Santos

Santos is the largest port in Latin America and it grew on coffee - the Bolsa Oficial de Cafe of 1922, where the crop was traded and graded, is now a museum with its trading floor, stained glass ceiling and the auction desk intact, and you can drink a decent cup in the building. The historic centre around it has been partly restored, with a heritage tram running a circuit through it. The seafront is the other half: a garden strip running about five and a third kilometres between the promenade and the road, planted continuously and often cited as the longest beachfront garden in the world. Vila Belmiro, the small stadium where Pele played for two decades, is inland and runs tours, with the club museum attached.

History

Amerigo Vespucci's expedition passed the island of São Vicente in 1502, and in 1531 Martim Afonso de Sousa found a trading village and landing there; in 1543, after Luís de Góis built a chapel to Saint Catherine, Brás Cubas moved the port to the calmer site of Enguaguaçu and built Brazil's second hospital, the Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Todos os Santos, and the town that grew there, founded by him in 1546, came to be called Santos. Coffee exports through the port made the modern city at the turn of the 20th century, its beachfront gardens were laid out in 1935, and since 2002 they have held the Guinness record as the world's longest beachfront garden, about 5,335 metres long (Wikipedia, Santos, São Paulo).

What you'll find

• The 1922 coffee exchange - trading floor, stained glass and auction desk.
• A beach garden over five kilometres long - the planted strip along the seafront.
• A heritage tram - circling the restored historic centre.
• Vila Belmiro - Pele's stadium, with tours and the club museum.

When to go

All year. Two days.

Practical notes

The sea at Santos is not clean and swimming is not the reason to come. The port dominates the city and industrial views are unavoidable. The historic centre is restored in patches and quiet after dark. The road from Sao Paulo jams at weekends.

Nearby

Sao Vicente is adjoining; Guaruja is across the channel by ferry.

Key facts