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We've compiled the best of the best in São Paulo - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
The imposing Sé Cathedral, in neo-Gothic style with 14 towers, occupies São Paulo's official center---known here as the 0 km point. You can enjoy a brunch (costing R$390, a donation with a social approach that helps people in vulnerable situations) on Sundays and take a tour of the cathedral. It houses the tombs of 15 Portuguese and Brazilian bishops who served in the city of São Paulo.
One of the city's best-preserved Portuguese colonial buildings, this baroque structure—two churches, one run by Catholic clergy and the other by lay brothers—was built between 1647 and 1790. The image inside of Saint Francis was rescued from a fire in 1870.
The German architect Richard Berndl designed this Norman–Byzantine church that was completed in 1922. Ecclesiastical imagery abounds, and soaring archways extend skyward. The church's enormous organ has some 6,000 pipes, and its Russian image of the Kasperovo Virgin is covered with 6,000 pearls from the Black Sea. On the last Sunday of each month, Paulistanos compete for space at the church's popular brunch (that costs R$357), which also includes a tour and varying performances, from dance to choir; call early to reserve your seat. The don't-miss religious event at Mosterio de São Bento is Sunday Mass at 10 am, when the sound of monks' Gregorian chants echoes throughout the chamber.
São Paulo was founded by the Jesuits José de Anchieta and Manoel da Nóbrega in the College Courtyard in 1554. The church was constructed in 1896 in the same style as the chapel built by the Jesuits. In the small museum you can see a fascinating relief map of Centro in colonial times and an exhibition of early sacred art and relics.
