5 Things To Do In Belo Horizonte During World Cup Soccer

Belo Horizonte is the night life city of Brazil, famous for its Bars which serve exquisite cuisine and are open to late hours of the night and sometimes early into the morning. If you are going to Belo Horizonte for the World Cup, be sure to add the following to your list of things to do…

1.) Take an overnight trip to Ouro Preto, a small picturesque old gold mining town with cobble stone streets. Once the capital of the state of Minas Gerais, it is the source of a lot of history. Its tucked away into the beautiful mountains of Minas Gerais, about 3 hours from the City of Belo Horizonte. It’s a romantic getaway and idyllic place to relax from the crowded pace of the world cup.

2.) Take a Day Trip to Inhotim. This artsy artistic garden park is fascinating. It is comprised of a massive garden of native Brazilian plants with all kinds of unique art displays that you walk through and experience, not just visually, but with a variety of the senses. One art display allows you to listen deep into the ground the sound of the earth. Another creates a dance hall affect with a series of mirrors. Another involves a display of broken glass you walk across. See the website for more details.

3.) Visit the Mirante Mangabeiras in the city which is an overlook giving you a full view of the city.

4.) Take an afternoon to visit the city’s main public Parque das Mangabeiras and experience the plant and animal life of Minas Gerais. See monkeys swinging through the trees, feed the fish in the pond (bring fish food), and see anteater like animals crawling all around the park.

• GALO http://www.atletico.com.br/site/
• CRUZERO http://www.cruzeiro.com.br/
• Estadio Governador Magalhaes Pinto http://www.minasarena.com.br/

5.) Go to a World Cup game in the Stadium that hosts one of the greatest club rivalries in Brazil between Athletico Mineira (GALO) and Cruzeiro. If you were to visit this city at any other time than during the world cup, you would hear the whole city erupt in shouts of GALO or ZERO every time one of these teams plays a game, and especially when they play each other. This city is fanatical about soccer and about their two greatest sports teams. In 2013, Cruzeiro won the Brazilian Championship and GALO won the championship of the Americas. The 3^rd place cup final will be played in Belo Horizonte.

Praca Liberdade is a beautiful square in Belo Horizonte, much like a park with water fountains and museums nearby. Often the center of city cultural life with parties during Carnival and Christmas displays during the Christmas holidays, it will be a place of festivities during the world cup. At one end of Praca Liberdade stands the World Cup count down monitor. You can see Praca Liberdade being showcased in Fifa's official World Cup video introducing the city of Belo Horizonte as a world cup city.