Thank you all very much for offering your thoughts!

As suspected, sounds a bit on the rubbish side but I'm (fairly) sure the flight will be good.

I'll probably be leaving Santos about 10am, and so should be at the airport some time between 11:30-13:00 if I go straight there.

The flight isn't until 18:10, and pretty much everywhere else I've ever been I would go and see some things/relax in the city for the afternoon and then head to the airport a couple of hours before the flight.

Despite coming from a cruise, I'll only have either a big backpack or one suitcase and I'm young and fairly fit so carrying luggage isn't a problem, but is Sao Paulo traffic just too much hassle to even contemplate trying to see some of the city?

Is there an area of the city, or even a nearby town, relatively near to the airport that anyone has found interesting/more enjoyable than spending hours in bad lounge?

I completely appreciate that waiting around in a lounge or not (however ropy) for a few hours is a rather nice problem to have, but just think it would be a shame not to see a bit of the city, so I could decide if its somewhere I'd like to go back when I have more time. Any further info is therefore definitely appreciated!

Many thanks again!