A few weeks in São Paulo

I've spent some time in São Paulo for a work assignment. I'm a single, gay guy in my 30s with a healthy budget. I speak English & Spanish fluently, and Portuguese well. Just sharing some thoughts!

Overall: São Paulo has great art, awesome walkable neighborhoods, and cool architecture. It is a very business oriented city, a great place to live and make money. As a tourist, it is a city you will either love or hate. The best tourist attractions are the museums with the Museu Arte de Sao Paulo (MASP) and the Pinacoteca being my favorite. They also close Avenida Paulista every Sunday just to walk around (similar to Avenida Reforma in CDMX). I also love Brutalist architecture and São Paulo is famous for it!

Cost: Hmmm, this is a hard one. Lunch was a good deal (often around 40-50 reais, or $8-10USD). Cocktails were also around 40-50 reais ($8-10USD). Dinner for two (appetizer, two entrees, two drinks) at a 'nicer' place would usually cost about about 300 reais (about $60 USD). Lattes were about..20 reais ($4USD). There are really cool Brasilian clothing brands, perfume, and chocolate - these could be pretty expensive but the quality was high.

My parents came and when we were doing hotel research, business budget hotels were around $100-150 USD, "nicer" (Hilton, JW Marriot) around $250 USD, and luxury around $600-800 USD. The Rosewood brand has a hotel in São Paulo and rooms are between $800 - $1000USD

Food: The more affordable dinner options are 'botecos' which are like corner bars. They have a fun atmosphere but lots of fried food. The food scene overall is great - excellent Italian and Japanese food (actually international in general), as well as Brasilian. I was unfamiliar with Brasilian cuisine before coming here and it is quite delicious and super well balanced (protein, rice, beans, veggie). I love moqueca, which is a coconuty seafood stew from Bahia. There is also an excellent 'lunch' culture here. It is Brasilian law to give a full hour for lunch and therefore, the lunch scene thrives. There are many all-you-can-eat buffets or pay by the kilo places to eat in the middle of the day, and the quality is excellent! I did not find good Mexican food 😞

Public Transportation: I found the metro in São Paulo to be pretty amazing - though if you are not a resident of Brasil you have to buy single use tickets which is a pain. I found it clean, quick, reliable, and safe.

Weekend Trips The beaches just north of São Paulo are lovely. Beach is so clean as is the water. Really appreciate the Brasilian beach culture - especially with all the carts of food & drink that come right up to you. You can rent a car and get there (Litoral Norte) in about 2.5 hours.

Safety: I am not a night owl and was home by 8pm even on the weekend. You must must must be careful with your phone. A coworker of mine got his phone snatched by motorbikes around 5:30pm walking down the sidewalk. It's always difficult for me to talk about safety. Did I 'feel' safe? Yes, for the most part. However, just hearing the stories (so many of my Brasilian coworkers had their phones stolen) made me really aware of my surroundings.

Random Thoughts: I have spent time in Tokyo and Mexico City for work as well. São Paulo reminded me more of Tokyo than CDMX. The cityscape is similar (endless sea of mid rise buildings). And, I felt that both Japan and Brasil are quite 'unique' regarding their cultures and food. My interactions with people in São Paulo were not that warm. I found CDMX a much friendlier place. However, if you are a big city lover and want to explore cool neighborhoods and just wander around, I recommend São Paulo!