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The area has tons of character and beautiful architecture...but unfortunately Centro São Paulo is littered with the homeless, so that particular area isn't great at night. During the day it's incredible though.
If you walk East through that and go over the highway, there's a solid 10-block area that is purely pedestrian walkways. It's all tight streets, beautiful historical architecture and high rises. It's very unique...someone mentioned earlier that Anthony Bourdain said São Paulo is like "Los Angeles threw up on New York"...but in that area it's kind of like Manhattan threw up on Barcelona/Madrid. It's very cool and interesting.
The area has tons of character and beautiful architecture...but unfortunately Centro São Paulo is littered with the homeless, so that particular area isn't great at night. During the day it's incredible though.
Which of these cities are better tourist destinations?
Will Rio be more known than Sao Paulo because of the Olympics in 2016?
If you had to live in one of these cities which one would you pick and why would you pick it?
For a tourist, definitely 100% Rio de Janeiro!!
For living, Sao Paulo is actually better.
I lived in both briefly, and at the time I quite liked going out late at night, and absolutely loved Sao Paulo. I wasn't into the beach so much during that time.
However, if I was only visiting, Rio is absolutely gorgeous in scenery and beaches. These days I actually am into beaches, so if I were to go back again, I'd prefer Rio for living as well, most likely.
As a tourist destination? It's gotta be Rio, though I still haven't made it up there yet. From a touristic perspective, it's hard to turn down the incredible beaches and what is arguably the most breathtaking physical location on the planet. However the entire coastline ranging from São Paulo to Rio is pretty incredible.
I can't argue for or against Rio as an overall city, but I can say that São Paulo is a fantastic place to be. It's congested and dirty, but man, I love it. The size is awe-inspiring, the parks--especially Ibuirapuera--are great, and the food? Better than any place I've ever eaten in my life. The pizza here makes NYC pizza taste like Papa Johns. It's truly a thing of beauty. The city is incredibly ethnically diverse, and has many interesting neighborhoods. It's also the economic power of Latin America, and hopefully will be for years to come.
The traffic here is terrible, but the expansion of the metrô is...well pretty awesome.
For now, I'm gonna stick with my new home.
I love that Metro map, how far along until those expansions are complete?
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