São Paulo Transportation Tips by mangueirense

'Mode': TO
Category: Airplane
Getting TO/AROUND: São Paulo has two main airports. All international flights arrive at Guarulhos Airport (GRU), 18 1/2 miles (30km) northeast of the city-centre. Paulistas will also refer to this airport as Cumbica.
Guarulhos Airport is the largest in Brazil and sure one of the biggest in Southamerica.
Unlike airports in Europe and North America, the international airport of São Paulo has a duty-free shop upon arrival before clearing customs, where you can purchase up to US$500 of goods. Once you have cleared customs you can change money or traveler's checks or use an ATM to obtain cash in Reais (R$). The American Express office is open daily from 6:30am to 10:30pm and charges no commission on changing cash or traveler's checks (as long as they are American Express checks), located in Terminal 1 Arrivals. The Banco do Brasil charges a US$20 flat rate for traveler's checks transactions and US$5 flat rate for cash transactions. The ATMs are compatible with Visa/Plus, located in Terminal 1 Arrivals.

Unfortunately the airport does not have any official webpage (at least I could not find one), but there is a page from "Infraero" where you can find the informations you want:

http://www.infraero.gov.br/www/home.nsf/agGetLink?OpenAgent&ID=5CD30112948DCE2E82256A0F004E04BA&Lang=br
(page does take some time to loud!)

Adress:
São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport
PO Box 3061-Guarulhos
São Paulo 07141-970
Brazil
Telephone: (0)11 6445 2945
Fax: (0)11 6445 3173 or 6412 3335

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'Mode': AROUND
Category: Bus
Getting TO/AROUND: From Guarulhos Airport to the city of Sao Paulo travelers can either take a taxi or a bus.

Prepaid taxi fares are available with Taxi Guarucoop (tel. 011/6440-7070), to all of São Paulo, as well as to the suburbs and surrounding communities. Sample fares: Congonhas Airport R$61 (US$30.50), São Paulo Centro and Tietê R$46 (US$23), Cerqueira Cesar and Jardins R$54 (US$27), Avenida Paulista R$54 (US$27), and Liberdade R$53 (US$26.50).

One can also take a regular metered taxi, flag fall starts at R$3.20 (US$1.60) and goes up R$0.80 (US40¢) per km. If traffic is good, these taxis end up being a little cheaper, but some days traffic is so congested that the prepaid ride turns out to be a much better deal.

In my opinion the best, safest and also cheapest method to get from the airport to the city-centre or to the domestic airport Congonhas is the Airport Service Bus.
They operate four different shuttle bus routes: to Congonhas Airport, to Praca da Republica, to Avenida Paulista (stopping at major hotels along the street), and to the Rodoviario Tietê (bus station). Cost is R$21 per person (US$7), and each route takes approximately 50 minutes. Buses depart daily about every 30 minutes from 6am to 11pm, and then hourly overnight.
Timetables can be found under:

http://www.airportbusservice.com.br

When travelling from Guarulhos Airport to Gongonhas Airport, please remember that in general after leaving the aircraft you have to go trough customs and passport control (which always does take a loooong looong time there) and that you still has to get the luggage, etc. and probably will get stuck some time in a traffic jam (depends on the time)...
so count on around 2-3 hours to get to Gongonhas airport from Guarulhos!

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'Mode': AROUND
Category: Subway/Metro
Getting TO/AROUND: The easiest way to get around Sao Paulo is to use the metro system. There are three main lines: the North-South line, East-West line, and the one that just travels underneath the Avenida Paulista, bedsides the 4 newest expansion lines.
The two main lines converge at Sa station, the busiest station of all. These two lines run daily from 5am until midnight. The line under Avenida Paulista meets the North-South line at Paraiso and Ana Rosa stations and runs daily from 6am to 10pm. It is usually a lot quicker to take the metro as close as possible to your destination even if it means a bit more of a walk or maybe a short taxi ride than taking the bus all the way. Metro tickets cost R$1.90 for a single ride and R$3,60 for two rides; a 10-ride ticket is available for R$ 17,00. They can be purchased from ticket machines or from kiosks at every metro station. The tickets are magnetic strips you insert in the turnstile; buying multiple ride tickets saves money and time. For more information contact the :
Companhia do Metropolitano de S?o Paulo - Metr?
Augusta St., 1626 - CEP 01304-902
Fax 55 11 283-5228 -
Phone 55 11 3371-7411
S?o Paulo - Brazil

or look at the Metro Sao Paulo Webpage:
http://www.metro.sp.gov.br/ingles/index.asp

There you will also find the Metro Systhem map for printing out! The website also offers a nice coloured map of SAo Paulo's atteactions and how to get there by metro, you can confirm it at:
http://www.metro.sp.gov.br/ingles/tourism/tetourism.shtml

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'Mode': AROUND
Category: Bus
Getting TO/AROUND: After the terminal in New York, this terminal is considered to be one of the largest of the world. It serves directly 565 localities in all the states of Brazil, with the exception of Amazonas and Acre, as well as four countries (Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and Chile). It offers a special line to the airports of Congonhas and Guarulhos, and a ride sharing automobile service Sao Paulo - Santos.

It is located at the Av. Cruzeiro do Sul, 1800, in the city district of Vila Guilherme.
To get to the bus station get out of the metro-station named "Tiete" (blue line)

Terminal Rodoviario Governador Carvalho Pinto-Rodoviaria Tiete
Avenida Cruzeiro do Sul, 1.800- Vila Guilherme

From this webpage it is possible to get advanced bus tickets delivered home (if you live -or your hotel is- in Sao Paulo, Diadema Tabo?o da Serra , Guarulhos, Osasco, Embu das Artes, Santo Andr?, Alphaville, Mau?, S?o Bernardo do Campo, Cotia, Ferraz de Vasconcelos, S?o Caetano do Sul and Carapicu?ba and if you leave from SAo Paulo's bus stations:
http://www.passagem-em-domicilio.com.br

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