← São Paulo Marathon·On foot

Parque do Ibirapuera: The Recovery Walk Starts Where You Finished

158 hectares of lakes, Niemeyer pavilions and four museums, with a flat 5 km perimeter that is the standard place in São Paulo to move on the day after a marathon.

DurationOn foot
TransitFrom the start and finish area inside the park
DepartsParque do Ibirapuera

After the São Paulo Marathon: Parque do Ibirapuera

The Route: A circuit of the park from the start and finish area Logistics: On foot, entirely flat. The perimeter path is around 5 km. The museums are inside the park and a few minutes apart. Marathon Month: April Duration: A morning, the day after the race

Start / finish area ──> Lake and pedal boats ──> MAM ──> Museu Afro Brasil
        ▲                                                       │
        └───────────────(≈5 km perimeter circuit)───────────────┘

The marathon starts and finishes in Ibirapuera, so you will have seen the first and last kilometres of it at speed. Come back the next morning and walk it. The park opened in 1954 for the city's four hundredth anniversary, with a group of pavilions by Oscar Niemeyer linked under a long curving concrete canopy, and at 158 hectares it is the piece of open ground that central São Paulo is organised around.

Sunday is when the whole city is here and the paths are full. Monday morning is calm, which after a marathon is the version you want.

The circuit

The perimeter path runs about 5 km on flat asphalt and tarmac, separated into lanes for walking and running, and it is where São Paulo trains. At a slow walk it takes a little over an hour. Cut it short at any point: the internal paths cross the park in several directions.

The lake in the middle has pedal boats for hire and a fountain that runs a lit programme after dark. The older sections of planting toward the southern end are mature enough to be genuinely shaded, which matters in April.

The museums

Four museums sit inside the park and all of them are within a few minutes of each other under or beside the Niemeyer canopy.

The Museu de Arte Moderna, MAM, is the smallest and the easiest, a single long gallery under the marquee with a sculpture garden outside it and a good café.

The Museu Afro Brasil, in the Pavilhão Padre Manoel da Nóbrega, is the substantial one: several floors covering the history of Africans in Brazil, the slave trade, religion, work and art, and it is the museum in São Paulo most worth two hours of anyone's time.

The Oca, Niemeyer's white dome, and the Bienal pavilion both hold temporary exhibitions, so what is on depends entirely on when you are there. The Planetarium and the Japanese Pavilion, across the lake, keep limited opening days.

Where to Stay and Eat

Where to stay: Vila Mariana and Moema sit either side of the park and put you within a walk of the start line, which is worth a great deal on race morning. Jardins and Paulista are 2 to 3 km north with more hotels and more to do in the evening.

Where to eat: The park has kiosks and the MAM café. For a proper meal, Moema on the eastern side has the neighbourhood restaurants and Vila Mariana the cheaper ones. A padaria breakfast, pão na chapa and a coffee at the counter, is the local way to start the day and costs very little.

Getting Home

Guarulhos International is around 30 km north-east of the park and the journey takes anywhere from 45 minutes to well over 90 depending on traffic, which in São Paulo is not a formality. Congonhas, the domestic airport, is 6 km south of the park and much closer. The park is a short taxi ride from AACD-Servidor and Brigadeiro stations on the Metro if you would rather avoid the roads entirely.