Santos is Brazil's largest port and one of the busiest in Latin America, but it is also a beach city with a long seafront and a proud footballing heritage — this is where Pelé played for 18 years. The Pelé Museum at the Vila Belmiro stadium is a pilgrimage for football fans.
The old coffee exchange building, the Bolsa do Café, is the most impressive building in town — an ornate early 20th-century hall with stained glass and painted ceilings that reflects the days when Santos was the coffee capital of the world. The historic centre has been partly restored, and the Valongo neighbourhood and old tram line are worth exploring. The seafront garden running along the beach is in the Guinness Book as the largest beachfront garden in the world. Up on Monte Serrat, reached by funicular, the view takes in the whole port and city.
Santos is less than an hour from São Paulo by road, making it the city's default beach escape. The beaches are long and urban, backed by high-rise apartments — many of them famously leaning on the soft soil. The food is good — seafood restaurants and traditional Portuguese-Brazilian cooking.