Estúdio Lâmina opened in November 2011 in a fine old downtown apartment, dedicated to bringing…read moretogether art residencies and exhibitions with music, dance and circus performance. Daytime exhibitions can be visited by appointment - not because it's a particularly exclusive sort of joint, but simply since it also doubles as the home of some of the artists who work and show there. An evening at the Estúdio, at one of its occasional soirées, is a heady, surprising cabaret-style mix of art, music and performance: hang out and chat to the arty creators of the event and rub shoulders with the mixed, fun crowd, and then move through the spaces as a dance performance starts up in one room, a poetry reading in another, and a mini-gala variety show suddenly appears before you, with comedy, music and even a dash of magic.

Yes, call me a hipster or a wannabe hipster or whatever but I really like Mirante 9 de Julho,…read moreespecially the coffee from Isso é Cafe ! This spot, right above the 9 de Julho Avenue and behind MASP, was abandoned until the city government and a couple of groups of businessmen decided to renovate it and ever since its been an awesome place. Its quieter on weekdays abut weekends are quite full - besides the great coffee at one end, a quick food joint at the other, they also have a basic functioning bar (beer and other alcoholic options), an interesting view and a really awesome ambience. On weekends they also organise open air movei screenings or a DJ plays and the place gets even more interesting. The decor of the place is clean, well organised - if you order food or coffee, they give you a buzzer so that you can go and pick up you food/drink. Talking about the café there - Isso é Cafe - nice Brazilian coffee at reasonable prices with effect services - however on weekends they tend to be slower. I normally go for their regular brewed option at R$ 5 which is like a huge mug of awesome black coffee - at just the right roast & temperature. if you want a refill, it costs you another R$ 2.50 so for all you coffee gulpers, this is the place. Also its quite a cool place for a weekday date. I like Mirante, I love the ambience and I am going to be frequenting it quite a bit more !

A great new spot for coffee, drinks or music…read more It's open early in Sunday morning so is a great option for people riding along the ciclovia. The menu at the coffee shop, Isso É Café, is small but tasty and the coffee is excellent. Follow them on Instagram for information about music, movie nights and other events.

A must visit if you are in São Paulo! I went in March and admission was free (R$0,00). There was a…read moreline to get in, but it moved pretty quickly. You will walk through a security metal detector right before you are let inside the main entryway of the interior. I traveled from Pinheiros - I took the metro from Faria Lima station to Luz station. A one-way ticket for the metro should be R$4,30. There is a huge park across from Luz station where I walked through and explored a bit before locating Pinacoteca. Pinacoteca had some of my favorite exhibits on display when I was there. I kind of felt like I was in an NYC museum. Yes, there were a good amount of people inside, but it was not overly crowded and there were plenty of areas to disperse to if you prefer to see things with few people to no one around. I did have a hard time trying to figure out where the real exit was though, haha. I went so many different ways that seemed to lead to a dead-end (emergency exit door that I was afraid to try to open in case an alarm would sound). There is a cafe at the bottom floor by the main exit once you do find it. The line was pretty much by the door. I took a peek inside and it appeared like a buffet almost but I could be wrong. Must have been good cause they were crowded. I remember walking by the outdoor dining area on way to the entrance of the museum from the park and it looked busy. There is a small museum store outside with colorful umbrellas, tote bags, books, shirts, and other merchandise. The museum is also multi-level - elevator accessible as well as stairways on every corner I think (or at least on two opposite ends of the building). Ubers can pick you up / drop you off from the street side that faces the front of the museum.

Great museum with very representative works from Brazilian and Paulista culture. There are also…read moregreat expositions of renowned artists.