Belo Horizonte may not be hugely visited by tourists like other cities in Brazil but this doesn’t stop them from having great wealth and success. The capital of Minas Gerais is considered as the third largest metropolis of Brazil and has a population of about 5.4 million.
Not a lot of tourists know about Belo Horizonte. Usually, they just see it as another place to pass to get to Brazil’s southern parts. But little do we know that the place really has a lot to offer. The city even has a very interesting history starting as a small village. Eventually as a lot of immigrants fell to like the place’s weather and topography, the small village grew into a city and even replaced Ouro Preta as Minas Gerais’ capital.
There may be a lot of things that you don’t know about the city. Here are some interesting facts about Belo Horizonte.
Bar capital of Brazil
Other cities and states in Brazil boast of pristine beaches, festive events, and rich architecture. You may not find these in Belo Horizonte, but you’ll be able to find 12000 bars all over the city. And these don’t refer to bars in hotels. The bars that are accounted for in this statistic are the bars on sidewalks where you would see locals socializing. That is why the city is considered as the bar capital of Brazil. Every April, there is an event that is called Comida di Buteco. This is a competition of various bars from all over the city. The beers’ flavor, creativity, temperature, and the bars’ popularity and cleanliness are among the factors that determine the winner of the competition. But aside from this event, simply sitting in one of the bars and mingling with the locals is one way to fully enjoy and appreciate Belo Horizonte’s unique culture.
A place of commerce
Did you know that Google headquarters is situated in Belo Horizonte? Google’s headquarters for Latin America that run Orkut, a networking site, is located in the city. There are also a lot of other big companies that are also setting up their offices in the city. Belo Horizonte is becoming a place of commerce.
Now if you are interested to visit Belo Horizonte, Brazil you also need to know some useful information that would come in handy to your trip. Listed below are what you should know about the city.
Phone codes, time zone, and currency
While Brazil’s phone code is 55, Belo Horizonte’s is 31. So if you need to call someone in Belo Horizonte, you would need to dial 1-55-31 + the number. Make sure that you also know the timezone to avoid calling at the wee hours of the morning. Belo Horizonte’s timezone is at UTC/GMT -3 hours. This is a standard time. You need to check though if they are at daylight savings time.
Real (R$) is Brazil’s currency and one really has 100 centavos. While the exchange rate fluctuates, it generally has a lower value that of a euro and a dollar.