São Paulo gets me excited like no other city. Think about it—1,521 km² to explore, over 12 million people roaming the streets just like me, hundreds of neighbourhoods with completely different vibes, and thousands of streets that can lead to places you didn’t even suspect existed.

Whatever you’re looking for, I guarantee you’ll find it in São Paulo. You may be looking for a while, though, because, well, see the paragraph above. But that’s the fun part. “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey” as it says on thousands of promotional products.

Day 1 – São Paulo’s Historic Center

On our first day, we decided to go to “Centro”, aka the historic Center of São Paulo where the city was founded in the the 16th century. Like most downtown areas in Brazil, it’s best appreciated on weekdays, during regular business hours, because it empties out when businesses close.

This close to Christmas, the pedestrian streets were packed with Paulistas buying anything from meat to cooking utensils, from clothes to sunglasses—as I said, you can find absolutely everything either in a brick-and-mortar shop or directly on the sidewalk.

We ended up at the Mercado Municipal de São Paulo, the place to be to discover very exotic fruits and delicious ingredients. The market is an amazing explosion of colours and a great introduction to Brazilian classics like bacalhau (cod fish), ten-inch-thick meat sandwiches and bar snacks.

Day 2 – São Paulo’s Japantown

Liberdade is a unique neighbourhood in São Paulo and South America in general—it’s home to the world’s largest ethnic Japanese community outside Japan and it’s a rare Asian presence in this part of the world.

Paulistas are Japanophile. Some are into Japanese food (this is probably the only city in Brazil where you’ll find so many ramen and sushi restaurants!), others are into anime and mangas, and many are just happy to embrace the city’s Japanese heritage.

Liberdade is a fun place to walk around. There’s a torii gate, street markets, orientalized shops and traditional products plus dozens of details that could make you think you’re in Japan. While imported goods, food and souvenirs are quite expensive, it’s still a cool place to explore.

We grabbed a fresh (non-Japanese) juice, lemon for me and orange for Mark, and walked back to Avenida Paulista.

Day 3 – São Paulo’s artsy side

We spent our last day in Vila Madalena, an artsy neighbourhood now famous for its many murals and graffiti. We went there last year but it still felt new and fun because the murals change all the time.

Much to Mark’s delight, a few kilometres further, we found the shopping mall with the slides and ball pit—we stopped there in 2021 and he had been talking about it ever since!