São Paulo - Accomodations

[trilingual]

Please post info about São Paulo hotels, apartments, "motels" (hotels-by-the-hour) here.

[trilingual]

Being a business capital, SP has hotels of all types and prices.

 

Personally, I like staying downtown. Besides the downtown Hilton (NOT the new one in Morumbi, which is in a new business center very far from all the interesting action for readers of M4M) there are the Bourbon (http://www.bourbon.com.br), Republica Park (http://www.republicaparkhotel.com.br) and Itamarati (http://www.hotelitamarati.com.br) in descending order of luxe and price, all located on very gay Av. Vieira de Carvalho, which runs into the Praca da Republica, where the downtown terminus of the Airport Express buses is located and where there is also a metro station. For more details, use the "search" function within the Message Center for threads on Sao Paulo hotels (and by their specific names) in the Escorts South Board.

 

There aren't many hotels near Lagoa, and the area is otherwise uninteresting. However, if you're just overnighting on your way to or from Brazil or some other flights out of the in-town Congonhas airport (CGH), it might be worthwhile staying close to Lagoa. Options include a new Quality Hotel that SF Traveler mentioned being about ten blocks from Lagoa. It's known as the Quality Ibirapuera, and you can locate it through Quality's website (http://www4.choicehotels.com). There's also a Novotel Ibirapuera that may be nearby. Other hotels in this general part of the city are the Grand Mercure, near Ibirapuera Park, and the new and hip Unique (http://www.hotelunique.com.br/home.htm). Using the "search" function in the Message Center will help you find those postings. There are also some new hotels right near Congonhas airport. One's a Quality, and I also think there's an Ibis. All of these hotels would be about a ten minute cab ride to Lagoa. Mercure, Novotel and Ibis hotels are part of the Accor hotel group at http://www.accorhotels.com

 

From Congonhas you can catch the Airport Service bus to make airline connections to flights out of Guarulhos International Airport (GRU). Just check the schedules to be sure you don't miss your bus!

 

You should probably check with Carlo Romano at romanusrj@uol.com.br about reservations at any of these hotels, as he may be able to get you a better rate.

[sf traveler]

I agree with Tri and just want to add that I believe the only place close enough to walk to Lagoa is the Quality Inn, but I wouldn't do it since it looks to be about a 10 to 15 minute walk and late at night, it's absolutely deserted there. I still think that because the metro is so easy to use and convenient, you're better off staying someplace close to the metro and just using that. SF Traveler

[CarloRio]

Unbeatable promotion in a brand new hotel next to Termas Lagoa

 

Dear M4Mers,

 

 

If you are plannig to stop by Termas Lagoa in one of these days and might want to spend some time in Sampa. There is a brand new hotel which is offering a fantastic price until the end of June... You can stay there for US$ 34.00 a night... and it's walking distance from Lagoa.... it's the Ibirapuera Hotel.

 

As we had already done in Rio we are extending our reservations services and deal to the largest city in South America. Thus if you need that service don't hesitate to contact us....

 

Carlo Romano:7

 

Not your only best company in Rio, but in São Paulo as well....

[Guest BJohn4567]

Just returned from Brazil today. Thought I would leave input on Sao Paulo accomodations. Booked the Blue Tree Towers Paulista through Yes Travel, Miami. Pre-paid rate was around $90/night which was booked at the more favorable currency rate a few months ago. Location just off Paulista and adjacent to MASP which has the best art collection in South America. Great accomodations, but would probably follow advice of others concerning Quality Hotel close to Lagoa. Also stayed at the Comfort Hotel, Guarulhos (international airport) for day-time stay prior to late night flights, rates about $25, $35-40 for overnight accomodations. Hotel in brand new. Also stayed at the Marriott, Guarulhos after being bumped by Varig. Rates about double those at Comfort, rooms larger but not enough of an advantage with respect to price. However, did not care since room was being furnished by airline and was upgraded to executive class on next evening's departure.

[Guest Valleyman]

When I visited São Paulo in early November 2003, I also stayed at the Blue Tree Towers Paulista Hotel. This is a new high-rise hotel located on a quiet side street one block from the Avenida Paulista, just around the corner from MASP (the São Paulo Art Museum). The rooms are very comfortable; they have a safe, mini-bar and TV with English-language channels. The hotel says that each room has high-speed internet access, but I didn’t have a computer with me so I can’t say if it really works. There is a gym and indoor pool. A full breakfast is provided.

 

I didn’t try to bring guests to the Blue Tree, so I don’t know the hotel’s policy concerning guests in the rooms.

 

I made my reservations at http://www.hotelscentral.com. I paid US$54 per night.

 

It is easy to get around from the Blue Tree – a subway stop is only 4 short blocks away for access to all places reachable by subway, including TERMAS LAGOA. For travel to places not near the subway – such as TERMAS FRAGATA -- taxis are easily available. The hotel has high-priced radio taxis waiting at the door. Less expensive street taxis are available at a taxi stand across the street.

 

For changing money, a Citibank branch (with ATM machines) is located on the Avenida Paulista about four blocks from the hotel.

[Guest Valleyman]

In my post concerning the Blue Tree Paulista Hotel I forgot to mention that the Blue Tree hotel chain has its own web site:

 

http://www.bluetree.com.br

[Guest Jake]

Just had my best quality/price hotel deal yet in Sao Paulo - The Hotel Bourbon on _________de Carvalho (forgot the first word but is in the heart of the big gay street and steps to a metro stop). Three-to-four star, breakfast included, free internet in lobby, no problemo with boys. Got a business rate of R$108 per (prox $38).

[trilingual]

The Bourbon is on Vieira de Carvalho. See above for URL. Good to know there's no problem with "visitors." I was afraid they might be uptight about it, being a more upscale establishment.

 

There's also a new Mercure downtown in the same area. Don't know the address, but information about must be available online at the Accor hotels website. You can check with Carlo for information about it and whether he can get you a good rate. Since it's new, it may have some good introductory rates.

[alankay]

In March 2004 Carlo Romano booked me at the Residencia Alameda located 1/2 block from Avenida Paulista and one block to Metro Consolacao. I paid $38 (US) per night for a one bedroom apartment which included a kitchen, dining area and balcony overlooking the highrises along Avenida Paulista. The rate included breakfast. The staff at the apartment hotel were very helpful and even provided me with free internet access in one of their offices. I brought two guys back with me and there was NO PROBLEM. The apartment was very nicely furnished and many businessmen frequent the hotel which is in a great location. For first time visitors I doubt you can find a better deal. I traveled every night to Lagoa-- a short ride via the Metro. A guy from the sauna walked me back to the Metro station late at night but I found it safe to walk to Lagoa early in the evening. I liked staying in the Ave. Paulista area as there is a lot to do with shopping, the MASP and Trianon Park (where on Sunday there is a craft fair) within walking distance.

[Guest Valleyman]

When I visited São Paulo in August 2004, I stayed at the Estanplaza Paulista Hotel. This is a relatively new 15 story building located at Alameda Jaú 497, about 2 blocks from Avenida Paulista. The rooms are very comfortable; they have a safe, mini-bar and TV with English-language channels. There is a gym and a Jacuzzi, but no pool. A full breakfast is provided. (The Quatro Rodas Brasil guidebook rates the hotel as 4 stars, but this is an overly generous rating – it is really a three-star place.)

 

I didn’t try to bring guests to the Estanplaza, so I don’t know the hotel’s policy concerning guests in the rooms.

 

I made my reservations at http://www.hotelscentral.com. I paid US$52 per night. The hotel’s own website is at http://www.estanplaza.com.br

 

It is easy to get around from the Estanplaza – a subway stop is 4 blocks away for access to all places reachable by subway, including the LAGOA and BON VIVANT saunas. For travel to places not near the subway – such as FRAGATA -- taxis are easily available in front of the hotel

 

For changing money, a Citibank branch (with many ATM machines) is located on the Avenida Paulista about three blocks from the hotel. The bank will also change currency and traveler’s checks. The area around the hotel contains many restaurants and fast food places, including a good por quilo restaruant about a block away.

[+ Axiom2001]

I want to echo everything that Alankay cited in his response about this lodging (the Alameda Apartmento Hotel). It is indeed everything that our fellow M4Mer reported and more. This place has a wonderful ambience, superb location, and an adept and helpful staff.

 

I had three freelance escorts from the Olimpos.com.br site come to the apartment. Each time one of my guests arrived, the hotel staff person would ring my room and announce that I had ______(his name) waiting for me; I in turn would just say ok, and the staff person would send him up.

 

I could not have asked for a better place to stay in this large, busy city and at wonderful "off season" prices. I made my arrangements through Carlo at Romanus Travel

 

So, guys, along with Alankay, one of friends from M4M who had stayed there a few weeks before I did, and me, I highly recommend that you stay here if you want some modicum of freedom and privacy. Contact Carlo so that you can get a great rate for this offering; ask for a room on the 10th or 11th floor.

[Guest Valleyman]

In March 2005 I stayed at the Paulista Wall Street Suites. Located at Rua Itapeva 636, it is 2 short blocks from the Avenida Paulista, 3 blocks from the MASP-Trianon subway station and 4 blocks from Citibank. The express bus from the international airport stops around the corner . A 24 hour taxi stand is right in front of the hotel.

 

All rooms are real suites, with a separate bedroom and a kitchen area with a sink and stove. (However no pans or dishes were provided – anyone who decides to cook will have to provide their own.) The bathroom had a large tub with a “hydro-massage” as well as a shower.

 

There is a pool on the roof. A buffet breakfast is provided. (I did not try to bring anyone to my room, so I do not know this hotel’s attitude towards guests in the rooms.)

 

The hotel web site quotes a rack rate of US$120.

http://www.wallstreet.com.br/english/index2.htm

 

I booked through http://www.hotelsbrazil.com and paid only US$63 – at that price this hotel is a real bargain.

[mansor47]

I do not have any new information than what this excellent forum already has in abundance. However, I am just submitting this brief report of my trip to Sao Paulo for some odd particularities of my experience that a few of you who are interested might benefit from.

 

I stayed in Sao Paulo for five days (March 31 to April 4, 2005) in a furnished one bedroom apartment that I found in this forum. It is centrally located and situated in a tony neighborhood of clean and quiet side-streets running parallel to Ave. Paulista, two blocks from the Hyatt Regency, four blocks from a nice wooded park called Trianon which is opposite the Museo de Arte de SP. This place is also close to a few very good cafes and restaurants. The US$57 day rate that Carlo from Romanus arranged for me includes buffet breakfast but a fine grocery is only half a block away for your mineral water and snacks. From the many warnings of the dangers that lurk in this city and in Rio that I have heard from friends and the forum contributors, I was in tenter hooks on my first venture out of my apartment so my heart stopped and jumped to my throat when somebody grabbed me by the arm. As it turned out it was the Air Canada stewardess that remembered me from the incoming flight. I thought it very funny though but laughed only after I regained my normal breathing.

 

Lagoa, the main attraction of SP for me is a short and simple ride on the subway. My first trip to Lagoa was on my second day which was a Friday. Went there early, around four and it quickly filled up with customers and boys being the start of the week-end. In Portuguese they charmingly group the occupants of the premises into customers (os clientes - cli-en-chees) and working boys (os boys). The boys easily outnumbered the customers three to one. You get to see perfect specimens of the whole spectrum here, all of legal age and available for fifty reais depending on the kind of loving you are looking for. The drop-dead georgeous ones (about a third) ask for double the standard rate so depending on the urgency you allow yourself to show, this market place of desire does not really stray far from the law of supply and demand but still well well below Canadian or American going rates. The place is a maze of wet and dry saunas, common shower area enclosed with glass to separate it from the lounge area with tables and chairs and the opposing wall opens to the service bar, a fairly large atrium with park benches around, a tv room with out-door style lounge chairs, a dark tv room and lots of cubicles upstairs. It is quite staggering to take in everything at once since the boys seem to ooze out of the white plaster work, each and everyone invariably continuously adjusting the towels around their waist to afford you a glimpse of what they are stroking underneath as if it is still not quite apparent from the bulge. I have never in my life been confronted with an equally delightful scene nor ever been stymied by such an impediment of choice. Oh I suspect that owing to my newly acquired relative ease (tic) with Portuguese I was magically able to communicate with them and comprehensively convey exactly what I am looking for so they pretty much left me alone and loose and free to approach whoever I have set my eyes and heart on. They seem to latch on to you though if you only speak English.

 

On alternate afternoons, for even more variety, I visited Fragata which is not very far from where I am staying but somewhat complicated to figure out by subway so I went there by cab. I found out that SP cab drivers are not very knowledgeable about their locus operandi. I had to give them instructions on how to get there and this is where facility with the language is again a big help. Although Fragata is smaller, no atrium, it is laid out roughly the same way. The lounge is sandwitched between the boys’ locker room and showers so you can drink and nibble at your snack while surveying and deciding on whom you are going to bestow your bet that visit. There is also a stage against one of the walls that they use for their shows but I did not wait for them since they usually start very late and besides the shower is already a show alone and by itself. I usually ask the boy of my choice if he gives a good massage and of course he answers yes and check him out closer once we are alone in the cubicle and while getting the massage and if I like what I see I usually up the ante by going for the whole works. Most of the time the boy segues into the next level of intimacy without any urging and it is then up to you to stop him if you are not up to it. I found that I no longer have the stamina to give it a second go round unlike most of the other younger guests so I just stay on the lounge to take in more of the scene while drinking mineral water and treating my recent partner to whatever he wants from the bar and leave around eight or nine truly relaxed and content.

 

On my second trip to Lagoa I invited a boy I was chatting with to leave the place early for dinner. He leafed through a guidebook and took me to an impressive and classy churrasqueria on Avenida Rebouças called Vento Haragano. I chose a medium priced Cote de Nuit to wash down the excellent cuts of meat they were going around proffering and ended up with a hefty tab but still well below what it would have been had I eaten at Plataforma in NY. This place convinced me totally that the taste of beef, pork, lamb and chicken in Brazil and Argentina is much better than what is available in North America even when eating in very good steak spots.

 

There are few other saunas in SP such as Termas for Friends but by looking at the map alone they seemed to me too remote or complicated to reach so I was not able to visit them to give you a fuller account. I am however already contemplating my return so may be next time I’ll find out for sure. I took the air-conditioned double decker to Rio and the pleasant trip was about five hours with a half hour rest stop along the way. Rio was even more beautiful and exciting but I shall tell you about it on my next installment. Till then.

[Guest Conway]

I'm getting ready to book now for my November trip (to take advantage of what appears to be an increasing exchange rate of the real against the dollar). I have two choices in Sao Paulo where i will be for one evening. They are the Estanplaza International ($70 US per night) and the NH Della Volpe ($90 US per night). Does anyone have any experiences with these hotels? Are they convenient to Lagoa, cultural sites and good dining? I'll only be in SP for two nights.