Belo Horizonte is the capital of Minas Gerais, a city of about 2.5 million at 850 metres, ringed by hills with the SERRA DO CURRAL on its southern skyline. It was laid out from nothing in 1897 as a planned replacement for Ouro Preto, which is the first thing to understand about it.
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BECAUSE IT WAS PLANNED, THERE IS NO COLONIAL OLD TOWN, and visitors looking for one are disappointed. What the city has instead is a grid of avenues, a 1930s and 1940s modernist layer that is genuinely important, and the best eating in Brazil. IT IS A BASE RATHER THAN A SIGHT, and a good one: Pampulha is here, Inhotim is an hour away, and the colonial towns the city replaced are within two hours. Our Brazil travel guide for women covers the country.
THE SECOND THING IS PAMPULHA, AND IT IS THE REASON TO COME. In the early 1940s the young mayor Juscelino Kubitschek, who would later build Brasilia, commissioned OSCAR NIEMEYER, the landscape architect ROBERTO BURLE MARX and the painter CANDIDO PORTINARI to build a leisure complex around an artificial lake. The result was Niemeyer's first major work and the birth of Brazilian modernism, inscribed by UNESCO in 2016. THE IGREJA SAO FRANCISCO DE ASSIS, with its parabolic concrete vaults and Portinari's blue azulejo panels, was refused consecration by the church for fourteen years because it was considered too radical.
THE THIRD IS THE FOOD, and this is not a throwaway line. COMIDA MINEIRA is the most loved regional cooking in Brazil: pao de queijo, feijao tropeiro, tutu, frango com quiabo, and the queijo minas cheeses. The city also claims more bars per head than anywhere else in the country, and the BOTECO is a genuine institution here rather than a tourist label. Eating and drinking is the activity, not an interval between activities.
Pampulha, the Markets and the Museums
A UNESCO modernist complex, a market selling cachaca and cheese, and a mountain on the skyline.
THE PAMPULHA COMPLEX sits around the lake about twenty minutes north of the centre. Beyond the church there is the CASA DO BAILE, a small dance pavilion on an island, the CASSINO, now the Pampulha art museum, and the MINEIRAO stadium nearby. THE LAKE ITSELF IS POLLUTED and is not for swimming or close contact, which the city is open about; you come for the buildings.
THE MERCADO CENTRAL is the other essential stop and is enormous: four hundred-odd stalls over a city block selling cheese, cachaca, dried goods, live birds, herbs and hardware, with bars inside where the fried pork sandwich and the cachaca counter are the point. Go late morning.
THE PRACA DA LIBERDADE is a landscaped square ringed by former government buildings now converted into a CIRCUITO CULTURAL: the Minas Gerais memorial, the Mineiro museum, a Niemeyer apartment block and a telecoms arts centre, most of them free and all within a few minutes of each other. It is the best half day in the centre.
THE PRACA DA ESTACAO, the old railway square, is the city's civic heart with its 1922 station building, and the SAVASSI district south of it is where the good restaurants and bars are concentrated. THE MERCADO NOVO, a brutalist block that fell derelict and has been colonised by bars and small producers, is where the city drinks now.
AND THE SERRA DO CURRAL is the city's symbol: a ridge on the southern edge with a park and viewpoints at Mangabeiras, reachable by car in twenty minutes, and the place to watch the city light up.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Inhotim, Ouro Preto and Colonial Minas
One of the world's largest outdoor art museums, and the baroque towns the city was built to replace.
INHOTIM IS THE BEST DAY TRIP IN BRAZIL and is not widely known outside the country. About an hour southwest at Brumadinho, it is a contemporary art institute set in 140 hectares of botanical garden, with permanent pavilions built for single works by major international artists among lakes and palms. IT NEEDS A FULL DAY and more walking than people expect; there is an internal electric cart service and tickets are timed, so book ahead.
OURO PRETO is two hours southeast and is the reason Belo Horizonte exists: a UNESCO baroque mining town of steep cobbled streets and Aleijadinho churches that was the colonial capital until the gold ran out. Our Ouro Preto packing list covers it, and TIRADENTES and MARIANA are in the same direction.
CONGONHAS, about an hour and a half, holds Aleijadinho's twelve soapstone prophets on the terrace of the Bom Jesus sanctuary, which is the single greatest work of Brazilian colonial sculpture.
FOR THE REST OF THE COUNTRY: the Brasilia packing list covers the capital Kubitschek went on to build, and the Rio de Janeiro packing list and Sao Paulo packing list the two cities six and eight hours away.
Getting around: Confins airport is about 40 minutes north and well connected. The city has a single metro line that is of limited use to a visitor, plus buses. RIDE-HAILING IS THE PRACTICAL ANSWER and is cheap. The centre and Savassi are walkable; Pampulha and the Serra are not.
When to Go
April to September, the dry season. The rain between October and March is heavy.
A tropical highland climate moderated by the altitude: 13 to 28C through the year, with a dry season from April to September and a wet one from October to March.
APRIL TO SEPTEMBER IS CLEARLY THE BETTER HALF. Clear skies, warm days around 25 to 27C, cool nights falling to 13 to 15C in June and July, and almost no rain for months. This is when Inhotim and the colonial towns are at their best.
OCTOBER TO MARCH brings heavy afternoon and evening storms, greener hills and more comfortable humidity, with January and February the wettest. The rain is a daily event rather than a washout, and mornings are usually fine.
CARNIVAL IN BELO HORIZONTE HAS BECOME ONE OF THE BIGGEST IN BRAZIL over the last decade, with enormous street blocos rather than a stadium parade, and it is a genuine reason to come in February if that appeals, or the week to avoid if it does not.
THE COMIDA DI BUTECO festival, usually around April and May, has dozens of bars competing on a single dish and is the most enjoyable way to eat your way round the city.
AND THE WINTER NIGHTS ARE COOLER THAN PEOPLE EXPECT at 850 metres, down to 13C and occasionally lower, which after a 27C afternoon is a real swing.
Is Belo Horizonte Safe for Women Travelers
An ordinary large Brazilian city. Street crime is the risk and the rules are the standard ones.
US State Department travel advisory: the Brazil advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/brazil, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
UK FCDO: there are no advised-against areas in mainland Brazilian cities, and the one place the FCDO advises against all but essential travel is RIVER TRAVEL ON SPECIFIC AMAZON STRETCHES: along the Amazon west of Codajas and east of Belem do Solimoes in Amazonas State, along any part of the Itaquai or Japura rivers, and along the Rio Negro north or west of Barcelos, because of criminal activity in the border country Brazil shares with Colombia, Peru and Venezuela. NOTE THAT BELEM DO SOLIMOES IS A TOWN IN AMAZONAS AND NOT THE CITY OF BELEM IN PARA, which is 1,500km east and is not named. Four areas have their own sections covering ordinary crime rather than advice against travel: RIO DE JANEIRO, SAO PAULO, BRASILIA, where the FCDO names the central bus station area for theft, and NORTH-EAST BRAZIL, where it names theft from hotel and motel rooms and muggings, and advises using taxis after sunset rather than walking and avoiding quiet or deserted areas.
Theft is the realistic risk in Brazil and the FCDO is specific enough to be useful. Robberies are common in many cities and particularly on buses, thieves target mobile phones and the FCDO names the window BETWEEN 4PM AND 9PM, and attackers may be armed. THE ADVICE IS NOT TO RESIST: hand over valuables rather than arguing with someone who may be armed and under the influence. Thefts are especially common on public beaches, including ARRASTOES, where a large group runs through a stretch of beach grabbing everything, so take nothing to the beach you would mind losing and DO NOT GO ON TO CITY BEACHES AFTER DARK. And the FCDO is unambiguous about FAVELAS: avoid all of them, including favela tours marketed to tourists and any accommodation, restaurant or bar advertised as being inside one, and check that a GPS route is not taking you through one, because tourists have been shot after entering by accident.
BELO HORIZONTE'S OWN PATTERN: this is a large Brazilian city with the street crime that implies, and it is generally considered safer than Rio or Recife and less safe than Curitiba or Florianopolis. THE CENTRE AND THE AREA AROUND THE RODOVIARIA AND PRACA DA ESTACAO are busy by day and empty quickly after office hours, which is when they become somewhere to leave rather than linger. SAVASSI, FUNCIONARIOS and LOURDES, where most visitors stay and eat, are comfortable and lively into the night.
THE PHONE RULE IS THE DAY-TO-DAY ONE. The FCDO names 4pm to 9pm as the window when thieves target mobiles, so keep it out of your hand in the centre, do not use it waiting at a bus stop, and be aware that robberies on buses are specifically noted.
THE FAVELA ADVICE APPLIES AND MATTERS HERE because BH's vilas climb the hillsides close to good neighbourhoods, sometimes within a few streets. CHECK THAT A RIDE-HAILING ROUTE IS NOT CUTTING THROUGH ONE, which GPS routing in this city genuinely does, and decline any favela tour.
FOR A WOMAN ALONE the city is socially easy and friendly in a way that is locally famous: mineiros have a reputation within Brazil for being hospitable and slightly reserved, which in practice means help offered readily and little street harassment by Brazilian standards. A woman eating alone in a boteco is unremarkable. 180 IS THE NATIONAL WOMEN'S HELPLINE and the city has a DEAM, a dedicated women's police station.
Brazil has no reciprocal health agreement with the UK or the United States, so insurance with medical cover and repatriation is essential. Private hospitals in the big cities are genuinely good and expensive and will want payment or an insurance guarantee before treating you; the public SUS system will treat an emergency and is slower and more variable. A farmacia handles minor problems. TAP WATER IS TREATED AND GENERALLY SAFE IN THE MAJOR CITIES including Brasilia, Porto Alegre and Fortaleza, though most Brazilians drink filtered and bottled is universal. DENGUE IS THE REAL HEALTH RISK and Brazil has large annual epidemics, with chikungunya and Zika also present; the mosquito that carries all three bites BY DAY, so repellent is a daytime measure. YELLOW FEVER VACCINATION is recommended for much of the country and some onward countries require a certificate if you have been here, so check before you travel rather than at the border.
ONE LOCAL HEALTH NOTE: the Pampulha lake is polluted and is not for swimming or wading, and DENGUE outbreaks have been severe in Minas Gerais in recent years, which makes daytime repellent a real measure here rather than a formality.
The Belo Horizonte Packing List
A warm layer for highland nights
Winter nights fall to 13C or lower at 850 metres after a 27C afternoon, and buildings here have no heating. Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women handles a cool evening at Mangabeiras, an over-air-conditioned museum and a long day at Inhotim without holding smell.
Comfortable shoes, because Inhotim and Ouro Preto are both walks
Inhotim is 140 hectares of garden and you will walk several kilometres of it; Ouro Preto is steep wet cobbles that defeat anyone in the wrong footwear. Trainers or proper walking shoes, not sandals, and nothing with a heel for the colonial towns.
A rain jacket for the wet season
A packable rain jacket for women between October and March, when the afternoon storms are heavy and sudden. Inhotim in rain without one is a long day.
Sun protection, which the altitude makes stronger than it feels
A wide brim sun hat and high factor sunscreen. At 850 metres and 20 degrees south the sun is strong even on a mild day, and Inhotim's gardens have long open stretches. Our affiliate registry holds no sunscreen, so that is advice rather than a product recommendation.
Insect protection, which matters more here than you would guess
DEET insect repellent. Minas Gerais has had severe dengue seasons, and the aedes mosquito that carries it bites in daylight, so this goes on in the morning.
A bag that closes, worn in front
The Mercado Central crush, the Mercado Novo and a city bus are all places where a closed bag held in front of you is the whole of the precaution.
The small things
An insulated water bottle, since tap water is treated and generally safe here and Inhotim is thirsty work. A packing cube set if you are pairing the city with the colonial towns. Cash in reais for market stalls and botecos, with cards fine elsewhere. Book Inhotim's timed ticket before you travel. And leave room for cheese and cachaca.
Essential Resources for Women in Belo Horizonte
Emergency numbers: 190 police, 192 ambulance, 193 fire. 180 is the national women's helpline, the Central de Atendimento a Mulher, which can direct you to a DEAM women's police station, and Belo Horizonte has one. 181 is anonymous crime reporting.
Tourist police: Brazil operates tourist police in the main destinations, and in Belo Horizonte the Policia Civil handle visitor matters with the DEAM available specifically for offences against women. For a crime in progress, 190 reaches the Policia Militar.
Main hospital or clinic: Belo Horizonte is a major medical centre, with Brazilians travelling here for treatment. The Hospital Mater Dei and Hospital Vila da Serra are the main private options and handle international insurance; the Hospital das Clinicas da UFMG is the large public teaching hospital with a 24 hour emergency department. A farmacia handles minor problems. For an emergency dial 192.
Official health authority: the Brazilian Ministry of Health. Brazil has no reciprocal health agreement, so insurance with medical cover and repatriation is essential. Mater Dei and Vila da Serra are the private hospitals used to international insurance
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Brasilia.
Official tourism authority: Visit Brasil, the national tourism board. And with the Minas Gerais state tourism body, plus the Instituto Inhotim, whose timed tickets should be booked before you travel because the museum needs a full day
Inhotim needs a full day and a booked timed ticket. It is 140 hectares an hour from the city and the best day trip in Brazil, and people routinely underestimate both the walking and the time.
The Pampulha lake is polluted. You go for Niemeyer's buildings, not for the water, and swimming or wading is not an option.
There is no colonial old town here. The city was planned in 1897 to replace Ouro Preto, which is two hours away and is where the baroque is.
Dengue seasons in Minas Gerais have been severe. Daytime repellent is a real measure here, because the mosquito bites by day.
Solo women safety assessment: Belo Horizonte is an ordinary large Brazilian city and should be treated as one, generally reckoned safer than Rio or Recife and less safe than Curitiba. Socially it is easy and notably friendly: mineiros have a reputation within Brazil for hospitality and a certain reserve, which in practice means help offered readily and markedly less street harassment than in Rio, and a woman eating alone in a boteco is unremarkable. THE GEOGRAPHY IS WHAT MATTERS. The centre and the area around the Rodoviaria and Praca da Estacao are busy by day and empty fast after office hours, becoming somewhere to leave rather than linger, while Savassi, Funcionarios and Lourdes, where most visitors stay, are comfortable into the night. THE PHONE RULE IS THE DAILY ONE: the FCDO names 4pm to 9pm as the window when mobiles are targeted and notes robberies on buses, so keep it out of your hand in the centre and off display at bus stops, and the national advice not to resist a robbery applies in full. THE FAVELA ADVICE MATTERS PARTICULARLY HERE because BH's vilas climb the hillsides within a few streets of good neighbourhoods, so check that a ride-hailing route is not cutting through one, which GPS routing in this city does, and decline any favela tour. 180 is the national women's helpline and the city has a DEAM women's police station. TWO LOCAL HEALTH POINTS: the Pampulha lake is polluted and not for contact, and dengue seasons in Minas Gerais have been severe, so daytime repellent is a genuine measure.
Reading On
For the country-level picture, start with the Brazil travel guide for women. Two hours away is the baroque town this city was built to replace, in the Ouro Preto packing list. For the capital Kubitschek went on to build after Pampulha, see the Brasilia packing list. The Rio de Janeiro packing list and Sao Paulo packing list cover the big two, and the Paraty packing list the colonial coast. For why merino rather than cotton when a day runs from 27C to 13C at altitude, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
