SÃO PAULO: THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS

São Paulo is a city for city people, where street art, street noise and street food cede, but only occasionally, to high design, high rollers and high-end restaurants.

If crowded buses, clogged streets and 12 million people living in horizon-obliterating highrises is too mega a megacity for your taste, at least stay a few days, breathe in the culture, spit out the exhaust fumes and be on your way with stories to tell.

Stick around Ibirapuera, for there’s no better place to people-watch (or ride rental bikes, or drink coconut water) than the city’s gorgeous, democratic, monumental, 400-acre central park, a magnet for Paulistanos of all backgrounds who come to walk their dogs, juggle their soccer balls, read their books and ride their skateboards all weekend long.

Dining al fresco in São Paulo is not always so fresco, often accompanied by a bouquet of exhaust from motorbike engines. Escape the ruckus at Selvagem, just inside Gate 5 of Ibirapuera Park. The chef Filipe Leite has turned what was once a snack bar into one of the city’s most compelling dining venues, especially at night when the park is largely empty. The cuisine at Selvagem (which means savage) celebrates contemporary takes on traditional Brazilian dishes like seafood stew with heart of palm or manioc fritters with cream-cheeselike requeijão. For dessert, Julieta and Romeu (Juliet and Romeo) is a boursin-style sheep’s milk cheese with a dollop of guava ice cream. Dinner for two, about 500 reais, with drinks. Picking a place to sample live Brazilian music in São Paulo is like choosing a taco stand in Mexico City. Leave the more mainstream nightlife neighborhoods of Pinheiros and the city center behind, head east to the traditionally Italian Mooca neighborhood to check out Templo-Bar de Fé.