nicely whet your appetite for some art, so take your pick of the Sao Paulo Museum of Modern Art or the Museum of Art Sao Paulo.
After a long day of sight-seeing, you'll be ready for some local dinner at Boteco bar! This is proper classic Sao Paulista food.
Day 2
Start your day with a traditional breakfast at Hotel Unique. Here you can try pingado, apparently the best way to start the day. This is hot milk brewed with coffee (very milky!) served with bread and butter.
Time to visit some of the most vast and beautiful botanical gardens on earth: the Jardim Botanico de Sao Paulo. These gardens cost around 20 Reals to enter (around $5) and they are definitely big enough and interesting enough to warrant the entry fee!
On some days, there are even concerts and festivals held in these gardens, and it's a really interesting venue!
You should have had enough walking around now to be ready for some food, and what better place to have it than Momo Lamen!
You can't book Momo Lamen, but they serve the best ramen in Liberdade, the Japanese neighbourhood of Sao Paulo.
The best idea is to get there ready to queue, and be prepared to wait, but we absolutely guarantee you it's worth it.
While you're at Momo Lamen, it's a great opportunity to visit the rest of Liberdade, a lively a bustling neighbourhood in Sao Paulo. It's home to the largest population of Japanese citizens in Sao Paulo, and so it's a great place to see some Japanese-style street art, eat some Japanese street food and find some cute anime stores.
If you're still hungry after your explorations in Liberdade, it's time to try a Sao Paulo classic - pizza! Yes, it might seem like pizza is out of place as a classic from a city in Brazil, but it's actually taken really seriously in Sao Paulo and is an entirely different experience from Italian or American pizza. Not to mention, you ALWAYS eat pizza in Sao Paulo with a knife and fork.
Day 3
A classic breakfast again today at the Mercado Municipal de São Paulo in Bar do Mane and apparently the must-try here is their famous Mortadella sandwich (I say apparently because I'm a vegan! But everyone else said it was delicious!).
The Mercado Municipal is a must-visit for tourists to Sao Paulo, as it's a hub of lively city activity!
Today is a self-guided graffiti tour of the city! You can choose from the 3 destinations below or head back to Liberdade, if you didn't have enough of that yesterday!
If it's a Sunday, we personally think that Minhocão (Via Elevado Presidente João Goulart) is one of the best and most overlooked places in Sao Paulo to see street art. It's a giant overpass that on Sundays becomes a completely pedestrianised walking street, from which you can view all of the giant street art murals on the high rise buildings.
Definitely the most famous street in Sao Paulo for graffiti and street art is Beco do Batman, and with good reason. Every corner of this pedestrianised area is covered in beautiful street art and murals from various artists, and is a photo opportunity waiting to happen.
Not only is the art impressive, but this is a great spot for souvenir shopping, as the street is lined with stalls from independent local artists and artisans looking to sell their wares. There’s even a few little bars/pubs, where you can grab a drink as you walk around. Remember to bring a reusable cup with you, as most of the beers are served in plastics.
Pinheiros is an edgy, hipster-style, up and coming district of São Paulo, best known for its trendy art galleries, off-beat music events. It’s a different vibe from Vila Madelena, since the graffiti is scattered around in different places and can be found around various back streets as well as the main square, but it’s equally worth a visit and has some seriously impressive murals.
If you want to find out more about street art in Sao Paulo, check out this article as well!
Today's lunch is a very traditional Brazilian fare, feijoada. If it is indeed a Sunday, then you will be able to find feijoada all over the city, but if you're not, head to Bolinha, which serves it all day every day!
Feijoada literally is a bean stew, but mostly in Sao Paulo it's a pretty meaty affair and is extremely filling. In fact, if you're the type to get sleepy after food, make sure you plan after your day's activities!
Also for the vegans, don't worry, we've got an option for feijoada for you at Boteco do Gois. Make sure you book either of these restaurants in advance.
If you've got enough energy left after lunch, time for some true local culture in the Museu do Futebol! Brazilians are super proud of their football and you can find out all about it here.
Possibly the best restaurant in Sao Paulo to finish with: Mocoto.
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