Ibirapuera Park

The green center of São Paulo

New York City has Central Park, São Paulo has the Parque do Ibirapuera. With a size of almost two square kilometers (0.8 miles squared) it is the most popular park and the green center of this megacity. Through ten different entrances you can enter the park from five in the morning until late at night. The park is perfect for many fun activities, like jogging, inline skating or riding your bicycle. On slower days you can just sit on the park benches and enjoy the nature that surrounds you. Or you could visit one of the museums or architectures inside the park, for example the Museum for Modern Arts or the Planetarium. More than 200.000 tourists visit the park each week, most of them on the weekends. For families and employed people, the park offers a calm and serene ambiance as opposed to the usually rapid atmosphere of the city.

Diversified hours at Ibirapuera

The possibilities of relaxation and fun at Ibirapuera are endless. Whether you are enjoying a nice picnic at the bank of the lake or take your bicycle for a sporty tour through the park, you always find something to do here. If you would rather train your brain on vacation, you definitely have to make a stop at the Planetarium or learn about the history of the Afro-Brazilians in the Afro-Brazil Museum.

In addition to the already enormous program, there are often events and concerts on the park area, some of them are even free of charge.

On the occasion of the 400-year celebration of São Paulo in 1954 the Ibirapuera Park was opened for the first time. In August of the same year the wide park area was placed at the disposal of the the Paulistanos. Oscar Niemeyer, one of the most popular architects in Brazil, designed the majority of buildings and areas in the park. He is also responsible for the outer design of the capital Brasilia. In the language of the Brazilian natives Tupi-Guarani, Ibirapuera means something like “rotten tree”. This name is not so much representing the recreational area today, but much more the old swampland, which used to be where the park is today.

By public transportation

Since there is so much traffic in São Paulo, it is much easier and much more stress-free to take either the subway or the bus. The metro stations Sante Cruz, Vila Mariana, Ana Rosa, Paraiso and Brigadeiro are all within walking distance of the Ibirapuera Park.

In addition, there are lots of bus lines, which drive in the direction of Ibirapuera regularly.