Aside from being South Brazil’s biggest city, Curitiba also offers a lot of interesting places and landmarks to its tourists.

Parks

One of the attractions that the city is proud of is its vast green area of parks. It has a total of 28 units (including those undeveloped lands) throughout the town. Some of these even have interesting stories behind them. This includes Saõ Lourenço Park.

Located in a river floodplain’s center, the recreational area used to be a favela or a squatter’s area. On rainy seasons, the place would flood and would carry trash of the people to the body of water. It was until in 1972 when the city planners of Curitiba came up with a solution to this problem. – They build low-cost housing for the squatters to take them away from the floodplain and the abandoned place be turned into a park. This plan was openly welcomed by the squatters, who all willingly moved to the housing that already came with electricity and plumbing. Now one of Curitiba’s oldest parks, Saõ Lourenço has been visited by many people to unwind and enjoy the sceneries of nature. Among these is the sight of sheep brought in to cut grasses due to the city’s limited finances.

Also, a famous destination in Curitiba is the Barigui Park. Lying on the west of the city, the park, which has a total area of 1,500,000 sq.m, has a huge lake, sports facilities, playground for children, and a track, especially for model cars. It is also here where the Automobile Museum is found. The Iguaçu and Tingui Parks are attracting several tourists as well as being Curitiba’s biggest and most topographically emphasized parks, respectively.

Landmarks and Structures

To get a bird’s eye view of the city, the Mercês Tower is the place to be. As the highest point in Curitiba, the tower also houses the Telephone Museum. It provides tourism guidance and video presentations to its visitors every day, except on Mondays.

The Guaíra Theater, on the other hand, puts tourists vis-à-vis with the Curitibanos’ varied culture. Used to be known as Theatro São Theodoro, the place is one of Latin America’s biggest theaters with three auditoriums, one of which with a seating capacity of 2173.

For an Asian feel, Japan Square is one of the top destinations. Paying tribute to the Japanese who settled in the city and nurtured the agricultural lands, tourists can enjoy the trees of cherries – all sent by Nipponese empire all the way from Japan – and the Japanese-styled artificial lakes.

There are a lot more interesting places to see and discover in Curitiba. The abovementioned attractions are not even half of it.