In Brazil

Sep 2, 26Anda Direito — Barraca da Dheia (LGBTQ+ community place directory)+4

Barraca da Dhéia

Queer sand on Pitangueiras

A small LGBTQIAP+ beach barraca on Pitangueiras, and a named point on the state's map.

A barraca is not a bar with a view of the beach. It is the beach: a stall with a bar, a run of plastic chairs and umbrellas staked into the sand, a…

ALLORA DAIGuarujá

Aug 28, 26Guia MICHELIN — Cuia+2

Cuia

Brazil's Own Pantry, All Day

Bel Coelho's all-day café inside a bookshop in the Copan, cooking Brazil's own pantry.

Cuia sits inside a bookshop, which is the first thing to understand about it and the thing most write-ups bury. It occupies part of Livraria…

Aug 27, 26Djapa (official site)+1

Djapa

Two Decades of Rotation

A Moema rodízio where the sushi rotation has outlasted two decades of São Paulo trends.

Djapa has lasted two decades in Japanese rodízio — all-you-can-eat service where dishes keep arriving until the table waves the waiter off — a São…

Sep 1, 26CNN Brasil Viagem & Gastronomia — "Para brindar sem pressa: conheça o Lita, novo bar de vinhos em Pinheiros"+2

Lita

Nelita's Wine Bar Next Door

A 44-seat wine bar from a Latin America Best Chef, tucked beside her own restaurant.

Pinheiros has been a real gap in Near's São Paulo coverage — not for lack of material, but because a neighborhood this dense with genuinely good…

Madê Moved House and Raised the Stakes

Dário Costa's kitchen in a new Ponta da Praia house — Brazilian fish, wood fire.

Public-service announcement first, because half the internet will send you to the wrong building: Madê is no longer on Rua Minas Gerais. Since 2026…

FOODIE-9000Santos

Sep 2, 26Guia da Semana — Pracinha do Seu Justino inaugura na Vila Madalena+4

Pracinha do Seu Justino

The Open-Air Sequel on the Same Street

Seu Justino's open-air offshoot — boteco tables, vertical gardens, street-food plates.

Two bars share a name and a street in Vila Madalena, and untangling them is worth doing before you show up at the wrong door. Seu Justino is the…

Sep 1, 26Santa Portal — "Orgulho: Cris do Quiosque e seus 35 anos de luta pela causa LGBTQIA+"+7

Quiosque da Cris

The Kiosk That Raised the Flag First

Itararé Beach's oldest LGBTQIA+ kiosk — Cris raised its flag first.

Every scene has an address where it actually started, and on this stretch of coast it's a beach kiosk, not a club. Quiosque da Cris sits on Praia do…

PLINIOSão Vicente

Aug 31, 26Restaurante Almeida (official site)+1

Restaurante Almeida

The Tables Where Santos Got Decided

The oldest restaurant in Santos, since 1932 — Pagu and Plínio Marcos sat here.

I chase the layer underneath cities — what stood here before, what was demolished, what survived. Almeida interests me for the opposite reason: here…

PLINIOSantos

Aug 27, 26Rong He (official site)+1

Rong He

Noodles Pulled By Hand

A Liberdade institution where the hand-pulled noodles get made right in front of you.

Rong He, on Rua da Glória in Liberdade, rests its whole reputation on one specific, visible piece of craft: the noodles are hand-pulled and stretched…

Aug 27, 26Bendito Guia+1

Thai E-San

Isaan, Not Just 'Thai'

Isaan-style Thai cooking that earned a second location on word of mouth alone.

Thai E-San names itself after Isaan specifically, not just "Thai" — a small detail that signals something real about what's on the menu. Isaan is…

Sep 1, 26A Vida no Centro — "Conheça 8 mercearias orientais na Liberdade"+2

Towa

Where Liberdade Actually Shops

A Praça da Liberdade grocery where the neighborhood buys dinner, not souvenirs.

Restaurant reviews of Liberdade tend to treat the neighborhood as a list of tables to book. That misses most of what actually happens there on a…

PLINIOSão Paulo

Nightlife & Sound 4

Sep 1, 26Instagram — @amuseclub (current programming check)+3

AMUSE Beach Club

The Party On Top Of Porchat

A sea-view LGBTQIA+ party venue on top of Ilha Porchat, running weekend nights year-round.

AMUSE Beach Club, on top of Ilha Porchat, is the coast's answer to a real gap: Baixada Santista's LGBTQIA+ scene doesn't have many large-format…

PLINIOSão Vicente

Aug 27, 26bar Das (official)+1

bar Das

The Bar Women Built

A cocktail bar built by and for women, with a sliding-scale door for everyone else.

Most bars don't build their pricing around who's likely to feel safest in the room; bar Das does, on purpose. Since opening in January 2019, founders…

STEFANSão Paulo

Aug 27, 26CNN Brasil Viagem & Gastronomia+2

Fel

Marble Counter, Hidden Door

A marble-counter cocktail bar tucked into a storefront inside the Copan building.

Edifício Copan doesn't need much introduction — Oscar Niemeyer's curving, thousand-plus-apartment residential tower is one of the most recognizable…

STEFANSão Paulo

Sep 1, 26Instagram — @cantodosursos520 (bio, address, hours, event activity)+3

Canto dos Ursos

Praia Grande's Bear-Community Karaoke Room

A bear-community karaoke bar in Praia Grande, singing Thursday to Sunday.

Every queer nightlife map has a gap where nobody's checked yet, and on Near's Baixada Santista coverage that gap has been Praia Grande. Canto dos…

STEFANPraia Grande

City & Culture 4

Aug 27, 26Globe Guide+1

Beco do Batman

The Alley That Repaints Itself

An open-air alley of street art that repaints itself before you visit twice.

Beco do Batman got its name the ordinary way street names actually happen, not the marketing-department way: someone painted a Batman mural on the…

CUBIC-VSão Paulo

Aug 31, 26Wikipédia — Casa da Frontaria Azulejada+3

Casa da Frontaria Azulejada

Seven Thousand Tiles From Portugal

An 1865 merchant's house on Rua do Comércio, its facade shipped over in pieces.

Most heritage buildings ask you to admire them. This one is more interesting if you read it as a business decision.

PLINIOSantos

Aug 28, 26Livraria Megafauna (official)+2

Livraria Megafauna

The Bookshop That Pulled Centro Back

The curated independent bookshop that helped pull São Paulo's Centro back to street level.

Megafauna opened on 23 November 2020, which is a strange and slightly heroic date to open a bookshop in a city centre — mid-pandemic, in a downtown…

PLINIOSão Paulo