Sao Paulo City Highlights 5-Hour Guided Tour by Vehicle

Nossa Senhora do Brasil Church and the Jardins district

The tour opens in Jardim América, the leafy garden district laid out in the 1920s, at the Church of Nossa Senhora do Brasil. Completed in 1952, it is one of the richest church interiors in the city: the nave is lined with blue-and-white Portuguese tile panels, the ceiling is painted with scenes from Brazilian religious history and the altars glow with gilded baroque carving. It is the only interior visit of the first half of the tour, and the guide allows about twenty-five minutes.

Many travellers choose the meeting point at the church itself at 09:00, since it is where the first visit takes place. From here the vehicle crosses the tree-lined avenues of Jardins towards Vila Madalena, and the guide introduces the layout of São Paulo, a city of distinct neighbourhoods that a São Paulo city tour by vehicle connects far faster than public transport.

Beco do Batman and Vila Madalena

Vila Madalena is the bohemian hillside neighbourhood of studios and galleries on the west side of the city, and Beco do Batman is its most famous address: a short network of alleys whose walls, gates and lamp posts have been painted by graffiti artists since the 1980s. The murals change every few months, so no two visits are alike, and it has become the best-known open-air street-art gallery in Brazil.

The stop lasts around twenty minutes, enough to walk the alleys and take photos, and is the most colourful moment of the morning. The guide explains how São Paulo's street-art culture grew and points out the styles of the main artists. A Beco do Batman tour is usually on every visitor's list, and reaching it by vehicle avoids the steep walk up from the metro.

Avenida Paulista and Casa das Rosas

Avenida Paulista is the financial and cultural spine of the city, a three-kilometre boulevard on the ridge where coffee barons once built their mansions. The tour drives its full length as a panoramic ride, passing the red-pillared São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP) suspended over its open plaza, Trianon Park, a fragment of original Atlantic Forest, and the headquarters of the big banks and media companies. The guide points out what to come back for, from the Sunday antiques fair to the museum's collection.

The one stop on the avenue is Casa das Rosas, a French-style mansion built in 1935 with a formal rose garden, one of the last survivors of the coffee era now kept as a cultural centre for Brazilian poetry. Entry is free and the gardens make a calm contrast with the towers around them. For many visitors the Avenida Paulista and Casa das Rosas stop is where São Paulo's past and present meet.

Ibirapuera Park and the MAC rooftop viewpoint

Ibirapuera Park, opened in 1954 for the city's four-hundredth anniversary, is the green heart of São Paulo, with lakes, lawns and a set of white modernist pavilions linked by a sinuous canopy. The tour stops outside the park for photos of the Bandeiras Monument, the huge granite group of pioneers pushing a canoe that stands at the entrance, and of the obelisk beside it.

The vehicle then crosses the avenue to the Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo (MAC), housed in a long modernist building; the tour goes up to its rooftop terrace, which has a free panoramic view over the whole park, the lake, the pavilions and the skyline of the west side of the city. It is the best viewpoint of the morning and the ideal place to understand the size of Ibirapuera Park before the drive into the historic centre.

Liberdade and the historic centre

The second half of the tour is a panoramic drive through the oldest part of São Paulo. It begins in Liberdade, the Japanese district with its red lanterns and torii gate, and continues to Praça da Sé, the city's kilometre zero, and the neo-Gothic Metropolitan Cathedral with its twin spires. A few streets away is the Pátio do Colégio, the site where Jesuit priests founded the city in 1554, and the Church and Monastery of São Bento, famous for its Benedictine community and bakery.

The route then crosses the Viaduto do Chá, the tea bridge over the Anhangabaú Valley, passing the Municipal Theatre, an opera house from 1911, República Square, the Duque de Caxias monument and the Sala São Paulo concert hall. The drive gives the full picture of the São Paulo historic centre in about forty minutes, with the guide explaining each building as you pass.

Luz Station and the Portuguese Language Museum

The tour ends at Luz Station, the most beautiful railway station in Brazil, built between 1895 and 1901 with ironwork and bricks shipped from Britain and a clock tower modelled on those of London. It is still a working station on the metro and suburban lines, and its grand facade faces the Jardim da Luz, the oldest public park in the city. Inside the station building is the Museum of the Portuguese Language, a modern interactive museum devoted to the language spoken by more than 260 million people.

The tour includes free time here, and the museum café is the place to try a traditional Brazilian coffee at your own expense before the tour finishes; museum entry itself is optional and paid on site. From Luz Station you can take the metro or a taxi back to your hotel or on to Avenida Paulista, which makes it a practical finishing point for the day.