Parque Estadual da Cantareira in Guarulhos.

Guarulhos is a city in São Paulo, located in the metropolitan area of the city of São Paulo. Despite being a city with 1.2 million people, second largest in the state, Guarulhos is mostly known for its international airport, the most important of South America and the main gateway to São Paulo. Indeed, Guarulhos has not much to offer to a visitor, although there are remarkable exceptions, like the Cabuçu center of Parque Estadual da Cantareira, one of the most beautiful nature spots of the São Paulo metropolitan area.

Understand

With GRU airport, Guarulhos is a typical "airport city" of a larger, more important city, used by visitors almost solely as a meeting point or a stopover to somewhere else. Unlike most "airport cities", however, Guarulhos is a huge city. It is a major center of industry and services, but also partly a dormitory city for São Paulo.

The view that many visitors have of Guarulhos are the favelas and factories that surround the GRU airport. However, the city also has a large middle class, which has been growing due to the pressure of housing prices in São Paulo. For this reason, there have been many new developments in the city, including a new modern shopping mall.

As expected, Guarulhos' most common visitors are business visitors who come for short-term conferences and meetings, sometimes in the vicinity of the airport. For them, the city offers the conveniences (and inconveniences) of a typical large Brazilian city, but for the more adventurous visitor, there are also some nice nature areas that are worth checking out.

Get in

By plane

São Paulo's biggest and busiest airport is actually located in Guarulhos:

Guarulhos International Airport (GRU)

• 1 São Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport (GRU ^IATA) (Also known as Cumbica or André Franco Montoro, Guarulhos Airport is 40 km (25 mi) from São Paulo). the airport has four terminals that are served by Brazilian airlines LATAM, Gol, Azul and Avianca and by several international airlines, such as United, Delta, American, Air Canada, Air France, British Airways, Lufthansa, Avianca, TAP, Iberia, ITA Airways, KLM, JAL, Swiss, Singapore Airlines, Korean Air (via Los Angeles), South African, Turkish, Emirates, Etihad and many others.  

Leaving the airport, the only way to get into the city, or get to any other city around, is Rodovia Helio Smidt, which connects the airport to Avenida Monteiro Lobato (for Guarulhos destinations) and to Via Dutra and Rodovia Ayrton Senna (to get to farthest locations).

A taxi co-operative, Guarucoop (tel: +55 11 2440-7070), has a monopoly on cabs leaving the airport. They are plentiful and the queue is outside the arrival terminal. Credit-card users can pay for their journey in advance at the booth, although it's useful to have local currency as not all international credit or debit cards will work at all businesses in Brazil. Expect to pay about R$50 to any close destination.

Just across the arrival platform at terminals 1 and 2, there are some bus stops, where it's possible to take a bus to Cecap Terminal, and some other destinations inside Guarulhos, such as Guarulhos International Shopping and Cemitério da Saudade, in Picanço. From Cecap Terminal, there is a number of bus lines which can take you to any destination in Guarulhos.

By bus

The easiest way to get to Guarulhos, is get to São Paulo, and from there, take an intermunicipal bus. Although there is a bus terminal next to Guarulhos Airport:

• Terminal Rodoviário de Guarulhos, Alameda dos Lírios, S/Nº, Parque Cecap (Tietê metro station, Blue line), ☏ +55 11 2403 5861. Buses leave Guarulhos to regional and coastal cities in São Paulo, Santa Catarina, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro. 

From São Paulo

Several intermunicipal buses, operated by EMTU, serve Guarulhos from São Paulo metrô stations, such as Armênia, Tietê, Carrão, Penha and Tucuruvi. Due to the geographical location of Guarulhos, related to São Paulo, the best places to get a bus are at East and North regions of São Paulo.

By car

Guarulhos is served by many highways, connecting it to São Paulo, and many other Brazilian destinations:

Rodovia Ayrton Senna

Rodovia Ayrton Senna and Carvalho Pinto (its extension) is a modern and fast highway, that runs from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro, crossing through Guarulhos.

Westbound, Rodovia Ayrton Senna links Guarulhos (Airport and eastern locations) to São Paulo, connecting to Marginal Tietê, from where it's possible to get many other highways to reach popular destinations, such as Campinas, Santos, Sorocaba, and the countryside of São Paulo.

Eastbound, Rodovia Ayrton Senna links Guarulhos to Rio de Janeiro (via Dutra), and popular destinations in São Paulo countryside, such as São José dos Campos, Campos do Jordão, and coastal cities, like Ubatuba (via Taubaté), São Sebastião and Bertioga (via Mogi das Cruzes) and Caraguatatuba (via Rodovia dos Tamoios).

Via Dutra

Sometimes referred as Guarulhos' main avenue, Via Dutra is not the best choice to travel long distances, due to its heavy urban traffic, and it runs alongside with Ayrton Senna, making the other one a more reasonable choice.

Fernão Dias

Fernão Dias is a federal highway which runs from Guarulhos (intersection with Via Dutra) to Minas Gerais capital and southern destinations. In Atibaia, Fernão Dias highway intersects the Dom Pedro I highway, which runs from Campinas to Jacareí, turning it to a more reasonable choice to get to countryside destinations, like Campinas, as you may avoid the frequent traffic jams at Marginal Tietê in São Paulo. However, it may be a little tricky to drive through this highway, especially when it's raining, due to the heavy traffic of cargo vehicles and the track layout.

Rodoanel Mário Covas

Best known simply as "Rodoanel", this modern highway is proposed to form a ring around São Paulo, connecting the entire highway system. Since the north section is not already built, it's possible to use "Rodoanel" system only to get to coastal cities like Santos (via Anchieta and Imigrantes), and Curitiba (via Régis Bittencourt), with the advantage of avoiding intense traffic inside São Paulo.

Jacu-Pessego avenue is a good alternative to "Rodoanel", since they run alongside until Mauá, where they intersect.

By train

There are two train stations in Guarulhos: Guarulhos - CECAP and Aeroporto Guarulhos, both on the Line 13 - Jade of the São Paulo train system. This line is only accessible through the station Engenheiro Goulart which is on the Line 12 - Safira.

See

• 1 Zoológico Municipal. Although small, this zoo has quite a range of animals and birds. Perhaps the star attraction is a lion couple. 
• Cantareira State Park - Núcleo Cabuçu (Parque Estadual da Cantareira), Av. Pedro de Souza Lopes, 7903 – Jardim São Luis – Guarulhos (take Rod. Fernão Dias, then take Estrada das Três Cruzes at km 82 and finally Av. Pedro de Souza Lopes), ☏ +55 11 2401-6217. Sa Su holidays 9AM-5PM. Núcleo Cabuçu is the largest area open to the public area of one of Grande São Paulo's premium nature areas, the Cantareira State Park, and certainly one of the most attractive places in Guarulhos. The most popular trail is the Trilha da Cachoeira, a 5.2 km medium difficulty trail which provides nice views of the Cabuçu reservoir and leads up to a waterfall. Toilets are available at the entrance of the park; bring your own food and water. R$14 (concessions for children, elderly, disabled and students). 
• 2 Bosque Maia park. Popular with locals for doing sports and exercise, this strip of parkland has a kilometre long jogging strip running straight alongside the road, and a more meandering woodland trail on the valley side. At the top of the hill in the northern end there is an Orchidarium. 
• Jardim Metropolitano, R. Vitória Calegari (cycleway access) - Vila Calegari - Guarulhos (Access from Ponte Nordestino (Rod. Ayrton Senna)). A large garden in the right side of the Tietê river (in the left side lies the Parque Ecológico do Tietê - the two parks are not connected). Designed by the renowned contemporary architect Ruy Ohtake, the Jardim Metropolitano was conceived as a merely ornamental garden on the way between the GRU airport and São Paulo, not as a public park. Since 2014, however, the garden can be explored by the public as it is crossed by a cycleway that starts in the Vila Calegari neighborhood of Guarulhos. Still, don't expect any facilities such as shops, toilets, or drinking fountains. Security is also a concern since the garden has a small number of visitors for its size; therefore, try to cycle in groups and do not bring expensive bikes. 
• Padre Bento Theater (Teatro Padre Bento). 
• Trans-Guarulha Park (Parque Transguarense). 
• Guarulhos Forest Garden (Horto Florestal de Guarulhos). A large wildlife nature park open to school parties (TODO: verify if this is open to the public. It appears not) 

Buy

• 1 Rua Dom Pedro II. This pedestrianized street and the surrounding area at the top of this hill form the original city centre of Guarulhos and still the main high street shopping area. 
• 2 Poli Shopping, Rua São Vicente de Paula, nº 118. A very central shopping mall opening onto Rua Dom Pedro II 
• 3 Parque Shopping Maia, Avenida Bartholomeu de Carlos, n° 230. A new shopping mall completed in 2015 
• Shopping Bonsucesso. 
• 4 Shopping Internacional de Guarulhos, Rod. Presidente Dutra, exit 225 - Itapegica. M-Sa 10AM-10PM, Su 2PM-8PM. There is nothing "international" about this shopping mall, but it is a decent mall and a good way to kill time for transit visitors, as it is a mere 11-minute taxi ride from GRU airport. Besides shops, food court and cinema, it contains an indoor theme park, bowling, a nice chopperia and a branch of Outback Steakhouse. 

Eat

Budget

• Agarca Restaurante Ltda, Avenida Rochedo de Minas, 115, ☏ +55 11 2446-1577. Cid. Satélite, 
• O Postinho, Rua Luiz Faccini, (11) 2452-0256
• Viola Brasileira, Rua Dona Olinda de Albuquerque, 39 (11) 2409-8235
• Regina's Restaurante, Rua Diogo de Faria, 200, ☏ +55 11 2229-8341. 

Mid-range

• Choupana a Rainha das Batidas, Rua Silvio Barbosa, 51, ☏ +55 11 2440-0545. 
• Pizzaria e Churrascaria Cavacas, Rua Quitandinha - Vila Galvão, (11) 2452-8789
• Restaurante Minhoto, Av. 7 de Setembro, 1555 - Vila Galvão, (11) 2451-2000
• Kasa 10, Rua Diogo de Farias, 307, ☏ +55 11 2408-5007. Centro, 

Splurge

• Restaurante Guaru Center, Rua José de Andrade, 129, ☏ +55 11 2409-5032. One of the oldest restaurants in town. 
• Nonetto Ristoranti, Rua Josefina Mandoti, 246, ☏ +55 11 2440-0676. 
• Ponto K Costelaria & Cia, Av. Paulo Faccini, 1375, ☏ +55 11 2461-3001. 
• Cá te Espero Restaurante, Rua Mazagão, 51, ☏ +55 11 2412-5436. Cumbica. Try the bacalhau. 

Sleep

• Fast Sleep Guarulhos, GRU Airport. Hotel for sleeping and shower in the GRU airport. There are actually two hotels, one in Terminal 2, near domestic arrivals, and another in a corridor in the 2nd floor, between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. 
• São Paulo Airport Marriott Hotel, Av Monteiro Lobato, no number, ☏ +55 11 2468 6999. Each room equipped with phones with voice mail, high speed internet, and multiple data ports. 

Stay safe

The area surrounding the GRU airport contains very poor neighborhoods, and these are certainly not a place to be explored in case you feel bored. Guarulhos' good neighborhoods are mostly in the area around the city center, although they require caution, especially during the night, as in São Paulo.

Go next

Routes through Guarulhos

Curitiba ← São Paulo ←

S  N

→ Arujá → São José dos Campos