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.