The place is located in a very picturesque neighbourhood with narrow streets and people just relaxing on the road having coffe and the like. Bairro Alto is approx 10 min walking distance, the city centre about 10 min more. A trainstation that gets you to all the beaches is in a 5 min walking distance. From there you can take a bus to the city centre as well. Depending on traffic its fairly quick and cheap.
At night the neighbourhood is quiet and safe. On weekends there are some places to go (even some clubs, though we didnt go clubbing) close to the Santos trainstation. If you like to go partying I recommend you walk the 10 min to bairro alto. The restaurants in the neighbourhood are small, tasty and mostly traditional with exquisite local homemade cuisine but you've got the mcdonalds with the cleanest toilets ever right around the corner if that floats your boat.
The apartment itself is a real beauty, we even used it as a photoshooting location to test our camera. Its clean, got modern equipment and you got everything you need. Catarina responds very quickly so you'll never have worry.
We would recommend the apartment to anyone who has feet and likes to sleep safe and sound but still wants to be right where the action is within a few minutes. 10/10 thx Catarina :)