São Paulo may be Brazil’s business capital, but there is no lack of attractions for leisure visitors or briefcase warriors with some extra time on their hands. A cultural census by city officials turned up 280 movie theaters, 151 theaters and venues for shows, 88 museums and dozens of cultural centers. Here are some of our choices. (For more on Brazil’s biggest city, see the BrazilMax São Paulo Travel Guide.)
Top São Paulo Attractions
Butantã Institute- This pioneering research center boasts an excellent museum of venomous vipers, spiders and scorpions from around the world. There's an open-air snake pit where you can watch the animals in action. Teddy Roosevelt described Butantã as “one of the most interesting evidences of the modern advance in Brazil” after a 1913 visit. Its snake exhibition will leave visitors similarly impressed. Avenida Vital Brasil 1500, 3726-7222.
Ibirapuera Park – São Paulo’s answer to Central Park provides space for the usual array of joggers, cyclists, skaters and weekend athletes. It is also home to the Afro Brasil Museum and the Museum of Modern Art (MAM). The Afro Brasil Museum opened in 2004 and is dedicated to a reappraisal of the history, memory, culture and identity of black Brazilians. Avenida Pedro Álvares Cabral (no number), Manoel da Nóbrega Pavilion, Gate 10; 5579-8542. The MAM offers an excellent collection of paintings and sculpture by Brazilian artists dating to the early 20th century. The museum's restaurant overlooks a sculpture garden. Avenida Pedro Alvares Cabral, Gate 3; 5549-9688.
Museum of Sacred Art - Built in 1774, this colonial building houses religious icons and relics dating from the 17th century. In the reenactment of a purported miracle (a man’s kidneys stones were reportedly cured after he ate a piece of paper with a prayer written on it) resident nuns pass out about a thousand paper pills a month to devotees. Luz; Avenida Tiradentes, 676; 3326-1373.
Zoological Museum – The museum presents examples of Brazil’s biodiversity, perhaps the world’s richest. Old paintings of fauna, covered up by reforms, have been restored. Popular attractions include ants preserved in amber and a whale cranium. Ipiranga; Avenida Nazaré, 481; 6165-8100.
Street Fairs - The city of São Paulo features a handful of popular weekly crafts and arts fairs. Every Saturday, the tree-lined Benedito Calixto square in the Pinheiros district hosts hundreds of stalls selling arts, crafts and antiques. The open-air beer garden is a great place to hang out. The city's young and trendy gather to drink and listen to live Brazilian folk music. On Sunday, the Feira da Liberdade, in the heart of the city's Japanese quarter, has Asian arts and crafts, good Japanese food, and medicinal plants and herbs. Also on Sunday, the Feira do Vão Livre do MASP (Avendia Paulista 1578) is an open-air market sells antiques and collector's items underneath the Museu de Arte Sao Paulo (MASP) on Avenida Paulista.
Downtown Walking Tour - The old downtown, known as the “Centro,” is on the rebound. City Hall has returned, and businesses have followed. The Centro offers the best concentration of older buildings and interesting architecture, and it is one of the few parts of town conducive to walking. Panoramic views of the city can be had from the Banespa Building (Rua João Brícola 24; 3249-7180;) and the Terraço Itália (Avenida Ipiranga 344; 2189-5349).
São Paulo City Tour by Subway - The Metrô, São Paulo’s subway, serves many of the city’s most attractive and culturally rich districts. These include: the Centro; the Avenida Paulista (shopping, MASP and the Trianon Park); Luz (the old English-style train station and an adjacent park, the Museum of Sacred Art, the Pinacoteca art museum, and the Museum of the Portuguese Language); and the Asian immigrant neighborhood Liberdade. The Metrô runs guided tours on weekends, but all the attractions can be visited independently. The Metrô´s website provides a convenient map of the stations. Headquarters: Rua Boa Vista, 175; 3291-7800.
Serra da Cantareira - Nobody believes it on their first visit, but these walking and mountain-biking trails that wind through a lush, green forest are indeed within the city limits, just a 30-minute drive from downtown. Horseback riding can be scheduled through Haras Cantareira, Estrada da Cuncremix, 245; 4485-1244.
A Day in São Paulo: Itineraries
São Paulo Subway Neighborhood Tour - The Metrô subway system serves some of São Paulo’s most colorful and historic districts. These include: the Centro (featuring the Municipal Theater, the Sé Cathedral and the historic São Francisco “patio”); the Avenida Paulista (shopping, MASP and the Trianon Park); Luz (the old English-style train station and an adjacent park, the Museum of Sacred Art, the Pinacoteca art museum, and the Museum of the Portuguese Language); and the Asian immigrant neighborhood called Liberadade. The Metrô runs guided tours on weekends, but all the attractions can be visited independently. The Metrô’s website provides a convenient map that highlights interesting places near each station.
São Paulo History, Economics and Art - In the morning, a waking tour of the historic downtown. Lunch at the Terraço Italia with its spectacular bird’s eye view of the city. Take the subway to Avenida Paulista, Sao Paulo’s 5th Avenue. Visit the Itaú Cultural Center and the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP). Take a cab to one or more of the nearby art galleries in the Jardins district. Dinner at a hip restaurant like Mestiço. Back downtown for a nightcap draft beer that the historic Bar Brahma.
Immigrant São Paulo - In the morning, a visit to the Asian neighborhood Liberdade, including a stop at the Museum of Japanese Immigration. Lunch at the traditional restaurant Kinoshita. In the afternoon, a visit to one of two other immigrant districts - Bixiga (Italian) or Brooklin (German) – or the Immigrant Memorial in the Mooca district. If in Bexiga, dinner at the Speranza pizzeria; if in Brooklin, at Die Meister Stube. At night, back to Liberdade for some authentic Japanese karaoke at the Nikkey Place Hotel.
Brazil in São Paulo - In the morning, the Butantã snake farm. Lunch at the Fogo do Chão all-you-can-eat southern-style barbeque. Spend the afternoon with the jaguars and monkeys of the zoo or shopping for crafts at stores like Amoa Konoya and Mimosa. Dinner at the Consulado Mineiro, for traditional grub from Minas Gerais state, or Tordesilhas for contemporary Brazilian cuisine. At night, dance forró at Canto da Ema or take in a soccer match at Morumbi Stadium, Palestra Itália or Pacaembu Stadium.
Science in São Paulo – Check out the city’s sundry science-related museums and institutions.
São Paulo Itinerary: If You Have an Hour
First, don’t move. Rule number one in São Paulo: never venture out into the city’s horrendous traffic unless you must. That may seem limiting, but there’s good news. The city is organized into sundry self-contained neighborhoods, and every single one – including all of the four main business districts – offers attractions work a visit.
Nicknamed both Wall Street and 5th Avenue, the Avenida Paulista is the symbol of the São Paulo and remains its main business drag. Set on red concrete stilts smack dab in the middle of the Paulista is the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), the most important museum of western art in Latin America, featuring works by Van Gogh, Rembrandt and other masters, including Brazilians. Closed Monday, Avenida Paulista, 1578; telephone: 3251-5644.
Following more than two decades of growth and now rivaling the Paulista as a business and financial center is the area surrounding the Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Lima. Along with office towers and the city’s most upscale shopping mall, it hosts the Museu da Casa Brasileira (Museum of the Brazilian Home) featuring Brazilian and international design. Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Lima, 2705; telephone: 3032-3727.
Yet another “downtown” with high rises and hotels – as well as the studios and newsrooms of the Brazil’s audience-leading television network Globo - has sprung up further south along the Avenida Luis Carlos Berrini. Just across the bridge in the fashionable residential district Morumbi is the Maria Luiza e Oscar Americano Foundation, set in a modernist house full of paintings amid other fineries amid sprawling gardens. The complex includes a fancy tearoom. Closed Monday. Avenida Morumbi 4077; telephone: 3742-0077.
