The Best Hostels to Book in São Paulo

Reassuringly, HBB is a Sao Paulo hostel with boutique hotel aspirations: there’s the lively bar and patio restaurant (with its own brand-name tableware); add in breakfast, private ensuite bathrooms and arty co-worker lounge areas with sofas made from re-purposed pallets and contemporary murals. There you have it. It’s in a great location, on one of Vila Madalena’s party streets, with plenty of bars and restaurants less than a block away. Dorms are simple – all-white with pod berth-beds (and reading lights) and modest lockers for furnishings.

This poshtel (with boutique-beautiful touches) enjoys an excellent location in the nightlife-busy neighborhood of Vila Madalena. Mixed and single-gender dorms have beds set in pods affording plenty of night-time privacy. There are lively social areas decorated with street art, while all the restaurants and bars you could need are right on the doorstep. The region’s much-photographed Beco de Batman alley (covered in street art by some of the city’s famous names) is a short walk away; for the metro station, just walk two blocks.

Zen does its best to live up to its name: note the leafy garden filled with orchids and tropical flowers, the laughing Buddha statues, the bamboo screens and a tranquil location in a quiet residential street in Vila Madalena. The position is perfect, as the Vila Madalena metro is just five minutes away on foot; 10 minutes will get you to the great bars and nightlife. Doubles and small dorms (most with space for between four and six people) are simple and comfortable, with wooden bunks and double-beds; some have desk workstations and ensuite bathrooms.

In the heart of São Paulo’s Japanese neighborhood Liberdade, this perfect pad is the business. It’s five minutes’ walk from the Japanese market, the city’s best Asian restaurants and the São Joaquim metro; in just over 10 minutes, you’re at the cathedral and the historic Pateo do Collegio. Beds are cheek by jowl in the rooms and dorms, and decor is clean, bright and modern, with plenty of communal areas: look for the lounges (one with a pizza oven and exercise machines), breakfast room and sun terrace slung with hammocks.

This place is one of São Paulo’s longest-established hostels, is well-located: in a quiet street in Consolação, 10 minutes walk from the Brigadeiro metro and Avenida Paulista, close to the alternative-nightlife scene around Rua Bela Cintra. Double, triple and quadruple rooms and dorms (with wooden bunks) are small, sparsely furnished and well-kept, all positioned around an attractive patio garden. There’s a large TV lounge, plenty of workspaces, a barbecue area and laundry facilities. Best of all, a large breakfast is included in the price.

Appealingly, FM bridges the gap between hostel and small hotel: it has boutiquey flourishes such as modern bright colors, scatter cushions, tasteful wall art and big, bright windows. The building’s cool, too – a large, handsome neoclassical townhouse in upmarket Jardim Paulista. There’s a large lounge, a patio garden, a shared kitchen and a breakfast area. Dorms and doubles look good, all polished granite or marble floors and colorful linens. Ibirapuera Park is five minutes walk away and a cab will get you to the nearest metro in 10.

If you want to meet and mingle with fellow travelers, O de Casa is a great place to stay: it’s got a big, buzzing bar with space to dance as well as plenty of brightly decorated lounge areas slung with hammocks and filled with sofas. There’s a restaurant and the location is ace, in the heart of Vila Madalena’s nightlife district. Expect lots of room choices, from ensuite and mezzanine suites to four, six and eight-bed mixed dorms, with pod beds and privacy curtains.

The best thing about this hostel is the location, just a few minutes’ walk from Ana Rosa metro station (which connects to Avenida Paulista and the center) in the tranquil Vila Mariana neighborhood. Central São Paulo’s biggest green space, Ibirapuera Park, is a 10-minute walk from the front door, and there are plenty of bars, supermarkets and restaurants on the doorstep. Whitewashed, spartan dorms are mixed and single-gender and there are private rooms. There is also a well-equipped kitchen and a sitting room with polished wood floors and sofas.