Santos Travel Forum

Good morning

I hope you can help.

We have booked a 7 day cruise which arrives back in Santos at 8am on the 19th February. We need to be at Sao Paulo Guarulhos International Airport for our 1pm flight. Is this possible to do? And if so what is the best way do it?

Thanks in advance
Clare

It is about two hours(80 km)from the São Paulo airport (GRU), if traffic is OK, so it could be very tight (to get off the ship, get through traffic and arrive at airport at 11, 2 hours ahead).

Usually the cruise line provides a transfer, don't they? Otherwise, it's bus, private car service or taxi. With your possible time constraints, probably a car service would be best.
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Bus:
You can get a taxi from the ship to the bus station. The São Paulo International Airport in Guarulhos (to the outside platform of Terminal 2) has regular luxury bus service from downtown Santos that makes one stop at the São Paulo in-town airport (Congonhas).

www.translitoral.com.br/noticia.asp
(about R$30) I only have at hand the schedule FROM Guarulhos(GRU) to Santos, but you can see the frequency: 8h00 / 10h00 / 13h00 / 15h30 / 18h30 / 22h30

Or check these (bus):
http://www.emsampa.com.br/busjan/sp_1011.htm
www.ExpressoBrasileiro.com.br
www.RapidoBrasil.com.br (bus)
www.ExpressoLuxo.com.br (bus)
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Other than that, you can use a private car service (a few forum poster recommended ones below), or a taxi (expensive).
1) Jose Eduardo F. Prado Jr. "(he goes by Eduardo).
He operates SPdrive and you can reach him via email at spdrive@terra.com.br or cell phone 55-11-9894-9463. He speaks English, Spanish, and of course Portuguese."
2) Marcus. "Totally reliable and bi-lingual. He will wait at the airport with a sign for you."
www.esstransfer.com.br/

3)www.onelimo.com/Sao_Paulo_Limousines.htm
4)www.royalamericancar.com

5)www.esstransfer.com.br Marcos Fagundes. They have specialized, bilingual and reliable drivers.
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Best wishes for a great trip.

Honestly, I think you're best bet would be taking a private car transfer because as bahianna77 has already pointed out, the timing is a bit tight.

According to the airport shuttle bus website, the estimated travel time from Santos to Guarulhos airport is 3 hours (it also goes to Congonhas airport). So, if you take the 9 AM bus, you would get there around 12 PM and that would be very risky to miss your flight, especially when traffic jams are so common in São Paulo (when it rains, it gets even worse!).

This bus departs from Avenida General Francisco Glicério, 369 (Shell gas station) and the one-way fare costs R$ 35 (around US$ 20). Just in case, here's their website (available in English and Spanish):
http://www.personalbus.com.br

Enjoy your trip!

Thank you bahiana77 and Elainehead for your replies they are much appreciated and very helpful.

Do you happen to know of any car rental companies that operate in Sao Paulo / Santos?

Thanks again

Clare

I strongly discourage anyone new to Brazil from driving there.