Phone Directory for People Search in Porto Alegre

An easy and useful way to search phone numbers of people in Porto Alegre, is through this link: http://www.phonebookofbrazil.com/ . Actually it's a world wide phonebook.

In this link you can choose between yellow pages (business search) and white pages (people search).

Sports Clubs in Porto Alegre

There are many sports clubs around the city. The biggest ones are Grêmio Náutico União and Sogipa. The clubs have several indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts, gym, recreation areas, restaurants and sport classes. During the summer holiday they have special programs for kids. The União club has 3 different facilities, one in the Petropolis neighbourhood, one in Moinhos (open 24 hours a day) and the third is on an island on the Guaiba river.

We have been members of the União and the Juvenil clubs. The Juvenil is a smaller, yet fancy club, located in the Moinhos neighbourhood.

To use a club facilities you must become a member. Usually, the membership is for life, by buying a sort of club share and paying a monthly fee. There are lots of clubs in a wide price range. It's important to know, that as a foreigner, you don't need to buy the club share (which is very expensive). There's an option to pay a flat entrance fee and then a monthly fee that you stop paying whenever you decide to stop your membership. We usually renew our membership for the summer months only.

Addresses: Grêmio Náutico União (GNU) - Rua João Obino, 300 Tel. 3025.3800

Sogipa - Rua Barão de Cotegipe, 415 Tel. 3325.7200

Juvenil (AJL) - Rua Marquês do Herval, 280 Tel. 3323 4304

Books in English

Livraria Cultura (the website is in English) is a big book and music store. They have a good selection of books in English. It is also possible to order a book if they have it in one of their other stores in other cities of Brazil. They also have children books, CD's and a nice cafe to relax and read. Books in French or Spanish are also available. They have chairs all around the store to grab a book and sit down to look at it. For kids, they have a big dragon bench with cushions for the kids to relax and read.

A the register you can issue a membership card for free and get discounts for future purchases.

Address: Bourbon Shopping Country Tel. 3028-4033

Santander Cultural Center

The "Santander Cultural" is an artistic center of Rio Grande do Sul for visual art, cinema, music and lectures. It is a beautiful old building, located downtown in Centro. Among other activities, I like their "Oficina de Choro e Samba". Every Saturday at 14:00 and 17:00 they have an informal, free of charge show of a choro band. People of all ages play music just for the fun of it.
They also have shows of Brazilian musicians and singers for very good prices. The monthly program can be found on their website.

In the lower part of the building there's a nice cafe, in a volt shape and an exhibition of all the Brazilian past coins and notes.
Address: Rua Sete de Setembro, 1028 Centro - Porto Alegre

"Area Azul" Tip

Area Azul is the pay parking on the street sides in the designated areas around Porto Alegre. if you park for less than 10 minutes, you don't need to buy a parking ticket. Also, you have an extra 10 parking minutes after your ticket expired. This tip is useful for those times that you park for a short errand. In this case there's no need in a ticket.

Arts and Crafts Supplies

Porto Alegre offers a lot of shops for arts supplies, most of them can be found in "Centro" neighbourhood (downtown). The biggest store is "Linna", it's a huge 3 floor shop with supplies for different kinds of crafts. They also offer classes. They have 3 shops, the biggest one is in Centro - Rua Senhor dos Passos, 90, Tel. 3213-0000, the other is on Av. Assis Brasil, 2017 Tel. 3345-3167 and another on Av. Azenha, 1317 Tel. 3219-4084.

Rua Senhor dos Passos in downtown is heaven for crafters as there are so many stores with a large variety of arts supplies. You can also find lots of party supplies in this area. In the parallel street, Pinto Bandeira, you can find lots of fabric and yarn stores. Stores downtown open daily from 9:00 and close at around 18:00. Sat. 9:00-13:00.

I find it pretty safe to go to Centro, although many people don't feel safe. If you go dressed up simply and watch your bag, there shouldn't be any problem.

Sightseeing City Tour

The municipality of Porto Alegre offers a city sightseeing tour in a bus, called "Linha Turismo".
The upper level of the bus has no roof and it's cool to watch Porto Alegre from above in the open air. The 80min ride passes through the main touristic sites of the city and is bilingually guided. Reserve tickets at 3212.3464 or 3212.0721. Bus leaves from: Porto Alegre Turismo, municipal office (Travessa do Carmo, 84), Cidade Baixa. Tour hours: Tue.-Sat. 9:00, 10:30, 15:00, 16:30 and during summer also 18:00. Tickets: 7R$ on bus top, 5R$ inside bus. The bus ride is attractive for kids too!

Sweet Bakery

There are 2 bakeries that we like to visit when we feel like having some delicious sweets.

Diego Andino - This bakery has a funny location, inside a garage, but still, their cakes are the best ever! You go up the garage and follow the smell, to a sweet lover's heaven. Diego is Uruguayan and makes a bite size cakes of many flavors. He also makes regular size cakes. Everything he makes looks very fancy and it's a good choice for dessert when having a party. In that case, you need to order the cakes ahead of time on phone or in the place. I always to prefer to go there because I can try some tasting samples. Address: Rua Quintino Bocaiúva, 433, sobreloja, Moinhos de Vento, 3264-4198. Mon.-Sat. 8:00-19:00. Free parking available.

Pâtissier - Marcelo, the owner of the place, will always welcome you with a smile at his patisserie. He makes wonderful chocolate, lemon or strawberry small cakes. He also has delicious empanadas and quiches. There are few tables to sit in the place and in the weekend they also serve lunch. Address: Rua Marquês do Pombal, 128, Moinhos de Vento, 3395-3848. Tue.-Sat. 8:00-20:00 free parking available.

Cellular Phone in Porto Alegre

Porto Alegre offers three cellular providers - TIM, CLARO and VIVO (we have CLARO). The most common technology is GSM and you may either use your own phone (needs to be unlocked and to support 900/1800 MHZ) or buy a phone from the provider. If you are using your own phone - you will have to buy only the local GSM SIM-Card (about 20-25 R$).

In general, the phone rates are high in Brazil (mainly for long-distance/international calls and for calls in roaming). There are some VOIP solutions available in the market that can help in this area.

CLARO - have a good coverage in the south of Brazil and reasonable coverage at the center and north Brazil. Claro offers two main plans: "Cartão" - prepaid plan and "Conta" - plan with monthly account. the prepaid plan has no monthly fee but the "per minute" price is higher.

TIM - have a good coverage in all of Brazil (it is an advantage for people that travel a lot inside Brazil). TIM is offering two main plans (similar to CLARO): "pre-pago" - prepaid; and "pôs-pago" - with monthly bill.

VIVO - have a reasonable coverage in all of Brazil. TIM is offering two main plans (similar to the others): "Vivo-pre" - prepaid; and "Vivo-pôs" - with monthly bill.

Indian Food to Order

We like to order indian food from Curry Express. They make deliveries only. Tel. 30124040, Mon.-Sat. 19:00-23:30. Their food is really good and we usually order Saag for main dish - curry chicken with spinach and mustard. It's only a bit spicy. All main dishes come with steamed white rice. Onion bhaji - fried onion in dough with yogurt and mint sauce. This serves 2-3 people.

Cisne Branco - a boat tour in the Guaiba river

The Cisne Branco (=white swan) is a small boat that takes you to a one hour long tour in the Guaiba river. It embarks from the local port down town (Portão Central do Porto), on Tue.-Sun. at 10:30, 15:00, 16:30, 18:00. The tour is guided (in Portuguese) and a snack bar is available. Tickets - 10R$, kids under 10 don't pay. Tickets can be purchased at the entrance. Safe parking is available at the port. The boat ride is a good fun for kids.

Radio Stations

My favorite local radio stations are:
Radio Itapema: 102.3FM - this station plays both Brazilian and international music of different kinds, including jazz, bossa novas - old and new. They also give information (in Portuguese) about jazz shows in Porto Alegre.
Radio Cidade: 92.1FM - this station plays the latest hits of Brazilian pop music (MPB) and international songs as well.
Antena 1: 89.3FM - plays mainly American hits from the 80's.

Kitchenware in Porto Alegre

There are lots of places with good kitchenware in the city. I will recommend 2 of them that are cheaper:

Knetig - This store is basically for restaurant and hotel owners, but they also sell to the retail market. They have basic kitchenware, cookware, plastic goods etc. for cheap. If you pay in cash, you get another 6% discount. Address: Av. Farrapos, 3059. The store is closed everyday for lunch break between 12:00-13:00.
Free parking is available just beside the store.

Vista Alegre - This is the factory store of the famous Vista Alegre porcelain in Portugal. It has a nice verity of porcelain dishes. Address: Av. Dom Claudio José Gonçalves Ponce de Leão - Nº 140. Opening hours: Mon.-Fri. 9:00-18:00, Sat. 9:00-13:00. Free parking is available in front of the store.

Moinhos Shopping Membership Card

The Moinhos Shopping mall is giving out a membership card named "Cartão Inteligente". For every Real you spend on shopping in one of the mall's shops, you get 1 point. When you have enough points you can choose a present. My favorite present is 12 free parking hours at the mall (imagine how much shopping you can do in 12 hours... ). The card is free and can be issued at the customer service desk in the mall.

Zoo in Sapucaia do Sul

The zoo is about 30 minutes drive away from Porto Alegre on BR 116. It is by the city Sapucaia do Sul. It's very big and requires a lot of walking. It's not very well maintained and has a restaurant. Opening days: Tue.-Sun. 8:30-17:00. Tel. 3474-1499 .

The Brique Art Fair

The Brique arts and crafts fair is happening every Sunday morning until dark. It's in the Redenção park by Bom Fim neighbourhood in Porto Alegre. It is a place to walk along the different booths where artists sell their works. On another part of the fair they sell antiques, food and beverages. In the same area, there is also a small entertainment park for kids.

Movies and Theaters

Foreign movies in Porto Alegre are usually in their original language with Portuguese legends (unless it's a movie for children and then it would be dubbed).
Theater seats are not marked on the ticket so if the movie is new, it's better to arrive a little earlier to get a good seat.

You can find a movie guide here. On Tuesday evenings in the Moinhos GNC theater you can watch a movie for a special price of 5R$ only!

Pampa Safari

The Pampa Safari is located near Gravataí, which is about 36Km away from Porto Alegre. You enter the park with your car and ride it along the different wild animals that are walking free all around. There are local animals, like capibaras and other animals that are not typical for Brazil. In the end you reach a huge playground, where you can park and have a snack. It's a great place for kids to watch animals and then run around.

Entrance fee is per car. Address: RS-20, km 11, n.5680, Gravataí. Tel. (51)3488.1823

Supermarkets

The 2 biggest supermarket chains in Porto Alegre are "Zaffari" and "Nacional".
Zaffari has bigger shops that are called "Bourbon" and Nacional has "Big". Nacional was recently purchased by Walmart. On this Nacional site, it is possible to buy groceries on-line.
Both supermarkets are good and each specializes in different areas.
We think that Nacional is better for imported foods, while Zaffari has a bigger verity of foods in general. The best Zaffari store that usually has everything fresh is the one on rua Plinio Brasil Milano. The best Nacional store is on rua Lucas de Oliveira.
Important: Only Nacional accepts credit cards. Zaffari only accepts debit card or cash (of course...)

PUC Science and Technology Museum

Inside the PUC university campus, there is a wonderful science museum to go with the kids or even not! It's a huge museum to spend good 5-6 hours in. The museum offers lots of interesting "to touch" exhibits and experiments. There's a nice cafeteria to have a snack or a buffet restaurant to have lunch. A safe parking lot is available right beside the museum. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

Address: Av. Ipiranga, 6681 • Prédio 40 • Porto Alegre - RS - Brasil • CEP 90619-900 Tel.: (51) 3320.3597 / 3320.3697 Opening hours: Tue. - Sun. 9:00-17:00. Tickets: 10R$ adult, 7R$ child ages 3-12.

Flight Information

Information about departures and arrivals:
INFRAERO - this is the official website of all airports in Brazil. The site is available in English too.
TIMETABLE - this website shows scheduled flights timetable from/to Brazil, by origin and

destination. The site is in Portuguese only.

Flying in South America

There's a lot to see in Brasil and many times you need to fly in order to travel.
Here's a list of air companies in Brasil:
Remember: buying flight tickets on-line, requires a CPF number!
GOL - when buying tickets on-line through Gol's website, it is important to fill the 'date of birth' block with zeroes (00/00/0000). This is true for foreigners only.
TAM - if you have a Banco do Brasil credit card, you can convert bonus points into Tam's miles through the bank website.
VARIG
BRA
WEBJET
OCEANAIR
NHT - a small company with small air crafts (around 20 seats) and they have destinations in RS, Santa Catarina and Parana. They fly to small cities that other companies don't reach.
DECOLAR - on this site it is possible to choose a destination and get prices from several air companies.

BOA VIAGEM!

Our Favorite Restaurants in Porto Alegre

Here's a link to Porto Alegre map with our favorite places to eat or drink!
If you have more places to recommend, please add a comment.

Whipped Cream

Finding a cream to whip was not an easy task. The "creme de leite" that is so popular in all supermarkets can't form a nice whipped cream for a cake. Recently, we found one that gives a reasonable result. It is produced by RAR and has 45 days shelf life. It can be found at La Gourmandise, Rua Carlos Trein Filho, 1100, Bela Vista, 3333-8450. 10:00-20:30 (Mon. - Sat.). Apart from cream, La Gourmandise offers a nice verity of kitchen ware and imported food products. Click on the photo for a large image.

Fresh Milk

We really like to drink milk, but a tasty fresh milk is so hard to find in Porto Alegre.

We tried a lot of types and the best one we found so far is "Leite Santa Malta". It comes either in a plastic bottle or bag and you can find it in the Zaffari supermarkets. It has 6 days shelf life and it has 3% fat.

In general it is important to know that fresh milk in Brasil is divided to "Tipo A" (Type A), "Tipo B" (Type B) and "Tipo C" (Type C), where Type A is the cleanest, bacteria wise. So make sure you always get a type A milk. Click on the photo for a lerge image.