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- About Sao Paulo
- Arriving Sao Paulo
- Vistor Information
- Sao Paulo City Layout
- Getting Around Sao Paulo
- Fast Facts: Sao Paulo
Some 17 million people make their home in and around Sao Paulo . It's a daunt ing number. But for all its ridiculous sprawl there's a charm to South America 's biggest city, and getting around the areas of interest is neither difficult nor espe cially stressful.
CENTRO The old heart of the city stands around Pra~a da Se, atop what was once a small hill circled by a pair of small rivers. Little remains of that original city; Paulistas take a manic joy in knocking buildings down almost as soon as they go up. The neo-Gothic Catedral da S6 dates to only 1912. Evidence of the ciry's age can be seen only in downtown's narrow and irregular streets. Rua Direita, Sao Paulo's original main street, leads through this maze to a viaduct crossing over a busy freeway that now occupies the Anhangabau valley and into the "newer" sec tion of the old town This area, centered on leafy green Pra~a Reptiblica, contains government buildings plus office buildings from the '20s to the '40s (and later). Back at the edge of the Anhangabati valley stands the ornate Teatro Municipal, a Parisian-style opera house still heavily used for concerts and theater. The Anhangabau River which once separated the two halves of downtown was long ago filled and covered with a freeway, which in turn has been covered over by broad and open city plaza-the Parque Anhangabau -which effectively rejoins the two halves of downtown. Together, these two halves of the old inner city arc known as Centro.
HIGIEN6POLIS Immediately west of Centro is one of Sao Paulo 's original upscale suburbs, Higienopolis. Though long since swallowed up in the city, Higienopolis remains a green and leafy enclave with some good restaurants and the city's Museum of Brazilian Art, also known as FAAP
LIBERDADE AND BIXIGA To the south of Centro are two turn-of-the 20th-century working-class neighborhoods long adopted by immigrants. Due south of Centro is Liberdade, said to be have the largest Japanese population of any city outside Japan . In addition to great food and interesting shopping, Liberdade is also home to the Museum of Japanese Immigration . Southwest of Centro lies Bela Vista, more often referred to as Bixiga. This is Sao Paulo 's Little Italy, home to the Memorial Museum of Bixiga. Bela Vista in turn butts up against Sao Paulo 's proudest street, the Avenida Paulista.
AVENIDA PAULISTA Long and straight and set on a ridge above surrounding neighborhoods, the Avenida Paulista was once lined by the proud mansions of coffee barons and rich industrialists, but now boasts rank upon rank of skyscrapers, the headquarters of the city's powerful banking and financial interests. On the adjacent side streets there are numerous hotels catering to business travelers. Halfway along the street is Sao Paulo 's top-notch Museum of Art , known by its Portuguese acronym as MASP. Avenida Paulista also effectively marks the border between the older working-class areas and the newer middle-class neighborhoods.
JARDINS Extending southwest from Avenida Paulista are a series of upscale neighborhoods developed in the '20s according to the best Garden City princi ples and accordingly named gardens (jardins) to emphasize their green and leafy separation from the gritty urban core. Though each area has a particular name Jardim Paulista, Jardim America, Cerqueira Cesar, Jardim Europa-Paulistas tend to refer to them as a group as Jardins.
Though there are few attractions per se in the Jardins, what these areas do offer is a bit of calm, some terrific restaurants, and the best shopping in Sao Paulo . Particularly noteworthy is the Rua Augusta, which intersects the Avenida Paulista at the Consola4ao metro stop and continues southwest through the heart of the Jardins. The few square blocks where Rua Augusta is intersected by Alameda Lorena and Rua Oscar Freire is the apex of the city's upscale shop ping scene, Sao Paulo's Rodeo Drive .
Rua Augusta continues its run straight through the Jardins, changing names as it goes to Avenida Columbia and then Avenida Europa and finally Avenida Cidade Jardim. At this point it intersects with Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Lima . An important though much less fashionable street, Avenida Brig. Faria Lima is home to a number of big American-style shopping malls, the most important of which is Shopping Iguatemi. Following Avenida Brig. Faria Lima northwest leads shortly to another Jardim-like area called Pinheiros, while going the oppo site direction leads first to Itaim Bibi and then to a fun and slightly funky area of restaurants, clubs, and cafes called Vila Olimpia.
THE PARK The last key element to Sao Paulo is not a neighborhood but a green space-Ibirapuera Park . Located immediately south of the Jardins (Jardim Paulista, to be exact), Ibirapuera is to Sao Paulo what Central Park is to New York . It's a place for strolling, lazy suntanning, outdoor concerts, and the home to a couple of the city's top cultural facilities, including the Modern Art Museum and the Sao Paulo Bienal.
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