Brazil Sao Paulo and Iguazu

We arrived in Brazil on Sunday afternoon coming from Brussels with a transfer in Madrid. Staying on Paulista Avenue was a great choice as on Sundays the Avenue is closed to traffic and the Brazilian vibes are everywhere! Street dancing, cocktails and much more to enjoy!

We stayed at Melia Paulista a 5-star hotel with a great location on Paulista Avenue. Good breakfast and a swimming-pool. I wouldn’t rate it 5 stars as the rooms weren’t very luxurious.

We had a late lunch at this excellent place! People were very friendly and made us taste all the different cachaças! We had such a great caipirinha there!

This beautiful restaurant in an old villa (which is classified) was a great choice. They have excellent salads there. I took a cesar salad which was delicious. Open every day from 12 pm- 10pm in weekends open at 9 am.

In the late afternoon/evening we had our first free walking tour with @spfreewalkingtours . It was such a great experience! Would highly recommend it to get to know the city!

Today we did a second spfreewalking tour. But this time in downtown Sao Paulo. Again it was very interesting learning more about the beautiful buildings and architecture in the city. The second picture is the Copan building. Did you know there are around 2000 people living there? They even have their own postal code!

The Opera of SP is in a completely different style than the skyscrapers surrounding it!

Amazing architecture and interesting buildings to see in downtown SP.

For lunch we made a stop in the oldest Padaria in SP. We tasted the typical Coxa creme!

Interesting cathedral to visit. Don’t forget to go inside as well. It’s completely free.

Sightseeing and looking at the old impressive buildings is a must do in downtown SP. Preferably with a guide as this part of the city isn’t always safe.

At the end of the tour we went to the Mercado Municipal to order a typical Mortadella sandwich. It was delicious!

In SP you can find the concept store of Havaianas. It was great to visit and very cheap!

On Tuesday a visit to the wonderful MASP museum is completely free but you must make an online reservation to visit! The way the art is exhibited is very special. All paintings are hung at a wall of glass and you will only see the painter at the back of the wall. So you can make a more objective first impression. This museum is highly recommended.

This park is highly recommended as well. It’s right across the MASP museum and has amazing North Atlantic forest vegetation including some big spiders 🕷 😅

Ibirapuera park is a very big park inside the big city of SP. As the guide recommended the day before I went to the museum of Modern Art (MAM) you can visit this for free and you have a wonderful rooftop there with a marvellous view on the city!

Terraço is excellent for some fine dining. The Italian food is amazing and the restaurant is also located at the rooftop of Edificio Italia (the 5th highest building in SP)

On Wednesday we went to Iguazu with a flight from SP. The views from above on the river where amazing. It’s about two hours flight.

Arriving at the park with a taxi, the shuttle service from the hotel takes you into the national Park as the hotel is located inside the park. Without any doubt one of the best hotels we ever stayed at! Beautiful colonial architecture, excellent service, friendly staff and good food.

In the afternoon we visited the Parque de los Aves. I would recommend to visit here upon arrival as its very close to the entrance of the NP. You can see beautiful birds here such as parrots, toucans and many more.

We were very lucky to arrive on a sunny day. We went up the tower of the hotel to watch an amazing sunset above the waterfalls! Very romantic. You can also order a private sunset dinner in the tower or a picnic on the lawn in front of the falls.

Enjoying an excellent early breakfast in the hotel. We booked some tours with the concierge and the first one was a walk with a guide to the falls before opening hours of the park.

Our walk with the guide to the falls was really amazing. As the park wasn’t open yet we were walking almost alone there. Would highly recommend booking this early morning tour at the hotel!

In the evening we had an excellent dinner outside on the terrace enjoying amazing Brazilian food. Both restaurants of the hotel are amazing !

After a great night sleep in our personified bedroom (look at the details) we had an early breakfast again.

Today we left with a booked tour to Argentina to visit the Argentinian side of the falls. Absolutely recommend this. The best is to visit the Brazilian side first and then the Argentinian one. A little train takes you up to the boardwalk towards Devil’s throat.

This is without any doubt the most spectacular waterfall of the park. Very impressive. Make sure to wear a raincoat as you might get very wet here!

We also saw a lot of wildlife at the Argentinian side of the park. Really amazing!

Please try to walk both the upper as the lower part of the park. Both are very stunning and you will come across some amazing falls!

Very impressive fall!

These falls are to be found at the lower part.

In the evening we enjoyed the second restaurant of the hotel were the food was excellent as well.

Last morning at this amazing hotel. We took a taxi early in the morning to catch our flight back to São Paulo to fly home via Madrid to Brussels. As it was too early for breakfast the hotel provided us with a nice breakfast to go.