5 days in Sao Paulo in July

[Wellpisser]

We are there for a wedding so really 3 days. What to do in Sao Paulo for 3 days and is it true about the helicopter nonsense between buildings?

Sell it to me.

[Bastet]

My friend who is from there just came back and she’s saying the country is turning to shit. There was a petrol shortage that was so bad she couldn’t travel to see family outside the city because they couldn’t get enough to get back to the airport.

Not what you wanted to hear.

[twodogs]

I had a weekend to kill between jobs in Sao Paulo and Nova Era so I drove and spent a couple of nights with friends in Juiz de Fora. Nice scenery and good roadside food.

You could fly to Vitoria for a beach experience, spend the night, take a train to Belo Horizonte then fly or drive back to Sao Paulo from there.

Most of the locals I know refuse to go to Rio due to crime.

[Andrea1]

Some of the highlights from when I was there for a couple of days, in March.

I walked a lot, loved the streets. There's imaginative art and sculpture everywhere. Check out the advertising signs. I was told, some mayor or public servant, whose name I forget, brought in a law banning large screen/large scale advertising, companies have had to be inventive. Batman Alley-Graffiti Central, is in a cool, arty area of Sao Paulo. There's a lot of greenery and space, but that's the same pretty much everywhere I went in Brazil.

On a Sunday, Paulista Avenue is great, they close it to traffic. Performers of all kinds, food/craft street sellers, people strolling along, take over. It's quite interesting being there at the end of the day when they reopen the street. It's like a mild confrontation/battle of wills between the police and car drivers on one side, the people-pedestrians/performers/sellers reluctant to leave, on the other. MASP Sao paulo's best museum, which I didn't go inside and see the collection (regret), but the building and the space around it is impressive.

There are amazing views from various viewpoints, bridges, etc.. There's an interesting background story relating to MASP, one I'm struggling to remember, is someone donating the land on condition that it retain an unblocked viewpoint of Sao Paulo's dowtown in perpetuity. I think. Don't think they've been 100% respectful of that but it is a great viewing spot.

The architecture is a huge mix, a number of the older buildings appear to be banks, big corporations, there's loads of new, varied stuff. The old area has a bad rep but is also interesting to see, looks like they're revamping it. Slowly.

There's a Japan town that I visited but there was a festival on, it was jam-packed, couldn't move so escaped as soon as I could.

The Metro is great, Sao Paulo is huge, use it.

Then go to a beach.

[strife]

Sampa is unlovely and dauntingly huge. It's hard to figure it out without a local friend. Liberdade is a huge neighborhood of third-generation Japanese-Brazilians, and Bixiga is Italian. Both are fantastic for eating. July will be chilly and rainy. Be careful - crime is an issue, and neighborhoods change quickly. And yes, the helicopter commuters exist. Traffic is that bad. The city smells like shit.

[Andrea1]

Have you got your yellow fever jab? There was an outbreak (Sao Paulo State and Rio State) when I was there. Should be fine in the City, though a tourist beach area was also affected. They were doling out free vaccinations in Paraty, which is where I got mine.

[strife]

Ubatuba is the nearest beach spot. Underwhelming, especially compared to what's on offer in RdJ state. I wouldn't even bother in midwinter.

Also, there's a surprising dearth of English speakers in Brazil. Portuguese is very close to Spanish, but significantly more difficult. You'll be glad if you put in a few hours of study before going.