Choose wisely. Connect locally.Add your business 
Guarulhos is a city of about 1.29 million people in the São Paulo metropolitan region of São Paulo state, Brazil, best known as the home of São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport, the country's main airport. Beyond the terminals it offers green escapes such as Bosque Maia, Lago dos Patos and the Cabuçu Reservoir in Cantareira State Park.
The city began on 8 December 1560, when Jesuit Manuel de Paiva founded a mission village on the Tietê River for the Guarus people, and gold was mined in its northern hills from the 1590s. Guarulhos Cathedral marks that first settlement, while the Municipal History Museum, the Padre Bento Complex and the Dona Joaninha locomotive tell later chapters.
Today Guarulhos is the most populous non-capital city in Brazil and a busy industrial hub. It makes an easy half-day or overnight stop between flights, with the zoo, SESC Guarulhos and the Japanese Immigration Centennial Monument close to the airport road.
Bosque Maia, officially the Recanto Municipal da Árvore, is the largest urban park in Guarulhos, about 170,000 sq m opened in 1972 on a former farm of the Maia family. Shady paths circle a central lake with fish and turtles, and egrets hunt along the banks. Mornings are quietest.
Lago dos Patos is the much-loved duck lake of Vila Galvão in Guarulhos, with a small island, pedal boats and lawns for a slow afternoon. The Guarulhos Municipal History Museum and the Nelson Rodrigues Theatre stand beside the water, so one walk here mixes nature and culture.
Cabuçu Reservoir lies inside the Guarulhos section of Cantareira State Park, part of the Serra da Cantareira, the largest urban green area in Brazil. Still water mirrors forested hills, and trails and birdlife reward a half day. Check opening days before you go, as access to the park is controlled.
Guarulhos Zoo, founded in 1982 in Jardim Rosa de França, keeps about 400 animals of 100 mostly Brazilian species across 70,000 sq m of lakes and replanted Atlantic Forest. Look for golden lion tamarins, jaguars and macaws, and the natural sciences museum that moved here in 2005.
Guarulhos Cathedral, dedicated to Our Lady of the Conception, stands on Praça Tereza Cristina in the city centre, on the site of the Jesuit chapel around which the town grew. Its single tower rises above busy Rua Dom Pedro II, and tiles added inside since 2013 show the mysteries of Christ.
The Guarulhos Municipal History Museum opened in 1960 beside Lago dos Patos in Vila Galvão and shares its building with the Paulo do Carmo Dias public library. Its collection of about a thousand pieces covers musical instruments, sacred art, household objects and audiovisual records of local life.
The Padre Bento Complex in Guarulhos opened in 1931 and that same year became a state sanatorium where people with leprosy were confined until the 1960s. Now a hospital and listed heritage site, it keeps a pergola and an art deco theatre from 1936 that patients helped build. Visit respectfully.
Dona Joaninha, steam locomotive No. 6 of the old Sorocabana railway, stands on display in Praça IV Centenário in Guarulhos and is listed as municipal heritage. It recalls the era when a branch railway linked Guarulhos with São Paulo, and the shady square makes an easy photo stop in town.
The Japanese Immigration Centennial Monument greets travellers at São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport. Created for the 2008 centenary of Japanese immigration to Brazil by Japanese-born Brazilian artist Tomie Ohtake, its bold curved forms are a striking first or last sight of the city.
SESC Guarulhos is the city's largest sports and culture centre, a 34,200 sq m building in Jardim Flor do Campo with pools, courts, a library, music rooms and art studios. Shows, workshops and exhibitions run all year, and its ramps, tower and artworks make the architecture worth a look.
Praça Mamonas Assassinas in Guarulhos honours the comic rock band formed in the city, which became a national sensation in 1995 before all five members died in a plane crash in March 1996. The square is a public tribute to singer Dinho and his bandmates, whose songs are still widely known in Brazil.
The Guarulhos Municipal Historical Archive keeps documents, maps and historic photographs of a city founded as a Jesuit mission village in 1560. Its collections trace how gold mining, farms and later industry shaped Guarulhos long before the airport, and many old images of the city come from here.
No reviews yet. Been to Guarulhos? Be the first to share your experience.
Share what you loved, what to skip and tips for other travelers.
Log in to write a reviewBeen to Guarulhos? Add your best shots to the gallery.
Log in to add photosPhoto: Humanoo, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Photo: CORRETOR-CARVALHO, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: FernandoSantos, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Selma SMaria, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Luciana Roque, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Photo: Portal da Copa/Governo Brasileiro (Brazilian Government), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 br
Photo: Luciana Roque, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Photo: HistoriaEditorial, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Photo: CORRETOR-CARVALHO, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: CORRETOR-CARVALHO, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: CORRETOR-CARVALHO, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: FernandoSantos, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: HistoriaEditorial, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Photo: CORRETOR-CARVALHO, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: silvioemanuel, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: J.SS, Flickr, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Boris Karpuk, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Boris Karpuk, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Nomejaexistente, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Bruno Patrício, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Bruno Patrício, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Bruno Patrício, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)., Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Christian Eric, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Photo: GiFontenelle, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Bruna da Silva Rodrigues, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Makendo k, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Photo: Makendo k, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Photo: Makendo k, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Photo: GiFontenelle, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: GiFontenelle, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: GiFontenelle, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: GiFontenelle, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: GiFontenelle, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Send your link to friends and earn points when they join. Honest reviews and real photos add more. Collect 100 and you're in the round.
No purchase necessary. US residents 18+. Official rules
