Anhembi Turismo, the city's tourism department (tel 011/6971-5511), maintains several information booths scattered about the city which are especially helpful for general directions, or for local bus and metrô details. Booths can be found along Avenida São Luís, on Praça da República (across from Rua Sete de Abril; daily 9am-6pm); at Praça da Liberdade (daily 9am-6pm); at the Teatro Municipal (Mon-Fri 9am-6pm, Sat 9am-1pm); and at the Morumbi (Mon-Fri 9am-6pm) and Iguatemi (Mon-Fri 9am-6pm) shopping centres. A good map, and information on the state of São Paulo, is available from the state tourist office at Avenida São Luís 97 (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm).

For up-to-date listings of what's going on in the city, the São Paulo edition of the weekly magazine Veja contains an excellent entertainment guide, and the daily newspaper Folha de São Paulo lists cultural and sporting events and, on Friday, contains a useful entertainment guide. The Web site www.guiasp.com.br is a good source of information on São Paulo's restaurants, bars, cinemas, theatres and nightclubs. For basic information about current exhibitions in museums and galleries, theatre, concert and cinema programmes, check out the Guia Internet São Paulo ( www.guiasp.com.br).

For people with little time available, there is an excellent and inexpensive tour run by the city authorities. An air-conditioned bus with a bilingual guide departs hourly from Barra Funda metrô station's Terminal Turístico (Tues-Sun from 9.30am, last departure at 4.30pm), and visits the Memorial da América Latina, Pinacoteca do Estado, Museu de Arte Sacra, Memorial do Imigrante (Sundays only), the Museu de arte de São Paulo and the Museu de Arte Moderna - before returning to Barra Funda. The tour is just $1 and the ticket entitles you to half-price admission to the museums. You can get off the bus at any of the sights and rejoin the tour on a following bus.