Belo Horizonte Holiday Deals

Holiday In Belo Horizonte

You can tell Belo Horizonte is well-loved by the number of nicknames it has: Belo, BH and Beaga, to name a few.

Somehow, though, one of Brazil’s largest cities has remained largely off the record—which can only be good for intrepid explorers like you. Belo Horizonte packages are your gateway to the Brazil that lies behind the tourist curtain.

Things to Do in Belo Horizonte

Goooaal! Mineirao Stadium (officially Estadio Governador Magalhaes Pinto) is one of the most storied in Brazil, home to 2014 World Cup matches and the 2016 Olympics—nevermind having a record attendance of 132,800. Cheer on the Cruzeiro football club with 60,000 other screaming fans, in between bites of pao de queijo (cheese bread) and slugs of beer of course. If you really want to get crazy on your holiday in Belo Horizonte, get a seat in the torcida alcoolizada (yes, this means drunken section) and brush up on your chants: “Nos somos loucos!” should do it.

If you’ve lost your voice from screaming, no worries. That just means it’s the perfect time to take your Belo Horizonte car rental 55 km east to Instituto Inhotim. Use your best inside voice while exploring more than 20 art galleries in this open-air art museum. The endless gardens and manmade lakes will make you feel like you’re in Jurassic Park—but the only animals available for selfies will be swans. No dinosaurs here.

Shopping, Dining & Nightlife

Looking for oddly shaped melons, spices you can’t pronounce or live birds? (Just kidding, that last one will never get through customs.) Just east of Praca Raul Soares in the Centro district, you’ll find anything you can dream of in Mercado Central. It has more than 400 booths and stores selling everything from jewellery to gun-shaped bottles of cachaca. Now that’s what we call a souvenir!

You’ll find plenty of comida mineira at the market, too. That’s the local cuisine, and the food you’ll find on a Belo Horizonte holiday is the best in the country (says everyone, not just the locals). Carnivores can go straight for tutu de feijao, beans mixed with bacon and sausage, but veggie lovers are good to go too thanks to angu polenta and fried pineapple with cream. For dessert, you’ve gotta get delicious caramel-ly doce de leite—in ice cream form or straight out of the jar. No one here will judge.

Decode this saying and you’ll have a feel for the nightlife: “Nao tem mares, tem bares”. It means “There are no seas, thus there are bars”, and it couldn’t be more appropriate for a city that has more bars per capita than any other in Brazil. Belo Horizonte package deals in the Santa Teresa neighbourhood, just east of Centro, give you easy access to all sorts of pubs, lounges and nightclubs with a bohemian vibe.

What’s Next?

Wouldn’t you rather wake up to the sights and sounds of a place with names like “beautiful horizon” and “the garden city”? Stop staring longingly out your office window and book package deals to Belo Horizonte from lastminute.com.au today.