VidaNaPraia

What would you estimate a day pass would cost? About $30 or so?

Adam1222

Not all lounges offer day passes.
The Admirals Club is $50.

VidaNaPraia

Thanks.

And for $60, I would choose, in that case, to be (free) shuttled to the pool of a hotel 10 minutes away, to enjoy the Brazilian sunshine with a caipirinha in my hand. :-)

Otherwise, what mikekelley said.

SoCal

$60 awfully cheap for any area hotel, including day rate, but if one can get this at a decent hotel, great.

encierro98

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but it seemed the most relevant. I am once again booking a ticket through GRU and had some questions. We are booking a ticket on a United J award from IAH to JNB (IAH-GRU-JNB), and wanted to know if we were able to get out of the airport since we had a 9 hour layover. I realize the traffic situation and logistics, but really just want to pop out to lunch and back and see SP from outside a plane even if just in a cab. All the travelers have yellow fever shots and cards from about 4 years ago (from our last trip through GRU) and we all have passports (Irish and SA) that allow us to enter Brazil without a visa.

However as mentioned this isn’t my first time on this route. But last time we did it (back in 2014), we were told at the airport that we were not allowed to go out of the airport, due to our ticket type. I guess because it was just a transfer maybe we didn’t pay for the extra taxes required to go into Brazil (this time I think we used miles and paying $15 per person in fees). So I don’t know if that was correct or not, but since we were able to find a lounge that was open albeit a bit dodgy we were able to take showers and explore the airport some, plus the new terminal just opened days prior, so there was a lot of new stuff (only some were open unfortunately). Anyway wanted to try something different this time, but also hoping the airport has more stuff going on now that the new terminal is established. So my questions are:
1) Can I get out of the airport?
2) If so what do I need to show trying to get back in? will they say I need to pay something additional at some point?
3) Anybody with firsthand experience on this route? Might be best asked in the United forum.
Thanks ahead of time.

MSPeconomist

There's a pretty cheap bus that stops at certain downtown hotels--in fact, several routes are offered but an individual route might not be so frequent. You could easily visit an interesting neighborhood or an art museum or two.

RafKa

Assuming you can get out to landside (and I really don't see why you wouldn't be able to) your best bet would be to catch an UberX into town (R$60-70 each way). Maybe to Jardins or Vila Madalena, depending on your preferences. That should give you a good 3h on the ground for a leisurely lunch and a stroll, assuming you don't have bulky hand luggage, which would need to be stored at left luggage (especially a laptop bag, for security reasons).

If not, the infrastructure at T3 is great now, and the Star Alliance lounge very nice and a great place to shower, have drinks and relax for a few hours. It should be very empty in the afternoon.

encierro98

I am still not sure why we weren't allowed landside last time, but we will give it another go. I have never had this issue before but this was my one and only time to transfer through Brazil also.

macdonaldj2

Yeah but the GRU flights lands at 9ish AM local and the JNB flight doesn't depart until 6-7pm, I wouldn't want to spend all that time in the T3 *A lounge even as nice as it is. I fly IAH-GRU often as I am a transplant here. If you need any lunch options or assistance, DM me.