Santos City Tour: Coffee Museum, Fort & Beach Garden

Coffee, a funicular climb, and the shoreline from an Oscar Niemeyer monument

A half-day private city tour of Santos with a licensed guide, hotel or port pickup, and transport included. You start with breakfast and a tour of the Coffee Museum, ride a funicular up Mount Serrat to a chapel dating from 1603, visit Oscar Niemeyer's viewpoint monument on Porchat Island, and spend time at the beach with its record-holding garden of 5,335 meters. The guide speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese or French.

Step-by-step itinerary

Stops and time spent at each

1. Coffee Museum40m
2. Our Lady of Mount Serrat Fort40m

Explore Santos city highlights

• Have breakfast at Coffee Museum café
• Visit Coffee Museum exhibits
• Ride tram up Mount Serrat
• Visit Our Lady of Mount Serrat Chapel
• Admire view from Niemeyer’s monument
• Enjoy lunch near Niemeyer’s monument
• Relax at beach with largest garden
• Visit Pelé Museum

The experience

The tour opens at the Coffee Museum's stylish coffee shop, where you have breakfast and then explore how coffee shaped Brazil's economy. The museum lets you taste different coffee types ground fresh before drinking: a detail most city tours skip. From there, a funicular carries you up Mount Serrat, a peak with a panoramic viewpoint that frames the port, the urban sprawl, the Bertioga Canal, and the islands beyond. At the top sits the Chapel of Our Lady of Monte Serrat, built in 1603 and the patron saint's shrine for the city.

The route then takes you to Porchat Island, where Oscar Niemeyer's belvedere monument (completed in 2002 for Brazil's 500th anniversary) overlooks the entire shoreline and the city of São Vicente, the first permanent Portuguese settlement. You can see ships on the horizon, paragliders, and the waves forming. A restaurant sits beside the monument if you want lunch. The final stop is the beach itself, a 7-kilometer stretch with the world's largest beachfront garden according to Guinness records: 5,335 meters of carefully maintained flowers, trees, and plants between the street and the sand. Exercise stations, cycle tracks, vendors, and benches line the garden. You can sit with a cold coconut water or walk the white sand.

A professional licensed guide drives the vehicle if your group is four people or fewer. Larger groups get a separate driver. Hotel pickup and port greet-and-meet are included, as are all taxes, tolls, and parking during stops. The tour runs about six hours. Entrance fees to the museums and any food beyond the coffee-shop breakfast are separate.

What’s included

• Professional licensed guide in English, Spanish, Portuguese or French.
• private vehicle transport with a driver for groups larger than four.
• hotel or port pickup and drop-off within Santos and its greater area.
• breakfast at the Coffee Museum coffee shop.
• all taxes, tolls, parking fees and handling charges.

Options for this experience

2 options

Private city tour, standard versionUp to 14 per booking · Guide in 4 languages · 17 departure times: the first at 07:00, the last at 15:00Pickup is included

Monday Special DealUp to 3 per booking · Guide in 4 languages · 08:00Available only for hotel pickups at 8:00: Experience the very same private tour at a special reduced rate on Mondays only. Pickup is included

You pick the guide language when booking.

You'll see the exact price of each option when you check availability.See dates and prices

Before you book

Days and timesEvery day17 departure times: the first at 07:00, the last at 15:00

Book up to6h before

GroupPrivate

Live guideEnglish, Spanish, French and Portuguese

Meeting point and pickupHotel pickup included.You can choose from 31 pickup points.

Cancellation and refundsFree cancellation up to 24 h before the start. After that, no refund.

Prices and times updated 5 days ago

Good to know

Low physical effortPublic transport nearby

Operated by Gregtur Turismo

Is this one for you?Book this if you're arriving by cruise ship or based in a Santos hotel and prefer a private guide who picks you up directly rather than meeting at a fixed departure point.

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Top questions

What languages is the tour guided in?

Live guide in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese.

What is the Coffee Museum like, and do I get to taste the coffee?

The Coffee Museum is housed in a stylish coffee shop where the tour begins with breakfast. You taste different types of coffee ground fresh right before drinking, so you experience the variety of aromas and flavors that made coffee central to Brazil's development. Entrance is included in the tour.

Can I see the whole city and the port from Mount Serrat?

Yes. The funicular takes you to the top of Mount Serrat, where the viewpoint shows the port, the urban part of Santos, the Bertioga Canal, the estuary, and Barnabé and Santo Amaro Islands. The 17th-century Chapel of Our Lady of Monte Serrat sits at the peak, and the funicular departs every half hour if you want to linger.

What is the Oscar Niemeyer monument, and what can you see from it?

Niemeyer's belvedere is a viewpoint monument on Porchat Island, completed in 2002. From it you see the entire shoreline, ships on the horizon, waves forming, and the city of São Vicente across the water. A restaurant is beside the monument if you want to stop for lunch.

How long do I spend at the beach, and what is the beachfront garden like?

The beach is the final stop on the tour. The beachfront garden stretches 5,335 meters (the world's largest according to Guinness records) with flowers, trees, and plants carefully maintained between the street and the sand. You'll find exercise stations, cycle tracks, benches, vendors, and the option to drink fresh coconut water or sunbathe on the white sand.

Does the tour include the Pelé museum?

The Pelé museum is not part of the standard itinerary, though it is in Santos. The tour focuses on the Coffee Museum, Mount Serrat, the Niemeyer monument, and the beach garden.

Do I need to arrange my own transport from the airport or port?

No. Hotel pickup and port greet-and-meet are included in the tour price. If you're arriving on a cruise ship, the guide meets you at the terminal. If you're staying in a hotel in Santos or its surrounding area, pickup is from your accommodation.