Destination Sao Paulo: An F1 fan’s guide

The Sao Paulo Grand Prix runs anti-clockwise around Interlagos, where the lap drops into the Senna S and the weather can switch from sunshine to heavy rain in minutes.

Beyond the track, Sao Paulo pairs modernist landmarks with neighbourhoods shaped by immigration. Avenida Paulista, once home to the mansions of coffee barons, now carries the Sao Paulo Museum of Art (MASP) and its open-air span, while Ibirapuera Park opened for the city’s fourth centenary in 1954 with projects by Oscar Niemeyer and Burle Marx. In Liberdade, Japanese and later Chinese and Korean immigrants built the city’s reference point for East Asian culture.

From a weekend food fair to a sequence of corners named after a home hero, there is plenty to fill the days around the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Introduction to Sao Paulo

Race Dates – 6–8 November 2026, with the Grand Prix held on Sunday
Time Zone – UTC-3 (Brasilia time)
Language – Portuguese
Currency – Brazilian real (BRL)

Good to Know – Inside the circuit, food and drink are bought with a prepaid cashless card that is valid for the three days of the event.

Race weekend falls in the southern-hemisphere spring. Brazil’s national weather institute, INMET, gives November averages for the city of around 27C by day and 17C overnight, with rain on about 11 days of the month. Pack a waterproof alongside sun protection.

Attractions in Sao Paulo

Stroll Avenida Paulista

Once home to the mansions of the city’s coffee barons, Avenida Paulista is now lined with office towers, cultural centres and museums along almost 3km. Beneath the Sao Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), a 74m open span designed by the architect Lina Bo Bardi works as a public square. On Sundays, most of the avenue closes to cars and opens to people on foot.

Unwind in Ibirapuera Park

Opened in 1954 to mark the city’s fourth centenary, Ibirapuera Park features projects by Oscar Niemeyer and Burle Marx. Its grounds hold the Museu Afro Brasil, the Museum of Modern Art (MAM), two large lakes and the Oca, a Niemeyer pavilion inspired by the traditional dwellings of Brazil’s Indigenous peoples.

Explore Liberdade

Liberdade takes its name from its past as the Largo da Forca, where condemned prisoners were hanged: after two failed attempts to execute a man known as Chaguinhas, the crowd began shouting ‘Liberdade’ – freedom. Japanese immigrants later settled the district, followed by Chinese and Korean arrivals. Today suzuranto lanterns light its streets, and a torii, a Japanese sacred gateway, stands on Rua Galvao Bueno.

Follow Senna’s trail

Ayrton Senna won the first kart race he entered at Interlagos, aged 13, and the Senna S, the sequence of corners that opens the lap, carries his name. Near Ibirapuera, a square named in his honour holds a bronze sculpture in his memory.

Food and drink in Sao Paulo

Order a mortadella sandwich at the Mercadao

The Mercado Municipal, known to locals as the Mercadao, opened on the city’s anniversary, 25 January, in 1933, and gathers close to 300 stalls beneath stained-glass windows by Conrado Sorgenicht Filho. The city’s official tourism guide picks out its traditional sanduiche de mortadela – a sandwich piled with mortadella, a cooked pork sausage – among the snacks that have made the market one of Sao Paulo’s defining places to eat.

Graze the weekend fair in Liberdade

Every Saturday and Sunday, Praca da Liberdade hosts a traditional fair selling typical Japanese food and goods, and the square is also the stage for the neighbourhood’s biggest events, including Chinese New Year. Nearby, Rua dos Estudantes is lined with shops and markets stocking Asian ingredients, some of them unfamiliar to Western visitors, and Rua Galvao Bueno concentrates the district’s restaurants.

Save room for feijoada

Feijoada, a slow-cooked stew of black beans and pork, is a classic Brazilian dish and a fixture on menus across the city. It usually arrives with a spread of side dishes – typically rice and greens, often with farofa, a toasted cassava flour.

Pair a pastel with sugarcane juice

At the city’s street markets, the pastel – a fried pastry parcel with a range of savoury fillings – is often paired with caldo de cana, fresh sugarcane juice. Start at the Mercadao, finish at a street-market stall, and the city’s immigrant history arrives one plate at a time.

Getting to Sao Paulo

Sao Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport, known as GRU Airport, has its own rail station, Aeroporto-Guarulhos, on CPTM Line 13-Jade. The line connects with Line 12-Safira for Tatuape and Brás, airport express services run to Luz, and a free shuttle links the station with the terminals. Congonhas Airport is reached by Metro Line 1-Blue to Sao Judas and a connecting bus.

Entry requirements vary by nationality, so check the official guidance from Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs before you travel. Executive buses also link the two airports.

Getting around Sao Paulo

Follow a self-guided walk

The city’s official tourism office publishes self-guided walking routes for several areas, including the old and new city centres, Liberdade, Avenida Paulista and Ibirapuera, each with a suggested route and the nearest Metro stations.

Ride the Metro and trains

The Metro and the metropolitan rail lines cover much of the city, with interchanges such as Pinheiros, where Line 9-Esmeralda meets Metro Line 4-Yellow, and Santo Amaro, where it meets Line 5-Lilac.

Reach the circuit

The Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace sits in the south of the city. Take Line 9-Esmeralda to Autodromo station. Over the race weekend, express trains also run from Pinheiros and other stations on the line to Cidade Dutra, a station closer to the gates. Walking distances vary by gate, so check the gate on your ticket before you set out. Full travel information for the weekend is published on the official Sao Paulo Grand Prix website.