Leaving from Guarulhos to Buenos Aires on British Airways at 8 am on November 12, 2010, I wanted to stay next to the airport, where I was supposed to be at 6 am at the latest.

Ibis hotels are a standardized chain. In all countries where I have stayed with them (France, Buenos Aires and Brazil), I have always had the same type of room, half way between the English closet and the normal Econo Lodge room BUT WITHOUT THE COMFORT of the latter: in all Ibis, you will have the same green WOODEN CHAIR with no comfortable club chair (most often there would not even be enough space to put it in anyway!), the same two feet deep tablet running along the window from wall to wall and the same small bathroom with shower, toilet and hand wash. Also, there are always ONLY TWO medium size TOWELS. I paid 109 Reales for this thing, which is around $65 without breakfast November 11, 2010.

By comparison, last May 11, 2011, I paid $40.33 tax included at Las Vegas Clarion hotel on Convention Drive for a huge king room with lots of towels, frig and microwave… Even if you forget about my senior discount, just add 10% and you will see the picture!

My room at the Ibis Guarulhos had NO DOOR SECURITY whatsoever, so I had to put my carry on and the wooden chair behind the door, just in case…

They have a free shuttle from Guarulhos airport, leaving every hour at the hour sharp from TERMINAL 2-D on the ground floor: as you exit on door D, turn right on the center island and you will see several hotel shuttles. To go back the next day, you may take it once every hour at half past, starting at 5:30 am but you will have to pay 5 Reales (around $3) to go from Ibis back to the airport in about 20 minutes. On the way back, it will also stop at Terminal 1-B, then you must walk back to 1-A for British Airways check in.

Note that American Airlines leaves from Terminal 2 but they don’t fly between Brazil and Argentina – unless you want to go via Miami and have a naked photo taken with some extra radiation or a “love padding” at the airport…

The advantage of this Ibis is that it is right downtown with a handful of real restaurants behind the hotel (Mercure has one right next door) and a myriad of junk food where you may have a good ham and cheese pizza slice for 1 Real ($0.60), after climbing two blocks on a stiff hill San Francisco style! BEWARE: THE ONLY BANK I SAW IN TOWN HAS NO CHANGE AND NOBODY WILL ACCEPT DOLLARS!!! Only the few real restaurants behind the hotel will take credit cards but I didn’t try them. Also, there is a SUBWAY behind this Ibis where they accept VISA and MC but I paid cash (same prices as in the USA). Three blocks from Ibis (one block past Bristol hotel) there is a small shopping center to buy cloth, food, toothpaste etc.

All in all, this is a good place to stay if you are flying early the next day.

Otherwise, if your plane leaves later than 10 am, I would rather choose the NOVOTEL JARAGUA CONVENTION, where I stayed in June 2010. This Novotel is downtown Sao Paulo, a walking distance from Avenida Paulista: I walked 3.60 miles round trip (5.76 km) with a detour via Rua da Consolaçao on the way back, according to my OMRON pedometer. It is also only one block from the subway taking you from ANHANGABAU station to TATUAPÉ for 2.65 Reales, from where a bus will take you right to Guarulhos airport (Terminal 2-D) for 3.80 Reales. The whole journey will therefore cost you less than 6.50 Reales each way, which was around $3.85 US as of June, 2010. One hour after I checked out of Novotel, I was at Guarulhos airport, transfer and waiting time included. This gave me a good four hours to enjoy AA’s Admiral Club with plenty of free food and liquids before taking my flight to Miami!