Santos travel guide

Santos, Brazil

By the Travel Wiki editorial team

Santos

Introduction

Santos is a municipality in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, founded in 1546 by the Portuguese nobleman Brás Cubas. It sits mostly on the island of São Vicente, which it shares with the city of São Vicente, and it is the main city of the Baixada Santista metropolitan region. As a port city, Santos has long been a point of arrival and departure, and its identity is bound up with both the sea and the coffee trade that once passed through it.

You can trace that history at the Coffee Museum, where world coffee prices were once negotiated, and at the Port of Santos, through which a large share of the country's trade flows. Football fans will find the Memorial das Conquistas, dedicated to the city's greatest players, among them Pelé, who spent most of his career with Santos Futebol Clube. Along the waterfront, the beachfront garden stretches for kilometres and is recognised as the largest of its kind in the world.

Before you go

Santos sits partly on the island of São Vicente and partly on the mainland, and it is the main city of the Paulista Coast. It is a major port and industrial centre, handling a large share of the world's coffee exports along with oranges, bananas and cotton, and it is also a significant tourist destination.

Getting there

Santos is reached from São Paulo, and most travellers arrive through the city's airports or bus terminals. If you fly into Congonhas (CGH) or Guarulhos (GRU), you can arrange a taxi service onward to Santos, a trip that takes a little over an hour; there are also roughly eight buses a day from Guarulhos. By bus, take a taxi or the subway to Jabaquara Bus Station, where buses run directly to Santos every fifteen minutes, around the clock, with a journey of about an hour and twenty minutes. These buses stop at the Centro Rodoviário, and some continue to São Vicente, to Gonzaga by the beach, or to Ponta da Praia on the channel, which is handy if you plan to take a boat on to Guarujá. You can also alight at other stops along the way, but only if you are not carrying luggage in the bus's luggage trunk. A separate direct service runs from terminal 1, arriving in Santos in about two hours and twenty minutes.

Driving from São Paulo, choose between the rodovia Padre Anchieta and the rodovia dos Imigrantes. Each has a plateau section and a mountain section descending the Serra do Mar to sea level; the older Anchieta winds narrowly through the mountains, while the Imigrantes is wider and mostly straight thanks to its tunnels and bridges. Trucks and buses are barred from the Imigrantes mountain section and must use the interlink to the Anchieta. Both roads charge a toll, payable in one direction only, when leaving São Paulo, and traffic is often diverted from one road to the other for regulation or road works, so follow the dynamic signs.

Getting around

Santos is compact and flat, so walking covers much of the centre and beachfront, where the waterfront gardens, the beach and the historic centre sit within easy reach of one another. Bicycles are by far the best way to move around town, and there are many places to rent one; note that riding on most of the beaches is not allowed during the day, though there are ciclovias, including a well-signed one in front of the beach. Buy a padlock as well.

Local buses are cheap and a pleasant way to get around by day, but they become scarce at night. Pay with tickets sold at most bus stops, or in cash to the driver or conductor, passing through a turnstile. Watch for pickpockets when the bus is crowded, and check that your seat is dry before sitting, since many passengers board still wet from the sea. For route planning, use Moovit, Google Maps or a bus schedule app; in Moovit, select the metro area "Santos e Região". Taxis suit places that are not so close together and are not very expensive, with mostly friendly drivers, though small cheats are not unheard of — check that the taximeter has been started and ask the driver to switch it on if not. Uber is also available. A couple of tourist routes run early twentieth-century streetcars, but these are a heritage experience rather than a practical way to commute.

Where to stay

For budget stays, look to the side streets just west of Avenida Ana Costa (which becomes Avenida Bernardino de Campos), one or two blocks from the beach, where you'll find a few simple, mixed cheap hotels and pensões. On the Paquetá side of the city centre, between the centre and the port, there are a few very cheap hotels that are on the grotty side — an option only if you cannot afford anything else, and women travelling alone might feel uncomfortable there.

If you're willing to spend a little (or a lot) more, Parque Balneário on av. Ana Costa, 555 is an awesome hotel, while Mendes Plaza on av. Floriano Peixoto, 42 sits at the top of the local hotels.

Food & drink

Santos has plenty of budget options clustered near the beach, especially around the Gonzaga and Boqueirão neighbourhoods. For healthy fare, try Empório da Granola on Avenida Marechal Floriano Peixoto, or settle in at Bar Cavaco Santista, Bar e Restaurante Bolinha's near Canal 1, Pasteluxo Grill in Gonzaga, Cozinha in Boqueirão, or Restaurante Nova Mineira, also in Gonzaga. Further east along the beach, the Embaré area offers Restaurante Bella Bambina, Bar do Bigode and Restaurante Florença, while Felicidade Lanches in Aparecida and Eskimó in Ponta da Praia round out the casual choices.

For something mid-range, Beduíno serves Brazilian burgers and finger foods, Gotissô offers affordable self-service Japanese cuisine, and Vista ao Mar is a seafood restaurant known for a generous paella that's best shared with a group. If you're after a splurge, Mar Del Plata is a traditional seafood restaurant, and Tertulha is a steak house where waiters bring many cuts of meat to the table for you to choose from. When it comes to drinking, Santos bars get crowded and lively on weekends, with beer, caipirinha and batidas found everywhere and live MPB (Popular Brazilian Music) at many spots. Armazém 29 is an informal bar popular after a day at the beach and is said by locals to serve the best caipirinha in town. Barão do Café is a thematic bar celebrating Brazil's coffee era, with old photos of the city on the walls and live music Wednesday to Sunday nights. Chop Santista is a huge bar with two separate rooms, one featuring live music, and gets very crowded on weekends. Heinz is a more traditional option with a not-so-young crowd, serving good German food and appetizers to go with the beer.

What to see and do

Santos rewards you with a mix of maritime history, coffee heritage and beachfront leisure. Start at the Docks, where the Dock Museum on Avenida Rodrigues Alves tells the story of what was once the world's greatest coffee dock, and the 12-metre Statue of the Dock Worker in Praça Silvério de Souza honours the labourers who carried tons of coffee daily. In the Center, the old Coffee Stock Exchange on Rua XV de Novembro now houses a Museum of Coffee, with historic machinery and different kinds of coffee in a Renaissance-inspired building. Monte Serrat Hill rises right in the middle of the city, offering views over Santos and neighbouring Guarujá from its summit, plus restaurants and coffee bars; a tram runs up if you'd rather not climb. Football fans can visit the Santos Futebol Club on Rua Princesa Isabel, where Pelé played most of his career and where trophies and glories are on display.

Along the beach area you'll find the beachfront garden, the longest of its kind in the world, stretching along the sand. The Aquarium at Ponta da Praia, the first public aquarium in Brazil, showcases hundreds of creatures from Brazilian seas. The Gothic Church of Embaré stands nearby, and the Orchid Garden and Zoobotanic garden at Praça Washington Luís holds greenhouses full of orchids plus turtles, pacas and free-flying toucans and macaws. The Benedicto Calixto Art Collection occupies a mansion on Avenida Bartolomeu de Gusmão with a permanent exhibition of his paintings and an art library. To get around, ride the historic trams that date back to 1861 and pass the main attractions of the center, departing from Mauá Square, or take the Double Deck tour along the beachfront on summer weekends and long holiday weekends, departing near the Aquarium with a guide pointing out the sights. Paulistas flock here to lie in the sun, walk the beach, sip coconuts and browse handicrafts from vendors who will find you. In the late afternoon, stroll XV de Novembro Street, once home to the offices of the Coffee Lords, for its colonial architecture and surrounding bars and cafés.

Three days in Santos

Day one: Begin in Santos itself, the historic heart of the Baixada Santista, and give your first hours to the Coffee Museum, where the story of Brazilian coffee and the port that carried it comes together. Wander from there toward the port area and the memorials that trace the city's growth, including the Memorial das Conquistas, which honours the achievements of Santos Futebol Clube and the football legacy of Pelé. In the evening, settle into the Gonzaga district, where the streets are lively and the seafront at Ponta da Praia offers a gentle introduction to the Paulista Coast.

Day two: Cross into São Vicente, the oldest settlement on the coast, and follow the thread back to Brás Cubas, whose name runs through the region's early history. Spend the afternoon along the beaches and the quieter stretches of the Baixada Santista, where Portuguese colonial traces meet modern seaside life. If you have time, continue toward Guarujá for a change of scene, or stay in Santos and take in the football memorials and the city's easy, salt-air rhythm.

Day three: Use your last day for the practical side of the region. Santos is reachable from São Paulo by the Padre Anchieta and Imigrantes highways, and by bus from the Jabaquara Bus Station, also known as the Centro Rodoviário, while air travellers arrive through Congonhas (CGH) or Guarulhos (GRU). If you are driving, the routes are straightforward; if not, the bus links are frequent. Close your trip with a slow morning in Santos, a last look at the water, and a sense of how the port, the coffee trade and football have shaped this stretch of the Brazilian coast.

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