The Best Things to Do in São Paulo, Brazil and Why You Should Visit Now

WRITTEN BY 5 REASONS TO VISIT® EDITORIAL STAFF

PUBLISHED JULY 2023 • 5 min read

The energetic metropolis of São Paulo, Brazil with its art house cinemas and experimental theaters is home to 20 million locals known as Paulistanos. The concrete jungle boasts an exploding nightlife scene with a matrix of underground clubs where travelers can dance until dawn—perfect for the three quarters who are open to “nightlife-centric vacations.”

São Paulo is ranked among the top 10 most populous cities in the world. It is Brazil’s largest urban area, bigger than Rio de Janeiro. The city has numerous cultural institutions and a rich architectural tradition. The buildings in the city are a mix of a Neo-Gothic cathedral and the 1929 Martinelli skyscraper, to the modernist curvy Edifício Copan.

São Paulo Museum of Art

Born in 1968, the iconic São Paulo Museum of Art is Brazil’s first modern museum, and is considered one of the most important museums in Latin America. With over 11,000 pieces of art from national and international artists, MASP boasts a diverse, inclusive, and plural museum, with a mission to establish, critically and creatively, dialogues between the past and present, cultures and territories, through the visual arts.

The museum is complemented with clear crystal easels designed to appear to float, by designer Lina Bo Bardi. Artwork free from the walls, hangs in the middle of the gallery space, meaning you can work out your own routes around the artwork, drawing your own connections and essentially choosing your own path through art history. Today MASP’s collections consist of paintings, sculptures, photographs and costumes from s wide range of periods, encompassing art from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

Zoológico de São Paulo

Located south of the city, the São Paulo Zoo sits on over 200-acres of land, in what was originally the Atlantic Forest. The zoo has more than 3200 animals, from mammals to birds, reptiles to amphibians and 16 species of invertebrates, each enclosure replicates the natural habitats of these animals.

Source: Governo do Estado de São Paulo

The São Paulo Zoo became the first Brazilian institution to propose and engage in various recovery programs of seriously endangered Brazilian species such as the lion tamarin, small neotropical felids, hyacinth macaw and Lear's macaws, European bison, bush dog, condor, the only snow leopard in Brazil and spectacled bear. Since 1994, the São Paulo Zoo is recognized by the Guinness Book as the largest zoo in Brazil.

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São Paulo Jardim Botanical Garden

Founded in the 1928 by the eminent botanist, Frederico Carlos Hoehne, and opened in 1938, the park spans a 400-acre area in the Fontes do Ipiranga State Park, at the district of Água Funda. The botanical gardens focus was to preserve part of the remaining Atlantic coastal forest, and it functions as a research facility focusing on Brazilian flora and fauna. The garden also shelters the source of the Rio Ipiranga, which figures heavily into national patriotic lore.

A series of both large and small ponds contain a variety of flowering waterlilies, including the famous Giant water lily of the Amazon, whilst a stream can be followed all the way to its source in the jungle. The two large glass houses in the center of the gardens showcase flora from the dominant Brazilian biomes: the Cerrado and the Atlantic forest and the detailed educational displays reveal their ecology and the importance of their conservation. An orchidarium displays strikingly colorful orchids while a small botanical museum can also be found close by displaying interesting specimens and chronicling the history of the gardens.

Municipal Market of São Paulo

This gastronomic space offers the opportunity to taste tasty dishes in the moment, while also appreciating the architectural beauty of Mercadão—designed by the engineer Felisberto Ranzini. In São Paulo, that vibrant, aromatic market is the Mercado Municipal, known simply as Mercadão by locals (the “big market”).

Originally the city's very first grocery market, Mercadão first opened in 1933 and hosts around 300 vendors selling everything from fresh fruits and vegetables to spices, cheeses and sweets to meat and seafood. The building, built in an eclectic style, is noted for its columns, vaults, and is also decorated with 72 stunning stained-glass windows from artist, Conrado Sorgenicht Filho, that make up 32 panels to depict different aspects of food production in the greater São Paulo region.

Municipal Theatre of São Paulo

The lavish building, a clear nod to the Paris Opera, has risen as an aspirational symbol for the members of the high society in São Paulo, who, with the abundance of resources from the region’s coffee plantations, wished for a concert hall that could match the high level of their European possessions and aspirations as well as welcome the biggest names in Opera and Theatre.

The Municipal Theatre of São Paulo is regarded as one of the landmarks of the city, significant both for its architectural value and its historical importance, having been the venue for the Week of Modern Art in 1922, which revolutionized the arts in Brazil. The building now houses the São Paulo Municipal Symphonic Orchestra, the Coral Lírico (Lyric Choir) and the City Ballet of São Paulo. It is considered one of the most respected stages in Brazil and presents one of the biggest and best lyrical productions in the country.

Where to Stay in São Paulo, Brazil

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