Is Sao Paulo an unknown city ?
 

Coul someone help us! My friend and I are going to Sao Paulo from January 8th to 15th 2006. We like walking in big cities, visiting landmarks, museums, architecture, shopping and good restaurants. Could someone be good enough to give us tips as to where to stay and how to spend our week.
Thank you. PELO

SP is a great place to visit, but hardly on foot.
Stay at Jardins district to be at walking distance to restaurants and shops. If money is not an issue, stay at posh Emiliano (www.emiliano.com.br, $ 300). On a budget, book a $ 70 room at Quality Suites Imperial Hall (http://www.atlanticahotels.com.br/at...mp;NumHotel=51).
Try fish at A Figueira (Haddock Lobo st.), Portuguese food at Antiquarius (Lorena st), Contemporary Brazilian at Carlota (Bahia st, Higienópolis, Lebanese at Arabia (Haddock Lobo st), feijoada (Brazilian black bean stew) Wednesdays and Saturdays at Rubayiat (Faria Lima ave.), pizza at Veridiana (José Maria Lisboa st.) and rodízio (all-you-can-eat barbecued meat served by waiters, plus a huge salad bar)at Barbacoa (Renato Paes de Barros st). Shop at Oscar Freire st and Iguatemi shopping mall. Have a drink at night at Skye, the roof bar at trendy Unique hotel (Brigadeiro Luís Antônio ave.). Don´t miss Masp (best art collection in Latin America), Pinacoteca (most atmospheric museum) and Oca (modernist showroom at Ibirapuera Park).
Have a nice trip!

Thank you very much Riq. for your precious info. What do you think of Golden Tulip Hotel Paulista Plaza Al.Santos 85 or the Tryp Paulista, Rua Haddok Lobo, 294 ? We would like to pay not more than 85$ US and these hotels are 75$ US and 65 $ US breakfast included for 2 persons. Are they well located, are they in Jardins ? I read reviews on The Golden Tulip and they were good for the service but no mention on the location. Tryp is part of Melia where we stayed in Buenos Aires last year (and were very satisfied), but is it well locate ?
Thank you Pelo

It is hard to find information on SP, but I have enjoyed there the Pinocoteca, an art gallery in a famous old building (a former customs house?). It was easy to take the subway there, the stop was right next door. It has a nice cafe too.

Thank you Laurie Ann. We surely will go to the Pinocoteca. Where did you stay in Sao Paulo ? Do you have a suggestion for us ?

I stayed at a modest business hotel next to the offices of where I was working while I was there. It was fine, but not anything convenient to recommend for a leisure trip.

Thanks again Laurie Ann.

SP is a HUGE city, with a heavy traffic and some points very far from each others.
But Jardins and all the Paulista avenue surroundings are (in my point of view) the best place for stay. Subway (metro) is close, excellent hotels, restaurants and shopping. By the way, food and shop are São Paulo's best activities.
Stay in Paulista area and take subway (R$2.10 one-way) to explore the city.
The Tryp Paulista is in the end of Paulista Ave -near Consolação station- opposite side of Jardins district. The Ibis Paulista (accorhotels.com.br) is on Paulista Ave, for only R$90. Try the Best Western Regent (from USD100) is on Oscar Freire St- the place for shopping brands like Lacoste, Benetton, Osklen, Diesel... close to Bela Cintra street - Versace, Armani, Cartier, Tiffany, Bvlgari, etc... Back to Paulista Ave, the best bookshops are Livraria Cultura and Fnac. Iguatemi Shopping Center is a little far from Paulista (no subway there) and has all internacional stores that Jardins have. Check some Accor Hotels properties and Blue Tree Hotels, they may have great options. Remember: as a business city, São Paulo will have great rates on weekends, and expensive ones on weekdays.

Thank you Abarbier. You have been very helpfull. If you would be so kind to answer few more questions, it would help me very much. I read that Paulista is 3km long but where is it better at the beginning(near Concolaçao station)or furthur(near brigadeiro station or Paraiso station) ? Also, what about Cerquare Cesar area ? is it ok to stay, eat and shop ?
PELO

Riq and abarbier,

Thanks for a very helpful response. I am considering a two night stay in Sao Paulo upon returning from Southern Africa, before flying home to Los Angeles. The reason for this is that I am doing a pre-Africa four night visit to Buenos Aires, before flying to Sao Paulo and onward to Johannesburg. However, at the end, there is no need to return to Buenos Aires, and with only a couple nights available, and a mandatory overnight, I do think the Hotel Emiliano would be great.

Would Skye be a good place for a couple in their early 30's to go and hang out? We will be there at the beginning of December if all works out, so I would think that the weather would be warm and great to hang out at Skye. Is there dancing also?

Any other good somewhat sophisticated nighttime hotspots for a couple our age? Would like to avoid too young of a crowd. Live music would be great.

Thanks.

Check out the February issue of Travel and Leisure (U.S.) edition. It has a short but good articles about museums, shopping and dining in SP (although nothing about hotels).

Thank you all for your helpful answers. Here is a resumé of our trip. My husband and myself just came back from an 18 days Princess cruise in Brazil and one week in Sao Paulo. This country is beautifull with wounderfull beaches, old and modern architecture, interesting history and sights, varied fauna and flora,very good food, and very nice and helpful brazilians. Bahia and Olinda are very well preserved and very interesting old towns. Belem very special port, Recife and Fortaleza very modern cities by the beach and Rio always so magnificient (a jewel). We also enjoyed visiting Sao Paulo on our own, by metro and walking. We stayed at the excellent Golden Tulip four stars hotel(dutch chain), located in Jardins at 85 Santos alemada,73$ U.S. per night,including an excellent buffet breakfast.The sunday brunch is wonderfull and women pay half.The hotel is located one block from Paulista avenue near the Brigadeiro metro station, across the street from the excellent Rubayiat restaurant. This allowed us to go and visit the MASP museum, chinatown, the old city, the nice Pinheros district and very rich cidade jardim area in Itaim Bibi,the iguatemi shopping center (expensive)and other shopping centers close to the hotel. We bought shoes at a very good price at Di Pollini store, Paulista Shopping center, from Jorge, a very simpathetic salesman. We walked to the beautifull Ibirapuera park. We did not see all we wanted because the metro does not cover the entire hudge city. We were fascinated by all these high rises of different architecture that we could see from our 20th floor hotel room. The old city is very interesting but very crowded therefore dangerous for pickpockets. We did not go out after dark except to eat around the hotel. We do not understand why Sao Paulo is so downsized by some poeple. We think it is worth the visit. Unfortunately there are no organized sightseing tour except the very expensive and private tours which we did not take. Thank you ABARBIER for all your helpfull info. We enjoyed your city and love Brazil.
PELO