Sao Paulo Events

Dedicated period for huge Italian community based around St Vito the patron saint of Polignano a Mare from Puglia in Italy. Street parties, feasts cooking up traditional food, and processions, make up this very Italian occasion.

Sónar is a mix of music, film and video, all rolled into one big multimedia festival. Enjoy installation art, audiovisual concerts, and medialab presentations next to DJ sets, electonic music, film and more. Last year, Sonar São Paulo attracted more than 30,000 people in attandence for 48 music performances on three different stages.

The annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) parade is the world’s largest, attracting around four million people. Expect riotously colourful processions of floats and street dancing in a parade that stretches for 4.2km (2.6 miles).

Stock up on popcorn because silver screen fever grips during this two-week celluloid fest. Premieres, retrospectives, foreign-language films, blockbusters, and outdoors screenings, complete a dazzling cast.

Brazilian and international DJs collaborate to host the hugely popular Spirit of London electronica club night at São Paulo's Parque Anhembi. It's the biggest electronic music event in the country.

High octane thrills and spills as F1 circus wends its way to São Paulo for the annual grand prix. Two days of qualifying kicks off the weekend before the main event at the famed Interlagos racetrack. The launch of CPTM’s Esmeralda Line 9 has made reaching the circuit easier.

Okay, not exactly Rio, but the celebrations beginning on the Friday before Ash Wednesday are a riot of samba school rehearsals and street parades or blocos. Sambódromo, however, is the crème de la crème as the samba schools’ battle for supremacy.

With street cred from stellar success of supermodels like Giselle Bündchen, SPFW is now regarded as the fifth fashion week after New York, Paris, Milan, and London. Lashings of haute couture and exotic models tread catwalks during this biannual jolly. Exciting new Brazilian designers air their frocks twice yearly with separate fashion weeks in January (fall and winter styles) and June (spring and summer styles).

Biannual deference to the city’s culinary diversity saw over two hundred restaurants participate in 2010. Lucky diners pay a citywide fixed price menu for three-courses at all participating restaurants. Great value if you can bag a really top restaurant.

Twenty-four hours, non-stop celebration of city culture that showcases everything from dance, film, theatre, and especially music. Saw over 2000 artists perform in 2010.

Inspired by the Venice Biennual Art Festival, the São Paulo Art Biennual takes place every two years between September and December. Brazilian and international artists display their works in the Oscar Niemeyer building in the Parque Ibirapuera.