São Paulo, the largest city in Brazil, the Americas and the southern hemisphere, bristles with skyscrapers and pulsates with energy. It is Brazil’s financial nerve center, boasting the highest GDP in the country and ranking among the top ten most expensive cities for expats to live in, ahead of Paris, Milan and New York City. São Paulo is a city of superlatives, where the local mega-wealthy class has the spotlight against a backdrop of abject poverty. With no fewer than 1500 bank branches and 70 luxury shopping malls, the affluent side of this city lives to spend. The hangover from decades of hyperinflation is beginning to dissipate. These days, credit is free and São Paulo has adopted a serious work hard, play hard ethic. It is home to numerous high-profile events, festivals and parades and now boasts the highest concentration of German and Swedish companies in the world. Nicknamed the city of drizzle (Cidade da Garoa), São Paulo is notorious for its unreliable weather. Fortunately, if the pace of the city and the rain become too much to bear, the rest of Brazil - in its glory of beaches and mountains – is right on your doorstep.