Top photo: Francisco Arrais

With a large collection of marine biology from Latin America, it possesses the largest collection of taxidermied sharks in the country, including the embryo of a specimen with two heads and fossilized teeth of a megalodon, a prehistoric animal extinct for 30 million years.

It also exhibits a whale shark; a sunfish, the largest bony fish in the world; seabirds and shells weighing over 100 kilos. A large part of the collection comes from abroad.

The Maritime Museum boasts one of the main collections of underwater archaeology and maritime history in Brazil. To the sound of old sailors' songs, visitors witness simulated cannon fire, contemplate models of pirates and captains, and appreciate relics recovered from 18th and 19th-century vessels, including pirate ships and the Titanic.

The entrance to the museum, which opened in December 2005, is adorned with ship flags and a life-size pirate figure. Inside, there are scale models of famous vessels, a collection of medals from various nationalities, and 25 oil paintings on canvas by Carlos Alfredo Hablitzel, depicting important Brazilian and foreign naval episodes, including the first naval battle in the bay of Santos in 1580.

Top photo: Tadeu Nascimento

A place that brings together tradition, architecture, history, flavors and aromas. Installed in an eclectic-style building, with an area of 6,000 m² and more than 200 doors and windows, the Coffee Museum, inaugurated in 1998, is much more than a tourist attraction that showcases the number one Brazilian export at the end of the 19th century. It is an experience of various sensations, from the cultivation of the bean to the consolidation of coffee as one of the national symbols. Permanent and temporary exhibitions, works of art, period furniture, themed shop and a café serving the best coffee beans – including the most expensive and rarest in the country – are some of its many attractions.

Top photo: Marcelo Martins

Created to recover, witness and preserve the sports history of Santos – considered the sportiest municipality in Brazil since 1955 – the De Vaney Sports Memorial Center boasts a collection of more than 500 trophies won from 1939.

The museum also houses photographic and personal collections with more than a thousand images, library and sports newspaper collection with journalistic material organized according to subject and sport. There are also records of veteran athletes, CDs and DVDs, research material, statements, auditorium for talks and small events. The museum offers guided tours, publishes information and has a choir of veteran athletes, which meets weekly. 

Top photo: Susan Hortas

Installed in a mansion built in 1908, the Fishing Museum is one of the main tourist attractions in Santos and is part of historical-cultural heritage of the entire region. Eclectic in style, the building, constructed on the site of the former Fort August (18th century), houses an important collection on the aquatic environment. 

Among its attractions are: a 23m-long whale skeleton, giant squid, Beach Room, play wing, stuffed animals and a huge collection of sand from beaches in Brazil and from around the world.   

Top photo: Francisco Arrais

The Benedictine architectural complex composed of the Igreja Nossa Senhora do Desterro (Our Lady of Exile Church) and the old São Bento (Saint Benedict) Monastery is the Santos Museum of Sacred Art today. It was inaugurated on June 11, 1981, on the initiative of the then Diocesan Bishop Dom David Picão.

The collection brings together more than 600 sacred and religious pieces, both erudite and popular, from the 16th to the 20th century,  including sculptures, paintings, liturgical objects and vestments. The oldest statue in Brazil with a known artist is part of the collection: Our Lady of the Conception, dated 1560, by João Gonçalo Fernandes.

Top photo: Francisco Arrais

Built in 1902 to house two establishments of the type that operated in the city, the Mercado Municipal was originally castellated in style. Rebuilt in 1947, it was extended in 1955, when it gained a second floor and a fish pavilion.

The market boasts 54 stalls selling meat, fruit and vegetables, groceries, fish and Japanese items, all  offering products wholesale and retail, in addition to a restaurant. It holds regular events, craft fairs, festivities and festivals.

Top photo: Tadeu Nascimento

During a visit to the Santos Football club Trophy Hall and Memorial Museum, fans – and even those who are not so keen on football! – can learn about some of the many incredible feats of a team that stopped a war, scored more goals and is a renowned production line of international football cracks.

There are 380m² for visitors to have fun and learn about the legends of the most famous ‘vila’ in the world: Vila Belmiro, the neighborhood that is home to the Urbano Caldeira Stadium, and Santos FC. Installed on the ground floor of the stadium since November 17, 2003, the  Memorial Museum presents eternal moments of the great idols of all time, some with their own spaces, like Pelé and Neymar, as well 600 trophies, photographs, videos, prizes, banners and temporary exhibitions.

The city’s main beauty spot, these 7km of spotless beaches are fringed by the largest beachfront garden in the world (According to the Guinness Book of Records, 2000), and approximately 7.9 kilometers of cycle lanes. 5.335 meters long and 45 to 50 meters wide, the gardens boast 815 flower beds, housing several perennial species, predominantly yellow (Hemerocalis flava) and white (Spathiphiphyllum sp) lilies; red canna lilies (Canna indica), and white, yellow and multi-colored chrysanthemums (Crysanthemum sp). Engineer Saturnino de Brito first had the idea to build the gardens in 1914. In the following decade, gardens began to appear in front of the hotels, and in the 1930s the first stretch of beachfront gardens was built. The present curved design dates from 1960.

Top photo: Anderson Bianchi

A true architectural treasure, Valongo was the first station in São Paulo State to hear a train whistle. The station was designed in England and inaugurated in 1867 by the São Paulo Railway, with neo-classical lines inspired by London’s Victoria station, and it is the only building in Santos prepared for snow (!).

The building was constructed on the initiative of Irineu Evangelista de Souza, Baron Mauá, to serve the São Paulo-Santos line, one of first in Brazil. This railway line is considered one of the greatest railway engineering works in the world because of the steep nature of the Serra do Mar Range and the eight-kilometer route, which resembles a slow-motion roller coaster.

Top photo: Antonio Vargas

Considered one of the country’s most important archaeological sites, the São Jorge dos Erasmos mill was the first sugar-cane mill in Brazil, according to Frei Gaspar de Madre de Deus and Iphan (Institute of National Historic and Artistic Heritage).

Built in 1543 at the foot of  Morro da Canaleira, it is considered the only one on Brazil – and perhaps the world – constructed in Azorean style, which identifies the archipelago where the Portuguese developed the sugar industry. This characteristic is attributed because of the unified construction, with all the installations under one roof. It is also the only mill in the country whose ruins are preserved.