Roberto Burle Marx was born in the São Paulo on 4 August 1909. He studied in Germany, then returned to Brazil and worked as a landscape architect, designing parks throughout South America. These small, beautiful gardens stand as a tribute to him.

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Designed by Oscar Niemeyer and Roberto Burle Marx, the park is huge and always packed with people jogging, playing football or just snoozing on the grass. There are galleries, cafes, running tracks, bikes to rent, fountains, etc. Don’t go after dark.

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If you want romance, get out of São Paulo. Hop on a plane and go to Rio; one of the world's most romantic cities is only an hour away. Or catch a bus down to the coast and wander through the cobbled streets of Parati. You could easily find sex in São Paulo, and even love, but not much romance.

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São Paulo is a city of immigrants. Suba (aka Mitar Subotic) was born in Yugoslavia, moved to Brazil and created this hypnotic album as a tribute to his adopted city. In 1999, a fire destroyed his studio. Suba escaped, but realised that he had left the master of his new album inside. He ran back to rescue it from the flames, and never emerged.

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The British influence on São Paulo has mostly been forgotten - and knocked down - but this is one magnificent reminder: the railway station, now serving a few suburban lines that bring commuters into the city. A British company ran the line that ran between São Paulo and Santos, carrying coffee to the coast; at the end of the 19th century, it was the most profitable railway track on the planet. This striking station could stand anywhere in Britain - or anywhere in the world, in fact, where the British built railways.

Rua Mau

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An excellent art gallery containing a fine collection of works by Brazilian artists, plus good travelling exhibitions. There’s a nice cafe too. Beware the local park, and avoid this area at night.

Avenida Tiradentes 141

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This large, covered market sells all kinds of stuff that, if you’re not Brazilian, you probably will never have seen before. There are fruits from the Amazon region, for instance, that don’t even seem to have English names. Wandering past the stalls, you can see and smell eels, herbs, pineapples, salami, snails ... crammed together like a monument to the tastebuds.

Rua da Cantareira 306

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You can’t just go and gawp; you’ll have to buy a drink in the bar. But it’s worth it. From the 41st floor of this skyscraper, the city’s second-tallest building, you can see across the whole of São Paulo and get some sense of its vastness. On the horizon, through the haze, you can glimpse distant mountains. Between you and them, there is an apparent infinitude of buildings. One day, perhaps, the whole planet will look like this.

Avenida Ipiranga, 344 (corner with Avenida São Luiz);
Metro: República

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Neat, secure hotel in the old centre. The rooms aren’t big or characterful, but they’re safe and clean.

Av São Luis 234

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A couple of hundred years ago, John Rudge arrived in São Paulo. A farmer from Gloucestershire, he had sailed across the Atlantic to make his fortune. He bought land, planted tea and built himself a house - which is now a smart restaurant specialising in excellent Brazilian
food.

Avenida Morumbi 5594
www.casadafazenda.com.br/

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At the end of the 19th century, the abolition of slavery in Brazil coincided with the boom in coffee production. Just when the world demanded São Paulo’s coffee, the fields lacked any labourers. So millions of immigrants arrived, many from Italy, and the city now has a decidedly Italian flavour. Even the Portuguese spoken here has an Italian accent. And this is one of the few places outside Italy where the Italian restaurants are actually any good. Famiglia Mancini is always busy, and the atmosphere is a lot of fun.

Rua Avanhandava, 81
www.famigliamancini.com.br/

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Everyone knows Copan, one of the most distinctive and fascinating buildings in the city, but few tourists venture inside. Make a friend who lives here - or pretend you have a friend who lives here. Head past the porters and catch a lift up to the top. A couple of thousand smallish apartments are crammed into this graceful monument to Brazilian modernism. Oscar Niemeyer, the architect, also designed Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo, much of Brasilia and, with others, the United Nations building in New York.

Av Ipiranga at Av Consolação

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A hundred years ago, half the world's coffee passed through São Paulo and its port, Santos. This is still one of the world's great coffee-producing regions, but the best beans are sent to Italy and France. Don't bother buying coffee in Brazil - unless you take a trip to one of the farms where the coffee is actually produced and intercept some of the good stuff before it is exported.

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If you’re visiting Morumbi, don’t miss this beautiful modernist house; it’s a museum, but feels like a private home, crammed with well-chosen pictures and furniture. The gardens are great too, and there’s a good cafe.

Av Morumbi 3700

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