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TravelTips24 : South America : Brazil : Southeast : São Paulo : Campinas

Campinas

Campinas is a city and county in São Paulo state, Brazil. It's the third biggest city in the state, just after São Paulo itself and Guarulhos.

Travel to Campinas & Visa Requirements

Flights and airtickets to Campinas

  • CPQ - Viracopos Airport - This is an international airport but mostly with domestic flights and cargo, located about 45 minutes by car from Campinas through SP-75 road. There is shuttle bus service to campinas or option to go by taxi.
  • Aeroporto dos Amarais - There are no regular flights, this is just for small airplanes.
  • GRU - Guarulhos Airport - Is located about 1:40 by car or bus It's a good choice as is the biggest airport in Brazil. Cab travels are somehow expensive but there are two shuttle bus options: AirportBusServices that connects to São Paulo bus stations or Caprioli that has direct buses to Campinas.
  • CGH - Congonhas Airport - Is located about 1:40 by car or bus It's a good choice for domestic flights. Cab travels are somehow expensive but there are two bus options: AirportBusServices that connects to São Paulo bus stations or Caprioli that has direct buses to Campinas.

By car

  • From São Paulo, via the SP-330 Anhangüera or SP-348 Bandeirantes highways.
  • From Vale do Paraíba, via SP-65,Dom Pedro I highway.
  • From the Macro region of Mogi-guaçu, via SP-340, Adhemar de Barros Highway.
  • From South (Valinhos and Vinhedo), via SP-91 (Campinas - Valinhos)
  • From the Macro region of Sorocaba, via SP-75, Santos Dumont Highway)
  • From the Monte-mor, via SP-101 (Campinas - Monte-mor)
  • From Valinhos, via SP-83, Anel Viário Magalhães Teixeira
  • From Indaiatuba, via SP-73, Lix da Cunha Highway (access for the Royal Palm Plaza)
  • From Morungaba, via SP-81, Estrada das Cabras
  • From Vinhedo, via SP-324, Miguel Melhado Campos Highway
  • From Paulínia/Arthur Nogueira, via SP-332, General Milton Tavares de Souza Highway

Buses to Campinas

In Brazil inter-cities bus services is the main means of travel. Bus services are good and reasonably cheap and a good option to go from/to cities not well served by airports. Campinas has a bus station located in the city where you can get a taxi or an urban bus.

Bus tickets can even be reserved and purchased by Internet for the main bus companies. You would need to check on the bus station which company serves to a certain destination in particular.

By train

This is currently not an option for transport. Train services to Campinas are just for cargo and the only passenger train available is an old touristic train.

There is a project of a bullet-train from Campinas to São Paulo and Rio but probably won't be available before 2014.

Tours & Getting around Campinas

Campinas is well served by urban bus services. Although it is not easy to find where are the bus stops and which bus to catch, people on the street will be glad to help if they can understand you. There are several main bus terminals where you can commute from one line into another. Some urban buses even go to neighbour cities as Jaguariúna and Paulínia.

If driving a car, be aware that some avenues have been converted to one-way streets to form a ring around downtown. Sometimes it can be tricky to find your way back and be careful not to get into the wrong way on one of those avenues.

After 22:00 until 06:00 some semaphores are turned off and just blik yellow. Don't be scared, this is not effect of a martian invasion. For safety reasons, you are not supposed to be stopped at red lights late at night.

But be aware that during normal hours there is semaphore and speed enforcement by cameras everywhere in the city, so stick to the speed limits and don't cross red lights.

Campinas attractions and sightseeing

  • Lagoa do Taquaral - Located inside the Parque Portugal park. Excellent place for a walk / cycling everyday. There are some attractions inside the park like a cable car, a lake and a planetarium, among others.
  • Lago do Café - Near Lagoa do Taquaral, this was formerly the Coffee Institute, transformed into a park. It's a nice place to walk.
  • Parque Ecológico - Very good place to visit for a walk in the weekends.
  • Bosque dos Jequitibás - This is a zoo.
  • Teatro Castro Mendes
  • Largo do Pará - Square located downtown, is a nice sightseeing.
  • Bosque dos Alemães
  • Shopping Parque D. Pedro - Biggest Shopping of Latin America in Area.
  • Shopping Galleria - Few Stores, focus on Services, Restaurant and Cinema.
  • Moisés Lucarelli Stadium - Ponte Preta's Stadium.
  • Brinco de Ouro de Princesa Stadium Guarani's Stadium.
  • Shopping Iguatemi - Lots of stores, also great restaurants and cinemas.
  • Shopping Unimart - Convenience mall
  • Bosque da Paz
  • Central Market (Mercadão) - Nice place to find exotic food. Located downtown.
  • Museum of the Old Railway Station
  • Metropolitan Catedral - Located downtown.
  • Castle Tower (Torre do Castelo - Praça 23 de outubro) - Place with many options of music bars and restaurants.
  • ESPCeX (Military High School, close to Castelo) - A nice sightseeing from outside but no visits allowed inside. It is possible to enter the nearby military area by car or can be a pleasant walking, where some tanks are exposed at the side of the road.
  • Arena Theatre
  • Unicamp - State University of Campinas is one of the best Universities in Brazil. The campus is big and has lots of activities. Worth visiting is the IMECC building. On the neighborhood there are some restaurants and bars.
  • Hopi Hari, Rodovia dos Bandeirantes, km 72, Vinhedo-SP, about 15 minutes by road from Campinas. Is an Amusement park. Chek also Wet'n Wild water park that is just at side. There is a hotel and a small mall over the road on the same complex.
  • Observatório de Capricórnio Located in Joaquim Egídio, near Campinas is a sky observatory open to visitors some days a week for lectures and stars observations.
  • Municipal Park of Joaquim Egídio
  • Sousas

Campinas city tours

Campinas souvenirs & shopping

Campinas has 7 big Malls - Shopping Parque Dom Pedro - Shopping Galleria - Shopping Iguatemi - Shopping Unimart - Campinas Shopping - Shopping Jaraguá

In the city downtown is possible to find the commercial center of shopping in Campinas, which has thousands of stores and small malls.

Campinas Restaurants: cheap, moderate and expensive

Campinas has hundreds of good restaurants:

  • Chef Teo
  • Pizzaria Braz
  • Bar do Alemão
  • Almanara
  • Papai Salim
  • Rosário
  • Bar do Eden
  • Kilimanjaro
  • Red Angus

Campinas nightlife, bars, clubs & pubs

  • Giovannetti: the most famous beer in the town.
  • City Bar: "the best cod dumpling in the world"
  • Emporio do Nono
  • Ponto 1
  • Cervejaria Universitaria
  • Bar Joseph's

Campinas cheap and luxurious hotels, youth hostels & lodging

There are hundreds of hotels in Campinas, even options to stay in family houses nearby Unicamp.

  • Sleep Inn Galleria - Located at side of Galleria mall, near Dão Pedro road.
  • The Royal Palm Plaza - Luxury hotel located in the entrance of Campinas through SP-75.
  • Victoria's Hotel - Luxury hotel located in a nice neighbourhood. Somehow hard to locate if you are driving by your own.
  • Ibis - Located in front of Largo do Pará square, downtown.
  • Mercury Hotel - Just at side of Ibis.

Get out

This page was last edited at 16:56, on 24 July 2008 by Wikitravel user Morph. Based on work by Mateus Alves, Wikitravel user(s) Texugo and Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel.

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