Aside from designer boutiques, Sampa’s sleekly alluring shoppings unite fantastic food courts, mega book-and-CD stores, trendy cafés, movie theaters, and much more. Hours are generally 10 a.m.–10 p.m. Monday–Saturday, 2–8 p.m. Sunday.

Inaugurated in 1966, Shopping Iguatemi (Av. Brigadeiro Faria Lima 2232, Jardim Paulistano, tel. 11/3816-6116, www.iguatemisaopaulo.com.br) has been São Paulo’s most sophisticated shopping for decades. Apart from 360 chic boutiques (with an enormous international presence ranging from Burberry to Tiffany’s), it possesses several movie theaters, gourmet cafés and restaurants, and a gigantic Saraiva bookstore.

The discreetly hidden Shopping Pátio Higienópolis (Av. Higienópolis 618, Higienópolis, tel. 11/3823-2300, www.patiohigienopolis.com.br) is spacious and airy with a great mix of stores, eating options, and a cinema.

Just off Avenida Paulista, the super-trendy Shopping Frei Caneca (Rua Frei Caneca 569, Consolação, tel. 11/3472-2000, www.freicanecashopping.com.br) is nicknamed “Shopping Gay Caneca” due to its popularity with fashion-forward gays and lesbians. Aside from boutiques (which are skewed to a younger, more alternative clientele), it has a food court, a gourmet supermarket, a great cinema—the Unibanco Arteplex—and two theaters.