Mercado Central in Belo Horizonte is a vibrant and authentic experience you won’t want to miss! 🇧🇷✨ It’s the perfect place to explore the rich culture and flavors of Minas Gerais. From delicious cheeses, sweets, and artisanal cachaça to handmade crafts and souvenirs, every corner is full of charm. The friendly vendors and lively atmosphere make it a joy to wander through. Whether you’re shopping, tasting local treats, or just soaking in the vibe — this market is a true gem in BH!

It's always a great experience to come here. They have numerous shops with food, drinks, and various products, from cheese, crafts, souvenirs, and much more. Try the local dishes, such as the "pão de queijo", "empada", etc.

If you want to taste the soul of Minas Gerais, Mercado Central de Belo Horizonte is mandatory. Since 1929 this indoor market has occupied an entire city block and grown into a cultural hub with over 400 stalls offering food, crafts, produce, cachaça, and more. The tradition of Queijo de Minas, recently recognized by UNESCO as part of Brazil’s intangible cultural heritage, is everywhere. You will find every variation fresh, semi aged, and aged made and sold by local cheesemakers. Walking through the aisles, you see that this is not just commerce. It is a snapshot of Minas’s diversity, where vendors of Portuguese, African, and local heritage sell side by side. You hear local accents, smell roasting coffee, and taste sweets like doce de leite or goiabada. The number of micro bars and snack counters filled with locals eating feijão tropeiro, pão de queijo and having a beer shows how deeply this market is woven into daily life. What separates it from many Latin American markets is its cleanliness and organization. Floors are polished, stalls are tidy and vendors take pride in presentation. At the same time, it does not feel artificial. It still has that energy and authenticity that makes a market alive. Where it falls short is in the live animal section, which feels cramped, and the odd rule that bans bicycle parking even though the city promotes cycling. These are outdated issues that should be fixed. The structure itself has presence, with steel beams, high ceilings and historic character. In the 1960s the market faced closure but local merchants took control and rebuilt it as a covered space in just 15 days, keeping it alive for generations. Mercado Central is not just a food hall. It is a living panorama of Minas Gerais culture, flavor and identity. Whether you come for cheese, coffee, crafts or conversation, you leave feeling connected to Belo Horizonte’s beating heart.

A very nice experience. Very lively and authentic. we had no problems with safety at all and saw guards in a very discreet way so this was not influencing the experience was the last day of our stay in Brazil and we bought a lot of interesting things to bring home.

What an amazing place! Full of randomly stuff, amazing stuff, good food, beautiful souvenirs and nice people

Wow! This market is enormous and has everything! They have all kinds of foods, antiques, souvenirs, cafes, bars, spices, sauces, household items, and even animals! A must visit!

Great place to visit and shop. Lots of restaurants and bars. Some markets but this is not the place for local produce. Tried to find great Pao de Queijo but everything was average.

Cool plaza with lots of museums around. They host music, food, and culture festivals.

If you like the history behind, that's the place to start... Still clean, keeps its visuals, however, some street sellers can be annoying.

Amazing place! Culturally must visit! All the best of Minas Gerais can be found here. Good quality souvenires and perfect ambience. Historically rich! Architecturally fascinating.

It’s a cool cool spot. There were some artisan hippies in there. I bought a cool little ring from and they have like an awesome gem museum on one side of the park on the other side. They have like an art museum. It’s like the old governors mansion it’s really spectacular a lot of history a lot of beauty overall just a gorgeous park in area.

Beautiful place for a stroll, any time of day. Bonus if you read up on the historical value of the buildings you see surrounding the park itself. Sidenote: there's a very kind man just off the south side of the park, on Avenida Cristovao Colombo, who sells chicletes and other boxed treats from his wheelchair, to passing motorists. He's been selling from this very same corner, from his wheelchair, for over 30 years.

Beautiful park both during the day and at night. Very cool museums and sights around the border. Look out for free entry days into the museums!

Beautiful square in the center of Belo Horizonte inspired on the gardens of the Versailles palace, it is one of the most relevant ones. It has the so called cultural circuit around it, including different museums, knowledge institutions and at least one theater. The CCBB (cultural center of Banco do Brasil) stays nearby and is a must do visit. Also notice the wavy building, it is Oscar Niemeyer’s project. And such a beautiful one. The palm trees lane is so beautiful!

Cruzeiro football club, amazing experience.. football in Brasil is next level

One of the great soccer stadiums of South America. Fantastic atmosphere, good food and cheap beer👍 A once in a lifetime experience

Amazing stadium...pity we went on game day and could not enter

Great music nice place to shop

A place that everybody that came to BH have to visit.

I went to my first football game here and it was amazing. I didn’t even like football (scoccer) before and now I’m addicted. The energy from the Cruzeiro fans is amazing. Never seen it heard anything like it in my life. I just have one problem. The VIP section isn’t that great. I paid R 750 for premium seats ( Hall Principal 203 VIP) and it didn’t come with food or drinks. One the website it said it would. I was pretty upset at first but honestly the game was so good I forget about it after an hour.

The second biggest stadium in Brazil! Home of Cruzeiro, the best Brazilian soccer team in Century XX. Great stadium!

Free entrance but 15 min to obtain free ticket! Artists are good Clean washrooms and nice!

The building and the exhibition are superb yet the visitation was uneasy. The exhibition rooms are icy due the AC. I know that's need to maintain the pieces, but it was too low. Even the employees were attared in winter clothes, including gloves. We were unable to finish the exhibition due the AC.

I've been here for two exhibits, and both were fantastic. Great location to access other tourist spots like Praca Liberdade and see some interesting architecture.

Great free museum in interesting old building. Intriguing collection of Brazilian art. Care and restaurant too.

Wonder place to visit in Belo Horizonte and in any city (main cities in Brazil have the Cultural Center of Banco do Brazil). Entry is free. Here there is an interior terrace shared by two cafes/ restaurants, with very nice ambiance; the prices are a bit too high, so it is not for the backpacker, but it is nice to have a different experience. The exhibits are usually well curated. Currently there are two, one of Antonio Poteiro, Brazilian popular artist and one of Man Ray, the famous photographer. Both very interesting and, again, with free entrance. Coming here gives you the opportunity to enjoy the Freedom square (Praça da Liberdade) where it is settled. Don’t miss the wavy building of Oscar Niemeyer, renown Brazilian modernist architect.

Most people working there was very nice and accommodating. I’m a beginner Portuguese speaker and when they see me struggling, they very kindly spoke slowly and helped me with what I needed. The exhibition was great and the interior of the building is stunning.

It is a nice and cool place/museum to visit in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Located in the downtown/center of the city it is also close to some other local places that are worth visiting. Every month it has differents themes expositions that are also very cool. Really enjoyed it!

Mirante do Mangabeiras is an absolute gem in Belo Horizonte! Located at the edge of the Serra do Curral, this scenic overlook offers breathtaking panoramic views of the entire city —especially stunning at sunset. It’s a peaceful and well-maintained spot, perfect for photos, relaxation, and connecting with nature. The walkway and viewing platforms are safe and accessible, and there’s often a refreshing breeze that makes the experience even more enjoyable. Highly recommended for visitors and locals alike who want to experience BH from above!

Nice place to watch the sunset, rather simple and most of the time crowed, but the view is worth it.

We went here for a lovely end to the day during a birthday celebration for my husband - 30 years! It was so inspiring and beautiful. Everyone there was in awe of the cloud and the view created by the Almighty! The birds are singing, and there was a crowd of interesting black birds with red spots in their necks. It feels like nature can rest here! And we can, too. If you are looking for a peaceful addition to your date or family outing, look no further!

Very lovely and beautiful place, the view was gorgeous and we are able to see most of the city, the mist might have been heavy, but it was a very nice view, the pictures can be great, I totally recommend it especially in group.

Who doesn’t like view points !!! From this place we can visualize the city of Belo Horizonte and enjoy its view. We don’t need any tickets to purchase. It’s absolutely free. We cannot drive with car to this point; we need to park the car at the entrance and walk a bit. The sunset from this point will be stunning and worth the visit.

GREAT SUNSET VIEWS!!! If you want to get the views of entire Belo Metropolis area while enjoying the stunning sunset, this is the place for you. The park is open from Dusk to Dawn. The gated location is easily accessible by Uber followed by a short walk to the viewing area. There is no entry fee for the park! The area is clean, safe and family friendly. However the only thing missing is there are no food stalls. So plan to bring drinking water and snacks to enjoy with the view! There are public restrooms but those are not too clean either. Overall a little inconvenient but the views definitely make up for it!

Amazing views of the city, a taste of exclusive lifestyle passing nearby manicured villas, and an exhilarating zipline jump, for about R$60 if you dare! The Mirante is free to the public, had public bathrooms, and nearby vendors selling snacks and drinks. A very hilly climb up from the Parque das Mangabeiras, so drive, or wear comfortable shoes.

Beautiful construction and wonderful location overlooking the lake. The museum is also a good starting point to take a walk along the lake river. There are several animals that you can spot walking in the small garden of the museum. No WiFi available.

Magestic building thanks to genius Oscar Niemeyer, although the exhibit wasn't that interesting and it is quite small. Hard to get there if you are not driving there. They could do something more interesting with the cafeteria, since it was empty and I was really looking for a soda...

The modern museum is part of Pampulha's architectural complex and one more exemple of Oscar Niemeyer 'avant garde' work. Its gardens by the lagoon and the view deserve pictures. Look for informations about the project Domingo no Museu (Sunday at the Museum) and you'll have your best sunday morning in BH. The first sunday of each month the museum has a concert at the big saloon, always with eclectical artists that play the true brazilian music.

Master class architecture by Oscar Niemeyer

closed three years ago

A little empty but the place is worth the trip from the center

Great place, full of old world charme.