Sao Paulo

Banks and galleries line 2.8km of avenue that closes to cars on Sunday. Musicians and stalls occupy the carriageway that day.

Four red columns lift the building so the ground beneath stays open as a plaza. Paintings stand on glass easels rather than walls, and the caption is read on the back.

Red lanterns run above the street past Japanese, Korean and Chinese shops. A market fills the square at weekends selling ingredients by weight.

A hall of 1933 whose stained glass windows show farming and herding. The upstairs counters sell cod fritters and a very thick sandwich.

A large park below the centre with buildings by Niemeyer scattered through it. A canopy that curves like a wave links one to the next.

An old school building became a gallery with its brickwork left exposed. The roof was replaced with glass, so by day the lights stay mostly off.

Murals cover the whole lane and artists keep painting over each other. Photography is constant, and on weekend afternoons the alley jams.

The museum was built into the space under a stadium's terraces. Several rooms rebuild the sound and picture of a match day.

A residential block with a rippling facade, also by Niemeyer. Some 1160 households occupy it, and the ground floor carries shops and kitchens.

A drum factory turned into a cultural centre, with walkways bridging two concrete towers. Its windows were cut as irregular holes, so from inside the sky arrives in pieces.

Jesuit priests founded a school on this spot in 1554, and Sao Paulo grew from it. The present building copies the original and holds a small museum. A café in the back courtyard peers over the old yard, hemmed in by downtown towers.

Neo-Gothic and towering over Praca da Se, consecrated in 1954 for the city's 400th anniversary. The crypt holds the city's founders and its bishops. The square teems by day and empties after dark, so visit in daylight.

Opened in 1911, it staged the 1922 Modern Art Week that kicked off Brazilian modernism. Tours lead up the marble staircase into the auditorium. Its front steps double as a stage for downtown protests and buskers.

A 1940s tower styled after New York's Empire State Building, once the state bank headquarters and since 2018 a cultural centre. Its high deck spreads the city out on all sides. Lower floors keep the old bank president's office intact.

A palace-style museum by the stream where independence was proclaimed, reopened in 2022 for its 200th anniversary after restoration. The vast painting of that moment fills the central hall. The French garden and fountains in front give the full facade.

Set up in 1901 to make snake antivenom, and still turning out serums and vaccines. Its biological museum keeps live snakes and spiders behind glass. The grounds are wooded and next to the university, a long walk from the metro.

A Japanese cultural centre on Avenida Paulista since 2017, its facade a lattice of hinoki slats by Kengo Kuma. Craft and design exhibitions are often free. The upstairs restaurant and tea counter fill quickly, so go in good time.

Housed in the Luz station building, burned out in 2015 and back in 2021. Rooms flood you with words as projections and sound, so it works without knowing Portuguese. One window gives onto the train platforms below.

In 1999 the waiting hall of the old Julio Prestes station became this concert hall, home to the Sao Paulo State Symphony. Ceiling panels rise and fall to tune the sound. The old station clock tower still crowns the facade.

Thousands of wholesale shops crammed along one street, selling fabric, toys and phone parts by the box. Lebanese traders founded it, so Arab sweet shops hide in the side lanes. Crowds are crushing; keep your phone pocketed.

A garment wholesale district north of Luz station, turned into the Korean quarter by immigrants' workshops and stores. Korean restaurants, bakeries and grocers mix along the streets. Weekday daytime, when wholesale buyers arrive, is the peak.

A Niemeyer pavilion in Ibirapuera Park devoted to Afro-Brazilian history and art. Thousands of objects trace the slave trade, faith and carnival dress. Its door opens off the park's covered walkway, so fold it into a park stroll.

A craft town some 30km out, where a fair spills over the square and lanes at weekends. Shops with wooden furniture, pottery and paintings ring the old Jesuit church. Allow around 1 hour by car, more in traffic.

Down on the coast in Santos, a drive of 1 hour and a bit, the old Coffee Exchange has become a museum. Look for the traders' auction chairs and the stained-glass ceiling. The café downstairs brews beans from many growing regions.