São Paulo – A Concrete Jungle I’m Happy to Return To

São Paulo was the first stop on my seven-week journey through South America in the summer of 2026. It was a natural place to start, since there are only a limited number of cities in South America with direct flights from Europe.

It was also my second visit to São Paulo.

I am slightly divided when it comes to travelling. I am very fond of nature, hiking and getting away from cities, but I am also an unapologetic urban traveller. There are still plenty of major cities around the world that I have never visited, and I find something strangely attractive about a city that has turned itself almost entirely into a concrete jungle.

São Paulo is one of those cities. Like New York and Hong Kong, it is on a scale that is difficult to comprehend until you are actually there.

It is the largest metropolis in Latin America and one of the biggest urban centres in the world. It is also one of Brazil’s most multicultural cities, with people from many different backgrounds and cultures. Fashion, art and nightlife are a big part of the city’s identity, and São Paulo is home to events such as São Paulo Fashion Week and the enormous annual Pride parade.

But I was not there for any of those things this time. I had a few days to wander around and see what I had missed on my previous visit.

Arriving in São Paulo

Arriving very early in the morning on a flight from Europe always presents a small logistical challenge. You have arrived, but your hotel room is nowhere near ready, and you have several hours to kill.

Since I would be travelling onwards by bus after a few days, I decided to take a direct airport bus to one of the city’s main bus terminals. This had the added advantage of allowing me to sort out my onward bus ticket straight away.

Once that was done, I decided to walk into the city centre.

I had barely gone a few hundred metres when I felt that I was being watched by a single eye.

In front of the Memorial da América Latina, designed by Oscar Niemeyer, stood a giant Art & Love sculpture. And apparently it had decided to keep an eye on me.

Not the worst welcome to São Paulo.

Walking the Minhocão

One of the things I had particularly looked forward to, since I arrived on a Saturday, was walking along the Minhocão.

The official name is Via Elevada Presidente João Goulart, but everyone seems to call it Minhocão – roughly “big worm”. It is an elevated highway running through the city. On weekdays, thousands of vehicles normally use it, but at weekends and on public holidays it is closed to traffic and handed back to pedestrians and cyclists.

Early on a Saturday morning, there were still relatively few people around.

It was a strange and rather wonderful experience.

The buildings come incredibly close to the road, and many of the enormous blank side walls have been transformed by street artists. With the traffic gone, the elevated highway suddenly becomes a long urban promenade, with walkers, runners, cyclists, dogs, skaters and the occasional street artist.

For a few hours, at least, São Paulo had decided to give the city back to its people.

Living in Copan

Rather than staying in another ordinary hotel, I had rented a small flat in Copan.

The enormous Edifício Copan was designed by Oscar Niemeyer in the 1950s and has become one of the icons of São Paulo’s modern architecture. It was conceived in connection with the city’s 400th anniversary and was intended to bring different social groups together under one roof.

The building is enormous, curved and slightly surreal. From a distance it almost looks as if someone has taken a giant concrete ribbon and dropped it into the middle of downtown São Paulo.

And the view from the apartment?

There is really only one way to describe it:

A concrete jungle.

It was exactly the sort of view I had come to São Paulo for.

Back to MASP

Since I had already visited São Paulo once, I wanted to do some things I had missed the first time.

But one of the first places I went was the Museu de Arte de São Paulo, better known as MASP.

Last time I was there, the museum was undergoing restoration, so this time I was determined to see the inside properly.

I was not disappointed.

The building itself is the main attraction. Designed by Italian-Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi, it appears to float above Avenida Paulista, leaving a huge open space underneath.

But the real surprise for me was inside.

The permanent collection is displayed in a way that is quite unlike most art museums I have visited. The paintings are mounted on glass panels supported by concrete bases and arranged in rows across the huge gallery space. The transparent supports almost disappear, making the paintings look as if they are floating in mid-air.

It is simple, slightly strange and incredibly effective.

You don’t walk through a series of rooms where someone has already decided what you should see next. Instead, the paintings seem to occupy the space around you.

And somehow, that makes the whole experience feel much less like visiting a museum and much more like wandering through art.

The theatre I didn’t get to see

Walking around the city, I inevitably passed the Theatro Municipal again.

I remembered it from my previous visit, and once again I had a look at the programme.

Unfortunately, there was no performance that fitted my stay.

So once again I admired the building from the outside.

Perhaps next time.

A bank turned into culture

Another place I had missed on my previous visit was Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, or CCBB.

The building was originally a bank and has since been transformed into a large cultural centre, with exhibitions, theatre, cinema, music and other events spread across several floors.

And the best part?

It is free.

The day I visited, the impressive historic façade was decorated with an enormous rainbow flag. I assume this was connected to Pride, since June is Pride Month in many countries.

Inside, there were several exhibitions, and as always, it is difficult to photograph an exhibition and make it look interesting in a travel blog.

But one photograph caught my attention.

It showed a series of black-and-white photographs of hairstyles and braiding.

As someone who has spent a considerable part of his working life making hair look like something it isn’t, I obviously had to stop and look.

Afro hair can be extraordinarily creative.

And, as the photographs demonstrated, there is really no shortage of ways to do it.

A very good beginning

The days in São Paulo went surprisingly quickly.

I also met up with a few people I knew from my previous visit, which made the beginning of the journey feel even more familiar.

After a few days, it was time to leave.

The journey ahead would take me through Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Bolivia. There would be waterfalls, colonial towns, salt flats, mountains, high-altitude cities, long bus journeys and quite a few moments when I wondered why I had thought this was a sensible way to spend seven weeks.

But São Paulo had given me a very good start.

I had arrived in a concrete jungle and, rather unexpectedly, enjoyed every minute of it.

And things were about to get considerably more adventurous.