Mid-range · 6-hour walk · São Paulo
Avenida Paulista and Vila Madalena in six hours
The floating art museum, the park behind it and the alley of murals across the river valley.
The three-hour route does the historic centre. This is the São Paulo people actually live in: Paulista, a ridge of coffee-baron mansions replaced by banks and the best art museum in the southern hemisphere, and Vila Madalena, the bohemian quarter with an alley repainted continuously since the 1980s. Paulista closes to cars on Sundays and fills with the whole city.
The route, stop by stop
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MASP
Lina Bo Bardi's building is held up by four red piers with the whole gallery suspended between them. Inside, the paintings stand on glass easels in one open room, which no other museum does.
100 min here Walk here → -
Avenida Paulista
Two and a half kilometres along the ridge. Closed to cars every Sunday since 2016, when it becomes the city's largest public space.
35 min here Walk here → -
Parque Trianon
Forty-eight thousand square metres of surviving Atlantic forest directly across from MASP, with trees that predate the avenue.
30 min here Walk here → -
Instituto Moreira Salles
A photography collection in a building with a hanging garden, free, and the calmest room on Paulista.
50 min here Walk here → -
Beco do Batman
Arrive by taxi from the previous stop
An alley in Vila Madalena painted over continuously since the 1980s. Nothing on the walls is permanent, which is the point.
45 min here Walk here → -
Vila Madalena
Galleries, bars and bookshops on steep streets. Busiest from Thursday, and where the city drinks.
45 min here Walk here →
More in São Paulo
Every walking route in São Paulo, or the full São Paulo guide for where to stay and what a day costs.