My Experience Using Uber to Get From Sao Paulo to Guarulhos International Airport

As you may know, I’m a huge fan of Uber in Los Angeles because it’s such an inexpensive way to get around town, especially to the airport. Most recently, Uber launched UberPOOL in Los Angeles which makes it even cheaper! Using UberPOOL, you can get from Santa Monica to LAX for only $5 or from Downtown LA to LAX for $15 and vice versa. I wrote about My Experience Using UberPOOL To Get From LAX Airport To Downtown Los Angeles.

During my recent South America Mileage Run Vacation to Foz do Iguacu, I had a 23 hour layover in Sao Paulo. My flight out of Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport (GRU) was at 7am and I wanted to get to the airport by 4:30am to check out the new LAN TAM Sala VIP Lounge at GRU Airport’s Terminal 3. The problem was that there was no viable public transportation running that early in the morning and the last Airport Bus Service departure was at 11:30pm and doesn’t start up again until 6am. I was stuck having to call a cab, but I realized there was Uber in Sao Paulo, Brasil.

I’ve had positive experiences using Uber internationally in Singapore, London, Bogota, Lima, and Mexico City. This time, I wanted to try out Uber in Sao Paulo and this is My Experience Using Uber to Get From Sao Paulo to Guarulhos International Airport.

Sao Paulo doesn’t have the inexpensive UberX service and only has UberBLACK which has a base fare of R$5 ~ $1.67 USD + R$0.40 per minute ~ $0.13 USD + R$2.42 per kilometer ~ $0.81 USD.

ubersaopaulo1

Even though Sao Paulo only has UberBLACK service, it’s relatively comparable to the prices (if not cheaper) than UberX in Los Angeles. From the Brooklin Novo/Itaim Bibi/Morumbi neighborhood where the Sheraton Sao Paulo WTC Hotel was located, I was quoted a fare of R$105-139 ~ $35.04-$46.39 USD to GRU International Airport.

ubersaopaulo2

The price quote of 105-139 Brazilian reais ~ $35.04 – $46.39 USD wasn’t too bad at all because it takes 45 minutes to get to Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport (GRU) without any traffic.

I hailed an UberBLACK car at 3:36am in the morning so I could arrive to the airport before 4:30am. In less than 10 seconds, an Uber driver confirmed my pick up which had an estimated wait time of 10 minutes.

ubersaopaulo3

I love how Uber displays the driver’s picture, type of car, and license plate which makes me feel more secure about the ride (especially in Brazil).

ubersaopaulo4

The professional Uber driver pulled up at 3:50am and I was on our way to the airport with an estimated time of 42 minutes.

ubersaopaulo5 ubersaopaulo6 ubersaopaulo7

In the end, I got to the airport safely at 4:25am and the fare was R$139 ~ $46.39 USD which was pretty good considering it was a long 42 minute ride. Uber in Sao Paulo is still much cheaper than taking an $80-$100 USD regular taxi from the taxi cab stand because of the extra night time surcharge.

ubersaopaulo8

I highly recommend UberBLACK in Sao Paulo as a taxi alternative. Have you used Uber in Sao Paulo or Uber in Brazil yet?

 

About the Author

Points Summary
My name is and I write the Points Summary travel blog.

7 Comments on "My Experience Using Uber to Get From Sao Paulo to Guarulhos International Airport"

  1. I did use uber in both São Paulo and Rio. In both cities prices are inexpensive and I liked the experience. I agree with you in terms of knowing who is your driver and plate number showing in the app. Definetaly better service than regular cabs in São Paulo!

  2. Carolina Davola | August 26, 2015 at 10:47 am | Reply

    I am Brazilian, but have been living abroad for the past 5 years.
    Taxis to in most Brazilian big cities was always a nightmare… old cars; drivers either in a bad mood or extremely talkative and sometimes trying to take advantage of non locals to charge by always choosing the longer way etc.
    Uber (currently uber X is already available in SP also!) brought a much better (and believe me, cheaper!!) alternative to the regular white cabs.
    I’ve used it not only from and to the airport, but also for my day to day stuff whilst working from the SP office. Reliable service, newer and always clean cars, polite drivers and 100% safe!
    All uberX and uber black drivers offered me water (they always had a few cold bottles in a coller!!) and told that they would be using waze (the traffic optimizing app) if I didn’t have objections to it (of course I don’t! it just made the ride faster!).
    In two occasions I’ve decided to take regular cabs… stupid me! 80ºF outside and I was stuck in an old car, with no AC (‘you know miss, it just broke!’ says the driver… they always use this excuse to save some fuel, believe me!) and a driver with no GPS, asking me to use my phone’s google maps because he didn’t want to use his own 3G data plan (and of course I did not wanted to use mine either under international roaming!).
    I became even more of an Uber fan in Brazil and would say that their Uber X services in Sao Paulo are even better than the Uber Black services in NY.
    Before flying back to NY I made sure that all of my family downloaded the Uber app and now my grandparents use it all the time whenever they have plans at night (grandpa is 83 and is not that safe for him to drive after sunset) and my brother also uses it whenever he gets stuck into work and cannot leave to take his girls to school!

  3. Thank you for letting everyone know that Uber is in Brazil now too! I had pleasure to use Iber while I was in Philippines for work and it cost even less that that! It was about 40 mins ride from the airport, some 10 miles distance, traffic is a night mare in Manila and it only cost me around $10-12USD!

  4. barbara Afkhami | January 29, 2016 at 6:17 pm | Reply

    I love Uber in the US. thank you for giving me the great news about Uber in Brazil. I’ll be happy to use it on my upcoming trip.

  5. So glad to hear of uber in SP Brazil.We thought Suntransfers was our only way from CGH airport to the Santos Cruise Port in April. We love Uber here in Australia and feel relieved with this Excellent service.
    Steve

  6. Sweetie Bird | March 10, 2016 at 6:32 am | Reply

    There is one more reason to choose Uber over regular cabs when going from/to the Guarulhos airport. Guarulhos is another city and most places in Brazil have a policy of intermunicipal cab rides being 50% more expensive (it’s called a return fee). That means that if your cab ride was 140, you’d have to shell out an extra 70 on top of that.

    Do, however, always sense what the political climate is when choosing Uber over cabs in Brazil. The cab drivers are very unhappy about Uber and have attacked both Uber drivers and passangers in the recent past, so it can be risky.

  7. Hey there is Uber in Porto Alegre, in Southern Brazil too. I used UberX and Uber Black there. It’s way better and safer than regular Taxi services.Price is very competitive. I hope they launch Uber English in Porto Alegre soon as it’s the capital of MERCOSUR and there are a lot of tourists like me.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.


*