TRAVEL TIPS

Tours

Tours

You can hire a bilingual guide through a travel agency or a hotel concierge (about R$15 an hour with a four-hour minimum), or you can design your own itineraries. The São Paulo tourist board's Cidade São Paulo website offers various themed walking itineraries and English-language audio guides, and it outlines tours facilitated by subway through the TurisMetrô program. SPTuris conducts three half-day bus tours on Sunday, one covering the parks, one centered on the museums, and one focused on the historical downtown area. Officially, the board's guides don't speak English, but it's sometimes possible to arrange for an English speaker.

Check Point. Check Point's daily tours specialize in general sightseeing. They don't have a physical location, so reservations are online-only. São Paulo, 011/2791–1316; 011/99187–1393; www.checkpointtours.com.br. From R$450 for three people.

Easygoing Brazil. Brazilian cooking lessons, kart rides at the Interlagos Formula One racetrack, and fly-and-dine tours that include a helicopter trip are part of Easygoing's personalized services. You can book tours in English if you reserve by phone. Perdizes, São Paulo, 011/3801–9540; www.easygoing.com.br. From R$373.

Gol Tour Viagens e Turismo. This company offers half-day city tours, and they also do custom and out-of-town tours for small groups to cities such as Campos do Jordão. Centro, São Paulo, 011/3256–2388; www.goltour.com.br. From R$155.

Night Biker's Club. These free group bike tours start Tuesdays at 8:45 pm. Rua Pacheco de Miranda 141, Moema, São Paulo, 04503-080. www.nightbikers.com. Free.

Sampa Bikers. Specializing in city bicycle tours and excursions outside town, Sampa Bikers has a two-hour tour every Wednesday. São Paulo, 011/5517–7733; www.sampabikers.com.br. From R$50.

SP Free Walking Tours. To explore the city's historic center or the gleaming towers and old mansions around Avenida Paulista, join one of the free, English-language group tours run by this outfitter. Tours are around three hours long and leave from Praça República and Avenida Paulista. São Paulo, www.saopaulofreewalkingtour.com.

Terra Nobre. This company's four-hour car tours include a driver and an English-speaking guide, for one or two people. Rua Tagipuru 235, Conjuntos 44, Perdizes, São Paulo, 01156–900. 011/3662–1505; www.terranobre.com.br. From US$310.

BACK TO

Ready for a trip of a lifetime to Sao Paulo?

CONTACT US TODAY