Is Sao Paulo worth visiting? It's the biggest city in South America yet people talk more about Lima, Rio, Bogota, Buenos Aires etc. than this. Is it a boring shithole or a crazy insane awesome fun shithole? Dpes it have history and art? Is it cheap?
Is Sao Paulo worth visiting?
Its pretty cool. Its probably the only place outside of Asia where you can get the true Megacity vibe.
I really don't believe that food is a compelling reason to travel, but Sao Paulo is in a league with Lyon, Chicago, Singapore (at least pre-coof) and Tokyo as exceptions to that rule. Peru has cool stuff to eat don't get me wrong, but how it developed this reputation as South America's premier culinary destination over Sao Paulo I really cannot comprehend. The Peruvian restuarants in Sao Paulo are better than the Peruvian restaurants anywhere in Peru except maybe Arequipa.
The train is great, it'll take you anywhere you want to go. There's a ton of hidden gems and odd little curios (a store selling gear and equipment for American Football, which has a pretty vibrant youth league in SP, that also serves as a shrine to Brian Urlacher) throughout, and you can get by with English vastly better there than you can anywhere else in Brazil. The downside is it can get really fricking sketchy at night, way moreso than most of Rio does.
Ultimately is it better than Rio? No, and if you only have time for one definitely pick Rio. But its still great and imo directly on par with Buenos Aires as the next-best city on the continent to visit. It is vastly better than Lima and Bogota, I wouldn't even rate those two as the best cities to visit in their own country let alone compared to the monster that is SP.
If you want to go to a Megacity, then yes. If not, it is not a touristic city at all. Good restaurants, nightlife (been better decades ago though) shopping (but expensive, better to shop in other countries). There are 3 good museums worth visiting, some parks...
If you are visiting Brazil and getting in/out through GRU airport, I think it is worth spending a few days. If you are staying a long time in the country it is worth it as well. But if you have a tight itinerary I would not recommend for you to come here.
Not sure about Bogota and Lima but Rio got its fame due to its unparalleled nature and vibes, Buenos Aires as an european-like city in South America.
I live in São Paulo and would not leave it for any other city in Brazil. Just do not think it has what attracts tourists to big cities like London/NYC/Bangkok/Tokyo. Most tourists are better doing RJ/Ilha Grande/Paraty/Salvador/Foz do Iguaçu.
:the train is great, it'll take you anywhere you want to go
If you mean the tube/subway it is really clean and efficient. São Paulo is huge and it connects the extremes of the city. It does lacks stations and lines though.
Tbh that's a good thing to do here. Great variety, good service and decent prices.
Agree that Sao Paulo is a cool city. Has soul, more than Rio imo. Not a shithole, but I'm sure you could find shithole neighborhoods like every other city in the world. Haven't been in a few years, found it to be somewhat but not especially cheap when I went. I found Rio to be sketchier, even late at night.
Also agree that Rio is a better city to visit. Rio kinda sucks, but also is incredibly beautiful and has more touristic activities.
>Not a shithole
tell me how I know you only went to the few decent places in what is a 80% hellish city?
I spent about 14 days there and liked it tbh. Have some friends there who showed me several places, wouldn't describe any of what I saw as hellish city. Of course like this I didn't see the shittiest parts.
It's hard to describe Sao Paulo as a shithole when compared to somewhere like Bogotá or even Rio. I stayed in Gávea for a while, maybe the richest neighborhood in Brazil, and still heard gunshots all the time at night and had a power outage due to power lines being plundered. Doesn't seem like that sort of stuff is as common in Sao Paulo.
only people I hear about going there are coomers lol
Sao Paolo seems like a budget Italy trip aside from the med considering how much people larp as Italian. Plus has a pretty sizeable japanese town (which is now full of Chinese).
If I have a 1 day layover there between Florianópolis and Addis Ababa what should I do for one day?
I would uber to Museu do Ipiranga to spend a few hours in the garden/park. Would not enter though due lack of time. Then I would uber to shopping Paulista to have lunch (unless I was into fine dining). Then I would walk from there to Consolação station, stopping at the MASP museum where I would spend 1-2 hours looking at the paintings.
Then I would go to Rua Augusta and drink at some bar. If I was into cooming, I would go to casarao (brothel) and find someone to frick.
Or I would skip all that and go in the morning to the city centre and walk through Praça da República, Sé and São Bento. See the Theatro Municipal, the cathedral (Sé), the pedestrian streets and perhaps go to Sampa Sky. Then would have lunch at Mercadao (Mercado Municipal) which is a tourist trap but worth it anyway. Then go to Pinacoteca (good museum) and after uber or take the subway to Paulista. Would not do it if I were clueless and not able to take care of myself (lots of homeless and crack addicteds in those areas). Also would only do it in weekdays after 8 am.
It is a big city and very unequal. But I would say that social media is the most frquent way to date. But most would rely in instagram. Upper class girls do avoid tinder but besides them lots of people use it. I guess you would just have some problems due the lack of english speaking women. I think your odds are better in bumble because of that.
But besides all that, tinder is easy. 4 years ago I was obese and managed to frick two decent girls. Last year (last time I got on tinder) I was (am) completely broke (but fit) and also managed to find a cutie to have sex with. Did not even took her anywhere and paid her drinks at some bar. Went straigh to her house.
If you have a place it's easy to find someone to go meet you. Finding someone to go to a bar with is also really easy. Then it's up to your skills and beauty.
Btw, both times I just installed it for no more than two weeks and almost autistic.
Can any anons attest to the actual level of crime and danger if you’re a gringo? I wanna check out Brazil at some point (I’m a coomer) but I don’t wanna get shanked for my phone in a random alley.
Are the favela bois cordoned off somehow or is it sprawled in random places all over the city?
Uber is really fricking cheap there, so it's no problem to just ride from your place to the girls apartment without ever walking around on the streets if you're that paranoid, but I walked and took the metro around Rio and SP in the day without any problems. I would be more cautious at night outside of known safe zones.
>worth visiting
Probably, unless you're a normalgay who only likes to go where other insufferable tourists go.
>boring shithole or fun shithole
Pretty fun in my experience. Great food, there are some cool sights to see, museums etc. though not as many as like London for example
>Is it cheap?
Compared to Europe and North America, yes. You're looking at less than $3 a pint even downtown, can get a good meal for like $7 or less even. Ubers are peanuts. I've stayed in 4-star hotels with breakfast, pool, sauna etc for like $60 a night. So it's not the CHEAPEST place ever, but compared to other large cities that aren't total shitholes it's very good value.
How's dating in Sao Paulo? Does Tinder work well?
words can not describe how much i hated the traffic and pollution and big gay in sao paulo, much preferred salvador. second best was florianopolis or curitiba. Curitiba is the cleaner, safer, better sao paulo, and the people are far more based and friendly in curitiba, despite what other brazilians will tell you. i had so much yt poosi in curitiba and brown in salvador i didnt know what 2do with myself.
if you want to talk more about brazil and other alternatives.
https://discord.gg/g2g6RpKVE3
my discord channel about travel espesh brazil