On our first trip to Santos, it was a breath of fresh air from the cramped and hectic city of São Paulo. As the largest port in South America, this bustling sea town has lots to offer with the coziness of a smaller town feel.
Our favorite spots
Beach Garden
Though there are better swimming beaches in Brazil, Santos holds the record for the largest beachfront garden at 5.3 kilometers. Taking a stroll through this beautiful flora with sculptures throughout is a nice way to spend an afternoon in Santos.
Canals
Santos is built on a series of draining canals, and it is the mark people use to get around. The best beach spot is Gonzaga Praia between Canals 3 and 4.
São Vicente Lookout Point
The sister city of Santos, São Vicente was the first city founded in Brazil in 1532. At the lookout point, you get an incredible view of the Santos and São Vicente coastline.
Coffee Museum
At the turn of the 20th Century, Santos was the seat of the Brazilian coffee trade. Housed in the Official Coffee Exchange, a beautiful building popular for wedding pictures, the Coffee Museum tells the history of the industry through exhibits and presentations. There is a nice café with live entertainment serving high-quality Brazilian coffee and a gift shop to purchase fresh roasted beans. The center of the museum is the Trading Room with marble floors and a vaulted ceiling that hosts special events. We watched an orchestra Christmas concert here.
Santos Futebol Clube Museum
Arguably the world’s greatest soccer player, Pelé, spent his career here, and a small museum, known as the Achievements Memorial, houses a team trophy room displaying more than 500 awards. The Santos Futebol Clube is like the New York Yankees; there is so much history and legend surrounding the team. The Babe Ruths, Joe DiMaggios and Mickey Mantles of soccer played for Santos, and the team holds many records.
Surf Museum
A small museum located at the end of the Santos beachfront and the beginning of the São Vicente beachfront in the Roberto Mário Santini Municipal Park, the Surf Museum provides a brief history of the sport in Brazil. Check out the great black-and-white photos of legendary surfers from the 60s. There are also free surf lessons, and you can sit in the park to watch.
Eats
As a seaport, Santos has a variety of seafood restaurants. Porta do Sol is a great option. The chef goes to the fish market each morning to purchase his selection for the day, and the menu is handwritten each morning. A pineapple sangria and dessert are always on the house. Additionally, upon learning that we were Americans on our first visit to the restaurant, the owner of the family establishment brought us an extra dish, an excellent flounder recipe. There is an ice cream shop, Sorveteria Royal, that is a great stop for dessert. With a wide variety of flavors, the ice cream is very rich, and we make it a point to always go there when we’re in Santos.
Working in Santos
Santos has an economy that depended on exports of coffee (as well as sugar) throughout much of its history. Today the coffee trade, although still active, has diminished and the old trading floor is now the coffee museum described above. The main industries in the town still center on the ports via cargo shipping, tourism and fishing.
Thomas Pai, owner of Yuan-Feng Fabrica de Gelo, says that the main advantage to working and living in Santos is the quality of life.
“Santos is a relatively large town but it still holds that atmosphere of a small town where people tend to be friendlier, with no hurries,” he says. “Except on long weekends and holidays, there are no traffic jams and usually it does not take more than 15 minutes to go from point to point. The town is quite flat, making it easy for walking and bicycle rides.”
Whenever we have an upcoming trip to Santos, we avoid the higher prices and crowds in São Paulo for a much easier shopping experience on the coast. Pai reminds us that the beaches could be kept cleaner, and while Santos provides a nice relaxing weekend on the beach, other Brazilian beaches are more beautiful and better maintained. He also warns that good restaurants are hard to find.
“Usually they are expensive and/or of relatively low quality,” he says. He recommends asking locals for advice on how to find the honest and good seafood restaurants in town.
Recently, Petrobras has been exploring pre-salt oil in the Santos area as well as other coastal regions and this is expected to be a future boon on the local economy. Pai also says that an increase in port-related operations is expected.
After a long day or week on the job, Pai says that locals prefer a walk on the beach or sitting and have a nice chat with friends near the beach. On our trips to Santos, we have witnessed several local residents entering a beachside restaurant for lunch and remaining there well into the night ordering drinks and appetizers.
We give Santos an overall rating of 6 on our list of favorite places to be. What is your favorite seaport town?
-Chris & Monica