Parque do Ibirapuera (Ibirapuera Park) occupies an area of 1,6 million square meters and is home to important public buildings, several museums, a planetarium, and Pavilhão Japonês (Japanese Pavilion), with its typical gardens and lakes. There are also running tracks, courts, bike tracks and a large plant nursery. There you find the Bienal building, Ginásio de Esportes (Sports Gymnasium), Museu do Presépio (Crèche Museum), Museu da Aeronáutica e do Folclore (Aeronautic and Folklore Museum), Obelisco in honor of the heroes of 32 (a revolution that took place in 1932) and the monument to Bandeiras (a group of explorers). One of the city's most important green areas, Parque do Ibirapuera was opened in 1954 to celebrate the city's IV Centenário (the city's 400 years).

Ibirapuera Park is to Sao Paulo what Central Park is to New York City: an island of green and calm amid traffic and skyscrapers. It has numerous museums and pavilions, many of them designed by the renowned Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, and open spaces that include lakes and playgrounds, which draw large crowds of families on weekends. The planetarium, $2.85, is especially interesting because it displays the constellations of the Southern Hemisphere.

Location: Avenida Pedro Álvares Cabral, s/n, south to the Jardins area. No subway station nearby. Phone: (55 11) 5574-5177

Working Hours: daily from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Explore São Paulo

  ·Along Avenida Paulista
  ·Around São Paulo
  ·Bixiga
  ·Butantã and Morumbi
  ·Jardins
  ·Liberdade
  ·North of Praça da Sé
  ·Parque do Estado
  ·Parque do Ibirapuera
  ·Praça da República and around
  ·Praça da Sé