We will be travelling to Sao Paulo for a family wedding. The wedding is on Oct 31 of this year. We can extend our trip both before and after the wedding and would like to take in some of the sights, but don't know where to begin.

Also travelling with is (a couple in our early 60's) will be our daughter, son-in-law and their 1 1/2 yr. old baby.

We are hoping to use frequent flyer miles, so knowing which airport(s) to fly in and out of will be important to know ahead of time.

Can you suggest the high lights of what to see?

Thanks,
LSOK

Close to Sao Paulo, you can visit Paraty which is a nice small colonial city. You are also only 400km from Rio de Janeiro, which if you haven't been to should be a must.

São Paulo is a huge megalopolis, a working place, not really a tourist destination. Rio de Janeiro would no doubt be my first choice.

Ouro Preto and the historical cities of Minas Gerais would also make a distant second choice.

The Amazon and Pantanal regions are pretty remote from São Paulo and should not be taken into consideration as a side trip.

These destinations you must plan to go to them, period.

Salvador would also be so.. so...

Rio de Janeiro would by far be my first choice.

By the way, the airport you will arrive in Sao Paulo is the Cumbica airport at Guarulhos (GRU is its short). I guess its official name is Airport Franco Montoro).

Thank you for your reply, jfcarli. It has been a while since anyone has responded to my question that I was surprised to see a current response.

Since I originally posted -we have made our air reservations arriving and leaving from Sao Paulo. We arrive on Oct 29 and will spend 3 or 4 days visiting family for my nephew's wedding. We hope to travel from November 2-13 or 14. We leave on Nov 14, but may want to spend the last day with our cousins in Sao Paulo. That should give us about 11 or 12 days to travel. Also, although my daughter and her family, which includes a 20 month old, will also be visiting Brazil, we will probably only travel with them part of the time.

We have at least 12 days to travel and we definitely plan to spend a few days in Rio. We would also like to see the Foz at Iguazu, which would only take an additional 2 days.

Then the big question is a third place to visit. We were actually hoping to get to the Pantanal or the Amazon, but perhaps they are too far away. Would either of these place NOT be good because of weather at this time of year? (early November).

Thanks again for all the suggestions and advice.

Foz do Iguacu, by all means!!! Can`t imagine why I did not mention it!!!

The Amazon region is hot, humid and rainy all year around. It won`t be rare to have sun in the morning, rain by 11am, sun by 01pm rain again by 5pm and so on. So, I don`t think there will be much of a difference what time of the year you go to.

I was in Belem in March, and that was about what we got all throughout the 10 days in there. The Amazon area is also a lot further away and air plane tickets will be more expensive than, for example, a ticket to Campo Grande from where you can start your Pantanal adventure. Unfortunately it has been many, many years since I was around the Corumba region, so I can`t really be of much help regarding the Pantanal.

Hi Isok --- Actually November is the Dry Season in the Amazon -- and you probably will not get any rain at all at that time of the year. I suggest purchasing a Brazil Airpass for your flights within Brazil. Flying from Sao Paulo to Manaus will be either a 3 hour flight or a 5 hours flight depending on the route and if you stop over in Brasilia on the way. I suggest staying at Ariau Amazon Towers Hotel -- it is really the only place you will see a lot of wildlife while strolling on the canopy level walkways. (Animals tend to stay at canopy level in the rainforest.)
www.AriauAmazonTowers.com
The hotel has all inclusive packages -- so their guides will pick you up at the airport and take you to the boat. The dock is only 20 minutes from the airport so it is a pretty convenient and easy trip to make. Once on the boat it is only 2 1/2 hours to get to the hotel. You might choose to spend the first night at the Tropical Hotel Manaus before taking the boat trip to Ariau Amazon Towers.
Feel free to peruse my blog for other ideas
www.SouthAmericanEscapes.com/blog