São Paulo/Paulista

Paulista region (Região da Paulista) is commonly used by people of São Paulo to refer to the area around Avenida Paulista. The term is subjective, as Av. Paulista crosses different neighborhoods, districts, and even different regions. To avoid redundancy with other sections, this guide will refer to the places contained in Av. Paulista and up to 4 blocks from it in transversal direction.

Understand
The 2.8-km-long Avenida Paulista is located between the Center (the "old" city) and the west (the "modern" city) and almost predictably, the avenue looks like a perfect blend between the old and modern faces of São Paulo, with historical architecture coexisting with glass skyscrapers.

The avenue is crowded day and night, with people from all ages, social classes, and ethnic backgrounds. On the avenue and in the streets surrounding it, you can find many shopping malls, restaurants, food courts, pubs, cafés, cinemas, theaters and cultural centers, from all price ranges.

But Paulista is much more than just a tourist attraction or an entertainment and shopping area. Paulista remains one of the most important business centers of the city, and it is also home to a number of education institutions. During lunch time, the food courts and restaurants are packed with workers and students from the area, who move to the pubs, cinemas and cafés when released from their daily tasks.

Perhaps Paulista is not a perfect summary of São Paulo, but represents what the city wants to be: a cosmopolitan place, filled with people who are always working hard and rushing, who are different from each other but can forget their differences and feel proud of being Paulistanos.

By metro and train
The rail network is the most practical way to get to Avenida Paulista. The avenue contains stations Consolação, Trianon-Masp and Brigadeiro of Line 2-Green of Metrô. Station Paulista of line 4-Yellow (connected underground to Consolação station) and station Paraíso of line 1-Blue are very close the avenue.

By bus
Many buses pass through Avenida Paulista and nearby streets. Generally, the metro is fastest and more reliable, making buses attractive only if your place of stay is far from a metro or train station. An exception is if you are staying near the dedicated bus corridor Av. Rebouças-Francisco Morato; in this case, you can easily reach Paulista by taking buses in the corridor.

By car
Going by car to Av. Paulista on weekdays should be avoided. Traffic is intense, often even outside peak hours, and parking can be ridiculously expensive. On weekends, Paulista is often closed for demonstrations and events.

See




"Old" Av. Paulista
These are buildings and landmarks constructed before Conjunto Nacional (1953).



"New" Av. Paulista
These are remarkable buildings and landmarks that were constructed after Conjunto Nacional.



Do

 * Walk Avenida Paulista from one end to another. Although the main landmarks and shopping areas are in the avenue, the best restaurants and pubs are in the surrounding streets, so take a peek on them too.
 * Walk Rua Augusta either in direction of the Center or the West, and see how the theme of the street change as you move from one region to another: "decadent/sexual" in the Center, "cultural/bohemian" in Paulista, and "luxurious" in the West.
 * Watch a cult movie. Movie theaters of non-mainstream movies include:
 * Go the theater. Performances are usually in Portuguese. Check the theatres' websites for performances:
 * Go the theater. Performances are usually in Portuguese. Check the theatres' websites for performances:
 * Go the theater. Performances are usually in Portuguese. Check the theatres' websites for performances:
 * Go the theater. Performances are usually in Portuguese. Check the theatres' websites for performances:
 * Go the theater. Performances are usually in Portuguese. Check the theatres' websites for performances:
 * Go the theater. Performances are usually in Portuguese. Check the theatres' websites for performances:

Shopping malls and areas
Most shops are concentrated in Avenida Paulista and Rua Augusta. There you can find many shop galleries selling everything you can imagine (clothes, accessories, handcraft, books, natural products, games, electronics of reliable and unreliable origin), as well as stores from major international and Brazilian chains (such as FNAC, Renner, JNE Info and Marisa). Besides, there is a number of shopping malls, typically offering services other than shops (such as food courts, banks, pharmacies and cinemas):

Splurge

 * Trebbiano,Alameda Campinas, 266, 11 2183-0500, Lunch and Dinner with glamour and style. ..
 * Trebbiano,Alameda Campinas, 266, 11 2183-0500, Lunch and Dinner with glamour and style. ..
 * Trebbiano,Alameda Campinas, 266, 11 2183-0500, Lunch and Dinner with glamour and style. ..
 * Trebbiano,Alameda Campinas, 266, 11 2183-0500, Lunch and Dinner with glamour and style. ..

Drink

 * Prainha, Alameda Joaquim Eugênio de Lima x Av. Paulista
 * Prainha, Alameda Joaquim Eugênio de Lima x Av. Paulista
 * Prainha, Alameda Joaquim Eugênio de Lima x Av. Paulista
 * Prainha, Alameda Joaquim Eugênio de Lima x Av. Paulista

Stay safe
Avenida Paulista and some surrounding streets, such as Augusta and Frei Caneca, are generally safer than most parts of São Paulo, due to the ostensive policing and high flux of people. During the night it is better to avoid the empty streets, and be aware of large groups of homeless people, which have been increasing.

The avenue has become known for its frequency of large scale protests, often of political nature. While these are not dangerous per se, things often turn awry and it is better to stay away from them if you have no business with them.