Santos
Port City On The SãO Paulo Coast, Home Of The Largest Port In Latin America, The Old Coffee Exchange And Pelé'S Club, Santos FC · Santos, São Paulo
Santos is the port city of São Paulo state, on an island at the foot of the Serra do Mar about an hour or so below the capital. Founded in 1546, it grew rich in the late 1800s and early 1900s as the port through which much of Brazil's coffee left for the world, and its port is today the largest in Latin America. The old centre around the Valongo holds the grand Bolsa Oficial de Café, the former coffee exchange, now a coffee museum with a restored trading floor and a cafe. A tourist tram runs through these streets, and a funicular climbs Monte Serrat to a church and a view over the city and port. Santos is also the home of Santos FC, the club where Pelé played most of his career; the Vila Belmiro stadium has a memorial to the club's titles, and the Pelé Museum sits in a restored mansion in the centre. Along the seafront, a long strip of gardens runs beside the beaches, said to be among the longest beachfront gardens in the world, and several apartment blocks lean visibly because of the soft ground beneath them.
Centro Histórico and Gonzaga, Santos, SP, Santos, São Paulo, Brazil
The beaches and seafront gardens are open at all times, but the historic centre follows office rhythms. The Coffee Museum, the Pelé Museum and the smaller museums usually open from morning to late afternoon from Tuesday to Sunday and close on Mondays, and some have shorter weekend hours - confirm before going. The tourist tram runs on set days and times with a short loop, and may not run on Mondays or in bad weather. The Monte Serrat funicular runs through the day at intervals, with occasional closures for maintenance. Vila Belmiro's memorial and stadium tours close on match days and around big games, so check the Santos FC fixture list first. The historic centre empties in the evenings and on Sundays, when many shops and restaurants close and the streets feel deserted. On summer weekends and holidays the road down from São Paulo can take far longer than usual, and the ferry to Guarujá has long queues for cars.