Entertainment in The Southeast
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A
Palácio das Artes
The Palácio das Artes, an arts complex with multiple performance spaces and galleries near the southern end of Parque Municipal, is the hub of Belo’s theater, dance, and music-concert scene.
reviewed
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Café Suplicy
Santo Grão's rival is smaller, with a refined industrial-chic feel and also outrageously good coffee and pastries.
reviewed
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Bienal de São Paulo
Modeled on the Venice Biennale, the Bienal de São Paulo , founded in 1951, has grown into one of the world's most important arts events. Many of the participants are working artists who have been nominated by their home country. In addition, a guest curator chooses a theme and invites his or her own favorites. At its best, the Bienal offers the world a chance to view mind-bending contemporary art. Certainly it cannot fail to impressive for its sheer size and diversity.
The event is held during even-numbered years, generally from October to December, in a sprawling pavilion designed by modernist master Oscar Niemeyer in the leafy Parque do Ibirapuera. In recent years, adm…
reviewed
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D
Aluarte
This alluring and romantic cavelike nightspot is whimsically lit with perforated metal lamps decked with colored streamers. Lounge on the cushions with your paramour while eating fondue, or duck out back to the herbal hot tub under the trees (by reservation only, R$100 per couple for 1½ hours, including tea, fruit, water and candles). On slow nights, Pedro may invite you into the kitchen to chat while he cooks you pizza on top of the wood stove. On holiday weekends, there’s live music.
reviewed
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E
Bardobeco
This spirited bar has more than 40 brands of cachaça - beware! You can ask for meia doses (half shots served at half price) if you want to retain some semblance of sobriety while you sample. There are also creative caipirinhas (the unofficial national cocktail made from limes, sugar, ice and high-proof sugarcane alcohol; try the tangerina do beco), tasty snacks and live music.
reviewed
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O Alambique
The decor, the music, the drinks and the food all conspire to make this one of Belo’s most entertaining nightspots. There’s an old waterwheel, tables made from barrels with stone tops, 70 different cachaça -based drinks, and forró (popular music of the Northeast) and sertanejo music to keep things lively all night long.
reviewed
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F
Ultralounge
In the heart of Jardins, this smallish disco lays the attitude on thick, but by way of compensation the clientele - and especially the staff - tend to be easy on the eyes. Decor is distinctly Asian-inspired; there is a pleasant lounge area, and the music ranges from classic dance music to electronica.
reviewed
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G
ABC Bailão
The Bailão is definitely ‘brega’ (tacky), but that’s the point. Basically just one big dance floor, it features everything from Whitney Houston to forró – the music of the Northeast, where many of the patrons were born. The crowd is refreshingly multiracial and multigenerational.
reviewed
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Drops
You feel like you’re at a private house party in this elaborate little villa in a residential neighborhood. Bartenders specialize in cocktails concocted with fresh fruit, and the little dance floor features music ranging from indie rock and hip-hop to ’80s hits.
reviewed
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Disco
So fancy it doesn't need a proper a name, Disco is fitted out with glittering, futuristic decor by the same firm that designed Hotel Fasano. Music is more electronica than disco. Dress up and bring plenty of money - drinks are expensive, as is the cover.
reviewed
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Week
Both luxurious and cavernous, this club is the place to go if you like sweaty, shirtless, gym-hardened bodies. With two dance floors, three lounges, six bars, state-of-the-art light and sound, and an outdoor pool, it is like a big gay world unto itself.
reviewed
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J
Barretto
Hands down one of the best places to see live music in the world, this bar inside the Hotel Fasano recalls prewar Milan and attracts top jazz and popular Brazilian musicians that normally only play large venues. Entrance fees match the glamor levels.
reviewed
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K
Clube Vegas
Hidden in a basement in a seedy area just north of Av Paulista, neon-lit Vegas delivers a varied program, with music styles spanning jazz to rock to electronica, and attracting an eclectic, mixed crowd of die-hard night owls, both gay and straight.
reviewed
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Sala São Paulo
In the Estação Júlio Prestes complex is the world-renowned Sala São Paulo, a classical music venue that cleverly occupies the station's principle waiting room. Part of the station is still a stop on the suburban train system.
reviewed
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M
A Lôca
Still the reigning queen of trashy chic, this sprawling club is the point of reference for Sampa’s alternativos – gay, straight, male, female and various combinations thereof. Music varies from punk to electronica to classic disco.
reviewed
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Hippie Chic Beach Bar
With quietly thumping lounge music, hip-tropical decor and table service on the sand, the island’s fanciest bar attracts rich Paulistas eager to show off this season’s designer gear. Beers run around R$10 and cocktails start at R$20.
reviewed
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Bar Brahma
A Sampa classic near Praça da República with a well-preserved wood-panelled interior, Brahma remains a popular after-work hangout for professionals, and offers up live music (sometimes with cover) most nights after 21:00.
reviewed
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Devassa
Devassa, a new cervejaria (brewery) right along the waterfront, dares you to enjoy their beer to the fullest, with all-you-can-drink Thursdays and two-for-the-price-of-one deals daily till 20:00. Live music on weekends.
reviewed
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O
Bar Brahma
A Sampa classic near Praça da República with a well-preserved wood-paneled interior, Brahma remains a popular after-work hangout for professionals, and offers up live music (sometimes with cover charge) most nights after 9pm.
reviewed
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P
Mokai
Top-rack electronica and images of Marie Antoinette let you know you’re in the newest upscale-decadent nightspot, where the outrageous cover charge (upwards of R$100) seems only to attract more of the city’s beautiful people.
reviewed
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Clube Vegas
Hidden in a basement in a seedy area just north of Av Paulista, neon-lit Vegas delivers a varied program, from jazz to rock to electronica, attracting an eclectic, mixed crowd of die-hard night owls, both gay and straight.
reviewed
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Cachaçaria Paulista
Serving more than 300 kinds of cachaça (high-proof sugarcane alcohol), Brazil's national drink, plus live Brazilian music on weekend nights, this Vila Madalena institution is remarkably relaxed and convivial.
reviewed
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Canto da Ema
For a break from São Paulo's upmarket danceterias, this relaxed, intimate club specializes in forró universitário, a more approachable version of the high-octane dance music from Brazil's Northeast.
reviewed
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T
Bar Tizé
Since 1967, this strategically located corner bar with tables spilling onto a long island of sidewalk has been drawing crowds with ice-cold buckets of beer and award-winning comida di buteco (bar food; see p238).
reviewed
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Café Floresta
With its antique murals, excellent brew and location on the ground floor of Niemeyer's Edifício Copan building near Praça da República, this stand-up-only café is a favorite of traditionalists.
reviewed
