São Paulo

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CCBB SP Hall 01, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

Edificio Lutetia at the Praca do Patriarca, Sao Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

Igreja de Santo Antonio em restauro 02, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

Igreja de Santo Antonio em junho 2019 01, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

About São Paulo

Brazil's biggest city spreads across a high plateau in a seemingly endless sea of towers, the country's economic engine and the largest city in the Southern Hemisphere. Founded by Jesuit missionaries in 1554, São Paulo grew rich on coffee in the nineteenth century and then on industry, drawing waves of immigrants from Italy, Japan, Portugal, Lebanon and far beyond.

That mix shows everywhere. Liberdade keeps its Japanese lanterns and noodle bars, the Mercadão serves enormous mortadella sandwiches, and the city's restaurants rank among the best in Latin America. Culture is serious business too, from MASP's floating glass box on Avenida Paulista to the Pinacoteca, the Theatro Municipal and the Niemeyer pavilions of Ibirapuera Park.

The historic centre around the cathedral and São Bento Monastery suits a daytime walk, while the graffiti lanes and bars of Vila Madalena come alive later. On Sundays Avenida Paulista closes to cars and fills with people. The metro is the easiest way around, as road traffic is notoriously heavy.

Best seasonApril to October, the drier and milder months

Ideal stay3-4 days

ArrivingSão Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport, about 25 km northeast; Congonhas Airport for many domestic flights

Top 12 Experiences in São Paulo

Neighborhoods 2

Avenida Paulista

Opened in 1891 along a ridge once lined with the mansions of coffee barons, this avenue of nearly three kilometres is now São Paul...

Liberdade Japanese Quarter

Home to one of the largest Japanese communities outside Japan, Liberdade is recognisable by its red torii gateway and lantern-shap...

Museums 3

São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP)

The museum's glass box on red pillars, designed by Lina Bo Bardi and opened on Avenida Paulista in 1968, seems to float above an o...

Pinacoteca de São Paulo

The city's oldest art museum occupies a brick building from the early twentieth century beside the Jardim da Luz, opened up inside...

Museu do Ipiranga

Set in a palace-like building above the gardens of Independence Park, near where Brazil's independence was proclaimed in 1822, thi...

Parks 1

Ibirapuera Park

São Paulo's favourite park opened in 1954 for the city's 400th anniversary, with a lake, wide lawns and a long covered walkway lin...

Food and Drink 1

Mercado Municipal de São Paulo

Known as the Mercadão, this market hall opened in 1933 and is lit by large stained-glass windows showing scenes of farming and foo...

Landmarks 3

São Paulo Cathedral

The neo-Gothic Metropolitan Cathedral on Praça da Sé took decades to build and was inaugurated in 1954, though its two spires were...

Edifício Copan

Designed by Oscar Niemeyer and completed in the 1960s, this 38-storey residential building is instantly recognisable by its wavy c...

Mosteiro de São Bento de São Paulo

This Benedictine monastery in the historic centre has roots going back to the city's early years, while its basilica dates from th...

Arts 2

Theatro Municipal de São Paulo

Inspired by the Paris Opera, this richly decorated theatre opened in 1911 and hosted the 1922 Modern Art Week that launched Brazil...

Beco do Batman

In the hilly Vila Madalena neighbourhood, this pair of lanes is covered wall to wall in graffiti and murals, repainted so often th...

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