South of Jardins in São Paulo, Brazil

There are no direct metrô stations for Ibirapuera but Metrô Ana Rosa is a 15-minute walk east of the park: turn right out of the station and walk due west along Avenida Conselheiro Rodrigo Alves and Avenida Dante Pazzanese. Any bus to DETRAN (the Driver and Vehicle licensing building, labelled in huge letters) stops opposite Ibirapuera.

Parque do Ibirapuera

The

Parque do Ibirapuera

, was designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer and landscape artist Roberto Burle Marx for the city's fourth centenary in 1954. It is the largest of the very few green spaces in central São Paulo and its shady woodlands, lawns and lakes offer a breath of fresher air in a city that has only 4.6 sq m of vegetation per inhabitant. The park is also home to a number of museums and monuments and some striking Oscar Niemeyer buildings that were designed in the 1950s but are still being built today. These include the

Oca

, a brilliant white polished concrete dome, built in homage to an indigenous Brazilian roundhouse. It stages major international art exhibitions and has an

auditorium

shaped like a giant wedge. The

Bienal buildings

, are also by Niemeyer and house the city's flagship fashion and art events: the twice yearly

São Paulo fashion week

and the

Art Biennial

, the most important events of their kind in the southern hemisphere.

sculpture garden

separates the Bienal from the Oca; this garden is watched over by

O Museu de Arte Moderna

(

MAM

)

. This small museum showcases the best Brazilian contemporary art in temporary exhibitions. There is always something

worth seeing and the gallery has an excellent restaurant. MAM is linked by a covered walkway to the

Museu Afro-Brasil

, www.museuafro brasil.com.br, which lies inside Niemeyer's spectacular, stilted

Pavilhão Manoel da Nobrega

building and devotes more than 12,000 sq m to a celebration of black Brazilian culture with regular films, music, dance, and theatrical events.

A few hundred metres to the west of here, on the shores of the artificial lake, the

Planetário e Museu de Astronomia

(

Planetarium

), was restored in 2006 and is now one of the most impressive in Latin America. Shows are in Portuguese.

Less than 100 m to the south, is the

Pavilhão Japonês

. The building and gardens were designed in strict adherence to Japanese aesthetic principles, and materials were imported from Japan. The pavilion on the lower floor has an exhibition space devoted to Japanese-Brazilian and Japanese culture and a traditional Japanese tearoom upstairs.

The park also has a running track, football pitches and hosts regular concerts on Sundays. Those seeking something quieter on a Sunday can borrow a book from the portable library and read it in the shade of the

Bosque da Leitura

or 'reading wood'. Bicycles can be hired in the park.

Ibirapuera also has a few monuments of note.

O Monumento as Bandeiras

, which sits on the northern edge of the park, is a brutalist tribute to the marauding and bloodthirsty slave traders or

bandeirantes

who opened up the interior of Brazil. It was created by Brazil's foremost 20th-century sculptor, Victor Brecheret. The

Obelisco aos Héroes de 32

, on the eastern edge of the park, is a monumental Cleopatra's needle built in honour of the Paulistano rebels who died in 1932 when the dictator Getúlio Vargas crushed resistance to his Estado Novo regime.

Itaim, Vila Olímpia and Moema

Business mixes with pleasure in these plush neighbourhoods south of Jardins and near Ibirapuera park. By day they are filled with office workers; by night, especially at weekends, hundreds of street bars and clubs are busy with partying Paulistano professionals.

Brooklin and the New Business District

Brooklin's Avenida Engenheiro Luís Carlos Berrini has taken over from Avenida Paulista as the business centre of the new São Paulo. Many of the larger companies banks and international corporations now have their South American headquarters here, making this the best place to stay for business.

Parque do Estado (Jardim Botânico)

This large park housing the botanical and zoological gardens is 15 km south of the centre at

Água Funda

. The

Jardim Botânico

, has a vast garden esplanade surrounded by magnificent stone porches, with lakes and trees and places for picnics, and a very fine orchid farm worth seeing during the flowering season (November to December). More than 19,000 different kinds of orchids are cultivated. There are orchid exhibitions in April and November. The astronomical

observatory

nearby is open to the public on Thursday afternoons. Howler monkeys, guans and toco toucans can be seen here towards the end of the day. To get there take the metrô to São Judas on the Jabaquara line, then take a bus.

Burle Marx Park

, was designed by the famous landscape designer Burle Marx. It is the only place in the city where you can walk along trails in the

Mata Atlântica

(Atlantic rainforest).

This is edited copy from Footprint Handbooks. For comprehensive details (incl address, tel no, directions, opening times and prices) please refer to book or individual chapter PDF

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