Art and Culture in Centro

A cultural capital, densely packed

For all the talk of São Paulo as a place of business, its old center holds an extraordinary amount of culture in a small area — an opera house, free galleries in former banks, a record-and-streetwear arcade, and a great art museum, all within a short walk or one metrô stop of the Suite.

The grand rooms

• Theatro Municipal — the marble-and-bronze opera house from 1911, modeled loosely on the Paris Opera and still staging opera, ballet and orchestral concerts. Worth seeing lit up at night even if you don't catch a show; guided visits run during the week.
• Sala São Paulo — the concert hall in Luz, covered in the Luz guide.

The free ones (genuinely good)

• CCBB São Paulo — the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, in a handsome old bank building near Sé, runs strong rotating exhibitions and it's free.
• Sesc — the Sesc cultural centers are a São Paulo institution; Sesc 24 de Maio, a short walk from the plaza, has galleries, a theater and a rooftop worth the lift ride.
• Farol Santander — a cultural center inside the old Banespa building, with exhibitions and one of the best viewing decks in the city.

The weird and wonderful

Galeria do Rock — this multi-floor arcade near the plaza is the heart of the city's music, streetwear and tattoo subcultures: vinyl, band shirts, hip-hop, metal, everything. It's noisy, it's alive, and it's nothing like the opera house three blocks away. That contrast is exactly the point of Centro.

An opera house, a free gallery in an old bank, and a five-storey rock arcade — inside the same few blocks.

A simple plan

Do the Theatro Municipal and CCBB together in an afternoon, since they flank the Anhangabaú valley. Save the Pinacoteca for its own morning in Luz. And leave an hour to get pleasantly lost in the Galeria do Rock on your way back to the Suite.