Unfortunately, an increased crime rate is part of Brazil's bigger cities' daily life. Particularly in São Paulo, visitors can move quite normally, such as the more than 20 million inhabitants of greater São Paulo - if they respect some hints.
Regarding safety, the travel and safety advice of the Foreign Ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany are very helpful. Please respect: avoid dark, lonely places, never enter favelas (slums), no valuable jewelry, always take along about 150 R$ in cash, in case of robbery give calmly and without hesitation all you have, do not carry a notebook visibly in the street.
myDriver São Paulo is your partner for all your ways in São Paulo - safe and reliable: with excellently trained drivers. With welcoming friends rather than only drivers, in which you can absolutely trust. Our drivers contact you as soon as they reach the airport and welcome you personally right after the baggage claim. They convince by best knowledge of the place, international experience and service at highest standards. (Vitally) important in a megacity in which the unforeseen is part of daily life.
If you can choose, go to the districts of Itaim Bibi (biggest business quarter), Jardins, Jardim Paulista or in the region of Avenida Paulista. You can see the districts here:
Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Mapa_sp.png
Do not stay overnight in the Center: Especially tourists are recommended to not stay in hotels in the (historic) Center. Apart from a few monuments, there is not much active life, but a lot of houses in a bad state. Watch out: at least during the night, the area is significantly unsafe! You are better off around the major shopping street Avenida Paulista.
In São Paulo,the major hotel groups like Renaissance, Estanplaza, Tivoli, Mariott have at least one hotel each, mostly in medium standard an in an acceptable state. Like in Southern Europe, the stars scale rates typically one star below central European standards. The hotel price range at central European levels - the total cost of living is similar to Germany.
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