Belo Horizonte
Table of Contents: Culture and History / Travel to Belo Horizonte, visa requirements Buses to Belo Horizonte Flights to Belo Horizonte, airtickets / Get around / On foot By bus 2 By train By taxi / Belo Horizonte attractions and sightseeing / Learn / Good restaurants and cheap meals / Belo Horizonte nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs. / Hotels, youth hostels, lodging / Budget / Mid-range / Shopping, Belo Horizonte souvenirs / Stay healthy / Stay safe / Contact By net By phone / Get out More from Minas Gerais: Belo Horizonte, Congonhas, Diamantina, Ouro Preto, São João del Rei, Tiradentes More from Southeast (Brazil): Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro (state), São Paulo More from Brazil: Central West (Brazil), Northeast (Brazil), North (Brazil), Southeast (Brazil), South (Brazil) More from South America: Amazonia, Andes, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Falkland Islands, Guyana, Los Roques, Pantanal, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Tierra del Fuego, Uruguay, Venezuela |
Belo Horizonte is Brazil's third-largest city and the capital of the state of Minas Gerais. With its orderly grid plan and tree-lined avenues, it's a pleasant metropolis. For travelers, it's a good stopping point on the way to the beautiful colonial towns such as Ouro Preto.
Culture and History
Belo Horizonte (or simply "BH" (beh-ah-GAH) to locals) is little over a century old. With a metropolitan population reaching more than 5 million (edging out Salvador), it was built as a planned city to take the place of Ouro Preto as the State's capital. Its layout features square sections drawn out by broad avenues, intersected diagonally by smaller streets.
The city lies in the center of the Minas Gerais state, and is intended to bring together the many parts of this very diverse state.
Belo Horizonte's location, relatively close to Rio and São Paulo, helped turn it into a major industrial center.
- Belotur - Belo Horizonte's tourist authority
Travel to Belo Horizonte, visa requirements
Buses to Belo Horizonte
BH is a major national hub for bus travel. The rodoviária is at downtown at the northern end of Av. Afonso Pena. Approximate travel times from other capitals:
- Brasília - 10 hours
- Rio de Janeiro - 7 hours
- São Paulo - 8 hours
Flights to Belo Horizonte, airtickets
BH is served by two airports:
- Confins (Aeroporto Internacional Tancredo Neves) - Rodovia MG 010 S/N, 40 km - Confins/MG. Phone: (31) 3689-2700. The majority of flight now go here with seemingly less and less flights landing at Pampula. Receives a few international flights and most domestic flights. It's located about 40 km from the city center. It is connected to the downtown area by Conexão Aeroporto express buses (R$ 12) and taxis.
- Pampulha (Aeroporto Carlos Drummond de Andrade). For some domestic flights, especially within the state of Minas Gerais. 9 km from the city center .
Get around
On foot
If you plan to get around the city center on foot, you might want to take a map. Because the city grid is laid out with both ordinals and diagonal streets, it is very easy to take a wrong turn.
Buses to Belo Horizonte
BH is well served by buses. The SC buses circulate through the old city; others serve outlying neighborhoods.
If you are outside the center, take a blue bus to the center. As there is no bus map, remember its number to find your way back.
By train
The Metrô snakes through the city, from Eldorado northeast to Vilarinho, tangential to the north side of downtown. Lagoinha station is near the rodoviária (bus station).
By taxi
The main taxi companies in Belo Horizonte include Hutaxi, Jo Taxi, Intertaxi, Pitangui and Protaxi.
Belo Horizonte attractions and sightseeing
Learn
- Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Av. Antônio Carlos 6627, Pampulhas. http://www.ufmg.br/
- Pontifícia Universidade Católica. Four blocks northwest of the Gameleira station. http://www.pucminas.br/
Good restaurants and cheap meals
For a good sample of traditional mineiro food, try one the two Dona Lucinha restaurants in town. There is one near the Liberdade Square:
- Dona Lucinha II - Rua Sergipe, 811 - (31) 3261-5930 (dl2@uol.com.br). Mo-Fri 12-3pm and 8pm-midnight. Sat 12-5pm and 8pm-midnight. Sun 12-5pm. R$ 19-27.
One of the more infamous resturants in BH is chain Porcao. Considered to have the best meat in BH is also one of the most expencive in town. Some nights there are live performances by some of the more well known performers in BH.
- Porcao-Avenida Raja Gabaglia, 2985, Cep:30350-540, BELO HORIZONTE /MG, Tel: (31) 3293-8604, Website: www.porcao.com.br
If your food tastes lean toward brown rice and tofu, try Bem Natural. This is both a snack bar with tuna and chicken sandwiches on whole wheat, and a por quilo buffet with stuffed tomatoes, vegetarian feijoada, and brown rice. There are four locations in BH:
- Av. Afonso Pena 941, Centro - (31) 3224-1385
- Augusto de Lima 1652, Barro Preto - (31) 3295-2325
- Bernardo Guimarães 166, Funcionários - (31) 3284-6680
- Tomé de Souza 947, Savassi - (31) 3261-5676, open weekends and holidays too
Belo Horizonte nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs.
- People from BH are famous for their love of bars. The central Savassi neighborhood, also known as Funcionarios (Sergipe, Antônio de Albuquerque and Pernambuco streets) has dozens of bars. Also, at São Lucas neighborhood, on Contorno Avenue, you will find "Sociedad Pub", the best Pub in town (Contorno Av., n.3849). Actually, the city is widely known (although without any confirmation) as the city with most bars per capita in the world. Many of the clubs that charge a cover are overrated and expencive. However, the outdoor bar scene is the authentic Brazilian experience.
- You may know it only as an ingredient in vitamin pills, but here you can get fresh acerola puree in orange juice squeezed before your eyes. This is called a vitamina with good reason. The fruit is perishable and is stored on ice. Other fruits prepared the same way are abacaxi (pineapple), açaí, banana, and mamão (papaya).
- Although Savassi is the place to go on Friday and Saturday nights, Trevo Five Place (close to the Hard Rock Cafe) is a great spot on Thursday nights. The dancing is great however the enviroment is not for the cautious.
- The state of Minas Gerias is famous for thier cachaca. Cachaca is not the best straight, however, it makes great mixed drinks.
- Another great drink is a sweet tasting wine like substance called pronounced catowaba.
Hotels, youth hostels, lodging
Major high-rise hotels are generally on Av. Afonso Pena, while mid-range and budget accommodations are clustered around the train station.
Budget
- Albergue da Juventude Chalé Mineiro - Rua Santa Luzia, 288 - Santa Efigênia (From Rodoviaria take bus 9801 (Saudade-Santa Cruz), at Rua dos Caetés, or the subway to the Santa Tereza station). (31) 3467-1576 (chalemineiro@ig.com.br) [1]. This hostel is a member of Hostelling International and has a nice swimming pool for its guests. Prices from R$ 15.
Mid-range
- Le Flamboyant - Rua Rio Grande do Norte, 1007. Phone (31) 3261-5233 (fax (31) 3261-7370)[2]. Good value for money. The 80s décor may be a little out of date, but the flats are spacious and there is a swimming pool for guests. Besides, location is excellent: right in the middle of the lively Savassi neighborhood. Singles/doubles R$ 100-120.
Shopping, Belo Horizonte souvenirs
- Minas Shopping. Take the Metro and get off at the Minas Shopping station. Large mall with food court and cinema. However, the cinimas only has a couple screens and likewise only shows a couple of movies everyday.
- Centro Shopping. Rua Rio de Janeiro near Praça Sete de Setembro. A variety of shops are on this pedestrian section of road.
- BH Shopping. One of BH's oldest and biggest shopping centers, with shops, food, cinema and games.
- Shopping Del Rey. Another of BH's oldest and biggest shopping centers, with shops, food, cinema and games.
- Diamond Mall. A very refined (and usually expensive) shopping center.
- Mercado Central. Av. Augusto de Lima and R. Curitiba. Tofu, whole grains, cheese, meat, herbs, religious articles, fruit, live birds, pots, and lots of other stuff.
Stay healthy
Avoid mosquito bites - for example by using a DEET-based repellent. Preventing mosquito bites is the only way to avoid dengue fever, which does occur in this area.
Drink the acerola. You won't miss your vitamin pills.
Stay safe
When crossing the street, watch for motorcycles, which can appear out of nowhere and sometimes ignore stop signs. At some intersections with divided streets, you can cross only one side at once.
Minas has both a military police (not linked to the Brazilian Army) and a civilian police. The military police are the ones responsible for security in the streets, so you can go and see any officer in vision when facing distress. Note, though, that most officers have a knowledge of basic English only. The uniform of the Minas Gerais state military police is brown.
The emergency number (by which you can reach the military police) is 190.
Contact
By net
- MP Games, Rua dos Inconfidentes 868, between Pernambuco and Paraíba, Savassi. You can bring your laptop. 3 R$/h.
By phone
The area code for Belo Horizonte is 31. The code for Telemar, the phone company that runs most of the phone booths in the city, is also 31. So to call Belo from outside using Telemar, you dial 031 31 and the desired number, for example: from Sao Paulo to Belo, dial 03131 xxxx-xxxx. But to make a local call, you don't have to dial 31 at all, just the eight digits. Sometimes, it depends, because there are many other cities surrounding Belo, with the same area code, so you might be dialling the long distance code, using 31. Dialing from or to Ouro Preto, to or from Belo, you need to dial 03131 xxxx-xxxx. There are other long distance companies codes available, which can be used to make calls, such as Embratel (21), Intelig (23), which provides long distance calls with suitable rates, to or from Brazil, and to other countries.
Get out
Belo Horizonte is an entryway to many of the the country's most important colonial towns:
More from Minas Gerais: Belo Horizonte, Congonhas, Diamantina, Ouro Preto, São João del Rei, Tiradentes More from Southeast (Brazil): Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro (state), São Paulo More from Brazil: Central West (Brazil), Northeast (Brazil), North (Brazil), Southeast (Brazil), South (Brazil) More from South America: Amazonia, Andes, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Falkland Islands, Guyana, Los Roques, Pantanal, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Tierra del Fuego, Uruguay, Venezuela |
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