Visiting Porto Alegre
A few days in a city people usually skip. They are wrong, if you like rivers, food, and a slower South.
You do not come here for a beach. You come for the Guaíba sunset, the Mercado Público, a real churrasco, and a city that still has bookshops.
A short list that is enough
- Orla do Guaíba is one of the city’s postcards. Plenty of restaurants, cafés and bars, and a good place for sport.
- Mercado Público: good food, coffee, and also the right place to buy meat and fish.
- Redenção (Parque Farroupilha) on Sunday — the Brique da Redenção, the city’s most famous flea market.
- Casa de Cultura Mário Quintana: the old Hotel Majestic turned art space, free, a good rainy-day stop.
- Parcão, a handsome city park
- Iberê Camargo: a museum and a one-off building beside the river. Worth it.
- Cidade Baixa is packed with bars and botecos. The most lively part of the city for young people.
Day trips
- Serra Gaúcha (Gramado, Canela, Vale dos Vinhedos): about two hours by car. Everyone else’s classic. Go during the week.
- Torres and the north coast in summer.
- Cambará / Aparados if you want canyons, not chocolate shops.