São Paulo: €3,112 SWISS First Class Tickets from Budapest (Stopover in Zurich)

With a little trickery, it is currently possible to purchase Swiss First Class tickets from Budapest to São Paulo, Brazil, with prices as low as HUF 1,159,000 (~€2,954). You’ll have to add hotel costs for two nights in Zurich to that total – but still save more than buying a regular Star Alliance first class ticket.

You can only get the desired fare by booking a ticket with a stop in Zurich in each direction, which has to be at least 24 hours long. It can also be several weeks or even months long, so you can book other tickets from Zurich in the meantime.

Because the stops are required to get the lowest fare, booking the tickets is a tad bit more complicated than usual.

To book on Lufthansa’s or SWISS’ website, you can use our Go2 search form. The discounted tickets are available from late August 2023 through May 2024. A 24-hour stopover in Zurich is necessary in both directions if you want to score the advertised fare.

Flights between Budapest and Zurich are operated by Helvetic E-195, Air Baltic/SWISS A220 or Swiss A320 planes. All short-haul flights are European Business Class trips. Flights between Zurich and São Paulo are Boeing 777-300ER services with SWISS’ superb First Class suites in a 1-2-1 seating pattern. Before flights to Brazil, you will be able to enjoy the airline’s dedicated First Class lounge in Zurich.

SWISS First Class

In SWISS’ first class, you’ll be served excellent food in a comfortable seat that can be turned into a flat bed. Usually, the 8 first class seats are in a 1-2-1 formation, meaning that every seat has direct access to the aisle. You’ll be allowed to check in 3 pieces of luggage and bring 2 carry-ons. In Zurich, you’ll enjoy the first class lounge, which was recently named the best in the world. You can read all about SWISS’s first class in this review.

Search & Book

The fare rules for these tickets offer no sales or expiration date. You need to stay at least six days or a weekend in Brazil to get the cheapest tickets. The lowest fares show up for travel between late August 2023 and May 2024. You have to buy your ticket at least sixty days before departure to get the cheap rides.

Finding Availabilities

Because Google Flights multistop search has no convenient way to preview prices for multistop journeys, we turn our attention to the new ITA Matrix. You can use this link to open the Matrix with a preset search for first class tickets from Budapest to São Paulo. It will show you a lot of availabilities, but only by adding the extension code minconnect 24:00, you ensure that all of them are for sale. Otherwise, the tool displays tickets with a shorter layover, which are more attractive but cannot be purchased.

You can ease your search by setting selecting the calendar view for trips of a duration that you wish (e.g. 5-15 days). Displaying prices in Euro will also help most of our readers. Alter the red boxes to do this.

As you can see, this fare is broadly available:

Buy Tickets

After finding suitable flight dates with the Matrix, you can use our search form above to buy tickets directly from the airline. Make sure to select exactly the flights you found in the Matrix itinerary to get the lowest price. You can try it on the airline’s website yourself or use our Go2 form above.

Mileage

First class segments are booking class A while the European feeders are booking class J. A roundtrip earns the following miles and points:

Destination

Hotel prices in São Paulo usually start at roughly €20, but can quickly jump to €35 if you want to stay in a good location. Whichever category and hotel you opt for, make sure to get the best price! Our recommendation is to search on booking.com, or even on our own Travel-Dealz hotel search:

Information & Tips for Sao Paulo

Sao Paulo is an important economic and cultural center in Brazil and at the same time the most populous city in the country with 11 million inhabitants and a metropolitan region of 20 million.

The city is comparatively easy to reach from Europe, and the major hub airports are served by numerous European and Brazilian airlines. Bargains are not as common as to Rio de Janeiro, but there are still good offers.

Best Time to Visit

The best time to visit Sao Paulo is between March and May and between October and November. At this time of year, the weather is warm, and precipitation is comparatively low.

From the airport to the city

You can get a taxi for about 23€-28€. Note that Guarulhos International Airport, which serves most international flights, is located pretty far outside the city and it can take between 45 minutes and 3 hours to get to the city center depending on traffic conditions!

→ All Dealz for Sao Paulo

Information & Tips for Brazil

Brazil is probably the country in South America that is most frequented by tourists. Whether it’s the carnival or the Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro or touring the Amazon, visitors will get their money’s worth here.

Traditionally, flights to South America and Brazil from Europe are quite expensive, but since a few years, there are increasingly cheap offers, especially with Iberia and TAP.

Best Time to Visit

Brazil is a vast country – so there is no such thing as an overall best travel time. It all depends on what you want to see. It is best to visit the cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo autumn and spring while the dry season fort the rainforest is from May to September.

Entry & Visa

EU citizens do not require a visa for stays of up to 90 days and can enter with a passport only. Note that, similar to the USA, that after your first stop in Brazil your luggage must be collected and brought through customs. Calculate accordingly when booking a connecting flight.

Finding the Best eSIM Plan

We’ve compared various eSIM providers, such as Airalo and Maya Mobile. To see which plan is best for your travel needs, and which network offers the best coverage, feel free to read our detailed guide:

The Best eSIM Plans for Brazil 🇧🇷 Compared

→ All Dealz for Brazil