Belo Horizonte was founded in 1897 and it was the first planned city of the country. It replaced Ouro Preto as Minas Gerais’ capital. The central urban nucleus still preserves the original trace of the streets. Its population, that nowadays is more than 2 millions, enjoys one of the best life qualities in the country. The climate is pleasant all the year.
It’s a modern metropolis, but it preserves the old mineiras traditions. The buildings with recent construction and the dynamic economy based on commerce and services are there with historical buildings and the delicious regional cookery. It’s a city with a full agenda of cultural events. And it offers several options to a grooving life night. Belo Horizonte is famous because of its bars.
Beagá, as it’s called, offers historical and art museums and beautiful parks, as Municipal, a large green space in the city center appropriate for hikes. Parque das Mangabeiras (Mangabeira's Park), with more than 2 million m² in the urban zone, offers routings with hikes through the forest. Another option is riding on Serra do Curral (Curral's Mound) in one of the city sides.
The beautiful and diversified mineiro craft can be purchased at the store Mão de Minas, a craftsmen cooperative from all over the state. Every Sunday morning, in the Afonso Pena avenue that crosses the city center, there’s the Feira de Arte e Artesanato (Craftwork and Art Street Market), with almost 3 thousand tents.
From Belo Horizonte, the visits to historical cities from Minas Gerais are easier, as there are two airports and a well-structured road transport system. It has hotels with high level of comfort and high quality restaurants with different specialties.
Pampulha Constructed in 1940, Conjunto da Pampulha (Pampulha's Suite) has important architectural marks designed by Oscar Niemeyer, as the simple São Francisco de Assis’ Church, whose waved forms became a Belo Horizonte’s symbol. The painting author of the tiles and Via Sacra (Way of the Cross) from the interior is one of the most well known Brazilian painters: Cândido Portinari. Burle Marx designed the gardens. Niemeyer also created the Museu de Arte (Art Museum). Around the artificial lake, there are Casa do Baile (Baile's House), the Zoo, the Mineirão stadium and the Club Yacht.
Although the city’s registered mark is the mineira food, the Belo Horizonte cosmopolitan vocation keeps houses that offer elaborated dishes from the global gastronomy. It’s not difficult finding good restaurants specialized in French, Italian and international cookery.
Motivated by the need of professionalization, the producers of the traditional mineira white rum implemented the quality control in their products. However, they kept what distinguishes the white rum produced in Minas Gerais – the characteristics of the craft product. In the central market Mercado Central de Belo Horizonte, it’s possible to purchase the main brands that made national drink famous, currently exported to several countries.
Modern hotels with high level of comfort and services, besides equipments to meetings and conventions, are mainly in the city center and in the nearby. There are restaurants all over the city, and the more sophisticated are in Savassi and Lourdes regions. The city offers a broad service system and a good communication and transport infrastructure.
Belo Horizonte is 860 km far from Brasilia, 450 km far from Rio de Janeiro and 590 km far from São Paulo. It has two airports - Pampulha, in the urban area, and Confins – Tancredo Neves International Airport, 40 km far from the city center, that receives direct flights from the main Brazilian capitals and cities. The road terminal operates with bus lines departing from all over the country.
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