Hello.
I have been at Sao Paulo busy with work for a week, but hope to get a day to roam around during the weekend. My main interests are architecture and photography.
I have been unable to find any group guided day tours of Sao Paulo. I can only find private tours which are very expensive. Can anyone suggest group half/full day guided tours?
I would explore on my own, but language has been a big issue for me till now.
There's the free walking tour (in fact, I think there's more than one):
http://www.saopaulofreewalkingtour.com
http://www.cidadedesaopaulo.com/sp/br/o-que-visitar/roteiros/free-walking-tours
Be careful if you're out and about on Sunday: avoid going anywhere near Av. Paulista. There's big anti-government and pro-government protest planned at the same time. Even if they miraculously don't crash and turn the whole thing into a riotous brawl, the military police has a history of quashing these protests and anyone in the vicinity with tear gas, rubber bullets and batons.
Au contraire. Those are usually fun. :-)
The LP guide has (had?) a brief but functional self guided tour for the centre of town. If you like 19th C architecture on a grand scale I'd recommend taking the metro to Luz. I don't know how much external damage the old station suffered in last year's fire but there is a selection of museums and photogenic piles in the region. As an added bonus you can wander into the park and create a photo essay of the world's oldest sex workers . Be careful with your camera around Luz though, it's not the most salubrious of spots.
Ok, so I am doing the Vila Madalena tour tomorrow, the Old City center tour next Saturday.
I have another day available at my disposal which I can use to explore on my own. I have decided to go up the Banespa building for pictures. What else can I do on my own?
In no particular order:
Pinacoteca, Luz and Mercado Municipal, as Corisco suggested (the fire gutted the Portuguese language museum, but you can still admire the train station). During the day the region is ok (especially around the Pinacoteca), but Cracolândia is not a good place at night.
MASP museum
Ibirapuera park
Cantareira park
Instituto Tomie Ohtake if there's any exhibition that interests you (can probably just walk there from you Vila Madalena tour)
Museu do Futebol
dont know if you like those hop-on hop-off buses, but such service just started in SP this week. it covers a limited area of city in roughly three hours for the entire loop: Luz; Mercado Municipal; Praça da República, Pacaembu; Paulista; Ibirapuera; Centro Cultural São Paulo; Liberdade; Teatro Municipal; back to Luz.
price: R$ 40 (it seems to include entrance fees in some locations too).
tickets sold only inside the bus. payment in cash and debit and credit cards.
valid for 24 hours starting from first use, with unlimited hop on - hop off during service operation.
Audio system with tourist information in Portuguese, English, Spanish
three daily departures: 9am; 12:40; 4pm from first stop (Luz station) - except on Sundays. it is possible to embark on any of the stops.
sunday schedule: departures at 10 am, 1:40 pm and 4 pm from stop 1 - Luz. It takes an alternative route on sundays (as it does NOT pass through Paulista Avenue on that day - it is closed for traffic).
link with description of stops:
http://www.cidadedesaopaulo.com/sp/br/linha-circular-turismo/pontos-de-parada
route map:
http://www.cidadedesaopaulo.com/sp/br/linha-circular-turismo/mapa-do-trajeto
you can track current position of bus if you download a smartphone app:
http://www.cidadedesaopaulo.com/sp/br/linha-circular-turismo/acompanhe-em-tempo-real
and... if your interest in photography extends to the time before photography existed... you can visit a beautiful collection of prints, drawings, maps etc which are part of the Brasiliana Collection... this Brazilian billionaire collected originals of such stuff (a lot of it was made by European artists/scientists who visited Brazil in colonial times or early 19th century; or when the Dutch invaded NE Brazil)... and also some very old photographs of Rio and other places...his heirs opened it up to the public in late 2014... it is permanently housed at Itau Cultural (Avenida Paulista, 149)... its fourth and fifth floors are dedicated solely to this collection... it is free... everything is written in Portuguese and very good English as well... you can zip thru in 15 minutes or spend more than an hour if you read captions (it will be a kind of lesson on Brazilian history, flora and fauna, native peoples)... the website has a few pics of the place... the entrance to the exhibit is quite nice: two floors of white walls covered with original drawings of what was then considered "very exotic" animals and plants... the website pic does not do it justice...
http://www.itaucultural.org.br/explore/espaco-olavo-setubal/espaco/
Thanks for that. I never knew about the Itaú centre. I'll make that a must do on my next trip. The hop on, hop off bus looks like good value too. Let's hope it lasts longer than the one in Rio did.
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