Tips: A short layover in Sao Paolo Brazil

After our 10 hours red-eye flight from Toronto, we woke up in Sao Paolo Brazil, with one day to see and do as much as possible! In this post, we share some tips and recommendations for a layover in Brazil’s largest city, Sao Paolo!

You can find other tips to plan a trip to Brazil here.

Getting Around:

Sao Paolo is a massive sprawling city with 12.3 million residents and is known for having very bad traffic at times. Thankfully, we did not experience and major traffic jams during our stay. It took us about 45 minutes of driving to get to our hotel from GRU – Guarulhos International Airport.

During our stay, we ended up using Uber/Lyft and walking. We did have plans to take the metro as Sao Paulo has a decent subway system but it was more convenient to take Uber/Lyft. The metro does cover core parts of the city.

As for walking, Sao Paolo is very walkable but some parts of the city can get a little sketchy. We would not recommend walking in some neighbourhoods when it gets dark. We did walk around at night but did not take shortcuts through parks and limited it to the Jardins and Jardim Paulista neighborhoods.

Where to Stay:

We recommend staying in the area near Paulista Avenue for convenience. We would also recommend staying in Jardins, an upscale area with some decent shopping, restaurants, and bars. For a city of its size, we were a little surprised by how little hotel options there were but we do think this is due to Sao Paolo being a business city and it not as popular with tourists.

We stayed at the Intercontinental Sao Paolo due to its convenient location, the rate offered, and due to having Ambassador and Diamond Status. The hotel breakfast was decent, we enjoyed free cocktails as part of our Ambassador/Platinum voucher, and the hotel’s extensive gym. The Intercontinental is a short walk to the heart of Paulista Avenue, a few blocks away from the Museum of Art of São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, and a 30-40 minute walk to Jardins. Overall, we did enjoy our stay and found the bed to be super comfortable but it wasn’t anything super exciting. The pool was also very disappointing, as it’s not really a pool!

Here are few 3 – 5 star recommendations:

• Canopy By Hilton Sao Paulo Jardins: Finally – a modern new hotel from Hilton (built in a restored older building) in the Jardins area of Sao Paulo! Opened in 2020, the Canopy By Hilton Sao Paulo Jardins in Sao Paulo is located on a quiet street, but still not far from the action of Paulista. Guests seem to love the well-designed and spacious rooms, and rain-showers in the bathrooms. This appears to be a solid choice overall.

• Hotel Emiliano: While it may not be São Paulo’s newest or most modern hotel, Hotel Emiliano still maintains its status as one being one of the city’s most renowned. While it opened in June 2001, it is still regularly featured at the top of lists celebrating São Paulo’s most luxurious accommodations. With only 56 rooms, guests rave about it’s peaceful setting, and fantastic spa (with some of their great Santapele products featured in the rooms). Tucked away on São Paulo’s ultra-stylish Oscar Freire Street, it has its own helipad (why not?) and a chic bar serving champagne and caviar. This is definitely a refined luxury splurge!

• Radisson Pinheiros: A very new option, Radisson Pinheiros appears to offer a solid 3-4-star accommodation option in Sao Paulo (and based on our research, a very good value!). The rooms appear simple, but modern and the location is fairly central with some great restaurants and yellow line metro station in the surrounding area. We’d recommend Grindhouse Braserito, which is just a short walk down the street. The hotel has as a fitness centre, a restaurant and a bar. Among the facilities at this property are room service and a 24-hour front desk, along with free WiFi throughout the property.

• Fasano Sao Paulo Jardins: Much like it’s closest competitors, the Hotel Fasano Jardins aims to offers a small boutique hotel experience in the middle of the massive city of São Paulo. Opened in 2003 with only 60 rooms, the focus seems to be refined and cotemporary luxury. Those looking for flash may want to look elsewhere – but the fact that the entire Fasano hotel brand has stemmed from this property speaks to reputation it has earned in the last 20+ years. In our opinion, this property may also be one of the best located in all of Sao Paulo!

Things to Do:

Here are some suggestion for things to do in Sao Paolo. We only had a short time but are fortunate to have had the chance to do some of these things!

• Walk on the “Minhocão” highway to see murals: Also known as “The Worm” the Minhocão is an elevated high near downtown Sao Paolo that is closed to traffic on weekends. You can grab a drink and walk down the 2 kilometer stretch of elevated highway to look at the city and observe the murals.
• Walk down Paulista Avenue on Sundays: On Sundays, Paulista Avenue is closed to traffic from 08:00-16:00 and becomes more of an urban park. You can walk, bike, or run the close to 3 kilometer stretch and enjoy cultural activities and vendors.

• Check out one of the many “Feiras” (markets) in the city. Here are a couple suggestions:
  • Feira da Praça Benedito Calixto: Located in Benedito Calixto Square, this arts and antiques market with live music and snacks from 09:00-17:00 on Saturdays.
  • Feira de Liberdade: Liberdade is Sao Paulo’s « Japantown » neighbourhood. Sao Paolo has the highest number of Japanese people outside of Japan and visiting Liberdade is a great way to experience Japanese heritage and culture in Sao Paolo. The Feira de Liberdade is every Saturday and Sunday from 08:00-19:00.
• Visit museums: Like most large cities, Sao Paolo has its share of museums. Here are a couple of recommendations:
  • Museo AfroBrasil: Located in Ibirapuera Park, Museu Afro Brasil is a history, artistic and ethnographic museum dedicated to the research, preservation, and exhibition of objects and works related to the cultural sphere of black people in Brazil.
  • Museum of Art of São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand: The São Paulo Museum of Art collection is considered the largest and more comprehensive collection of Western art in Latin America. Among the 8,000 works of the museum, the collection of European paintings, sculptures, drawings, engravings, and decorative arts stands out.
• Visit Beco do Batman: It is super touristy and gets very crowded but a short stroll through Beco do Batman is worth it, if you are visiting Vila Madalena. Beco do Batman is an alley that has many murals. There is also a lively bar scene that spills onto the street with live music starting around lunch time on weekends. 

Places to Eat/Drink:

In a city as large as Sao Paolo, there are more places to eat and drink at, that you will have time to visit but here are a few suggestions for you.

1. Grindhouse Braserito: There are many options for a grilled meat meal; from the more traditional Brazilian steakhouse experience to more casual restaurants. We ended up choosing Grindhouse Braserito for an Argentinian steakhouse experience and it was phenomenal! We had front row seats to watching our starters and mains being grilled to perfection. Reservations are a must.
2. Mocoto Café: If you were intrigued by Anthony Bourdain’s experience at Mocoto in the North of Sao Paolo but do not have the time or will to make that journey, you can visit the Mocoto Café, located in Pinheiros Market. Mocoto Café has some of the items offered at the restaurant and has comfortable outdoor seating. Bonus: they have an English menu!
3. Bar Da Dona Onca: Located in the Copan building, one of Sao Paolo’s iconic buildings, Bar Dona Onca has become very popular. The menu focuses on dishes from central Brazil and the 1950s. The dining room itself is eclectic and interesting. They have a wide variety of different caipirinha followed by starters, mains and desserts. We shared 2 starters and a main and it was extremely filling! The signature dish is the The Modernist Galinhada, a rice dish with a cured egg yolk on top. Also, they do serve feijoada on Sundays, a must try in Brazil!
4. Consulado Mineiro: You will quickly learn that Minas Gerais is belived for its food and agricultural products. We knew a little about it but learned so much more from speaking to locals in Brazil. If you are not going to Minas, there are plenty of restaurants that serve Minas food, including Consulado Mineiro, right beside the Intercontinental Hotel.
5. Botequim de Primeira: Located near Beco do Batman, this Botequim is a fun spot to grab some drinks and food, and just enjoy them on the sidewalk. It was super busy when we walked by around 13:30.
6. Consulado do Bahia: If you are not traveling to Bahia, trying Bahia food is necessary! The signature dish of Bahia is moqueca, a rich and flavourful seafood stew served with farofa and other accompaniments.

In addition, there is a very strong beer culture in Sao Paolo: from having small chopps of lager from chilled bottles to craft beer, beer lovers will enjoy it here. Here are a couple recommendations:

• Tap Tap: This small craft beer has a selection of craft beers from Sao Paolo and Brazil. They also have very friendly service and seating allows for some people watching.
• Cervejaria Dogma: This is a larger brewery but with a small and cozy tasting room. We really enjoyed the beers and found them to be very unique. Service was also very good and they do serve food, like pizzas.
• Bar Da Dona Onca: Even if you are not interested in the food, you can just have drinks here, including the very delicious Caipirinha Onca Pintada with tangerine and passion fruit. When the weather is nice, they have outdoor seating too.

We didn’t make it to all the places on our list but here is our short list of places we saved on a Google Map.

Neighbourhood	Name	Category
Paulista	Cervejaria Colorado	Beer
Paulista	Balaio IMS	Brazilian food
Paulista	Urbe Cafe Bar	Cafe
Jardins	Barú Marisquería	Seafood
Jardins	Cervejaria Dogma Jardins	Beer
Jardins	Jacarandá	South American
Jardins	NIT Bar de Tapas	Tapas
Jardins	LA BORRATXERIA	Burgers / Choripan
Jardins	Grindhouse Braserito	Grill
Pinheiros	Chimi Choripanes Pinheiros	Choripan
Pinheiros	Mocotó Café	Brazilian
Pinheiros	Frida & Mina	Ice Cream
Pinheiros	Fitó	Brazilian
Pinheiros	Tank Brewbup	Beer
Pinheiros	Pitico	Bar/Lebanese food
Madalena	Peixaria Bar e Venda	Seafood
Madalena	Casca Gastrobar	Gastrobar
Madalena	Croma Beer Co	Beer
Madalena	De Primeira Botequim	Bar snacks
Madalena	Canto Madalena	Bar/Brazilian food
Republica	A Casa do Porco	Snacks focused on pork
Republica	Bar da Dona Onça	Bar/Brazilian food
Republica	Hot Pork	Hot Dogs / Ice Cream
Republica	Orfeu	Brazilian food
Republica	Tap Tap Bar	Beer
Republica	Bia Hoi	Vietnamese
Higienopolis	Portugo	Portuguese tarts
Higienopolis	Cangote Sorvetes	Ice Cream

Summary:

We enjoyed our layover in Sao Paolo and it was a good introduction to travel in Brazil! Sao Paolo offered the large city experience with Brazilian culture. Sao Paolo’s skyscrapers stretch into the skyline as far as the eye can see and it can be intimidating but there is so much life, energy, and culture at the street level.

“Sao Paulo looks like Los Angeles threw up on New York.” Anthony Bourdain