Ibirapuera Park Sao Paulo: Museums, Walks & City Escape

Ibirapuera Park is Sao Paulo's greatest public space, a 158-hectare urban park in the south of the city designed by landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx and architect Oscar Niemeyer that opened in 1954 as part of the city's 400th anniversary celebrations. Today it is the most visited park in South America, drawing over 30,000 visitors daily for jogging, cycling, cultural visits, and the essential Brazilian pleasure of simply being outdoors among other people.

The park's architecture is as remarkable as its greenery — Niemeyer's distinctive modernist pavilions, including the curved white Oca exhibition hall and the biennial pavilion, are outstanding examples of Brazilian modernism that deserve attention as architectural objects as much as the institutions they house. The Museum of Modern Art (MAM) and the Afro Brasil Museum within the park are both excellent, with the latter offering an extraordinary account of African cultural influence on Brazilian civilisation that is essential context for understanding the country.

The park's 8-kilometre cycling circuit is one of Sao Paulo's most popular weekend activities, with bike hire available at several points around the park. The outdoor stage hosts free concerts and theatrical performances throughout the year, while the park's many cafes and food kiosks make it entirely possible to spend an entire Sunday within Ibirapuera without feeling the need to go anywhere else in the city. It represents everything that great urban park design can achieve.