A DAY OUT – Parque da Água Branca

Parque da Água Branca is a park in the west zone of São Paulo, easily reachable by subway and buses. It is a small but pretty park, whose area was previously occupied by cattle fairs, the signs of which you might still see in some of its facilities. Except on Sundays, it is so calm that you could sit on its benches for hours on end reading a book or even taking a snap!

The park has a lake with koi, a small area with books and chess pieces available for visitors, nice lanes for strolling amidst its green areas, and a large sandy area where children may play. On Saturday mornings, it holds a renowned fair selling organic fruit and vegetables, as well as other homemade organic products; on Sunday afternoons, it is common to find a large group of elderly people who get together to play the guitar and sing popular Brazilian country songs (a picturesque sight!).

The opposite side of the park is home to a recently opened trail amidst the trees called Trilha do Pau Brasil (Brazil wood trail), in which most trees received labels identifying their names and origin.

If you begin to feel hungry, the park does not offer much besides the coconut water and popular snacks. Although there is a shopping mall nearby where you could resort to some fast food chain, I’ll give you some other options:
The park has a secondary entrance/exit, on R. Germaine Burchard. Right on the corner you'll find a pleasant bar, for a beer in late afternoons or early evenings, called Bar do Parque.

In case you are there around lunchtime, I suggest a nearby street – across Av. Antártica - which is home to several kilo restaurants: R. Barão de Tefé.

I heartily suggest two of them:

- Sucre (R. Barão de Tefé, 137) Apart from the kilo options, the restaurant also offers a la carte items based on fish (specially cod) as the patrons also own a Portuguese restaurant

- Mussy Mussy (R. Barão de Tefé, 79) Nice and varied assortment of dishes, topped up by its magnificent desserts.

As this is an office area, most restaurants around will be crowded from midday to one p.m., so it would be wiser to go a little later.

Parque da Água Branca - Av. Francisco Matarazzo, 455

http://www.parqueaguabranca.sp.gov.br/

By subway:

Barra Funda subway station

When leaving the huge station, follow the signs to Memorial da América Latina. Once out, go “up”, or ask for the park or the avenue, both are widely known.

By bus:

From Av. Paulista:

875P – to Barra Funda subway station

877T – to Av. Francisco Matarazzo (bus stop right in front the entrance of the park)

From the city center, all these buses will leave you on the bus stop in front of the park:

From Parque D. Pedro:

8615 - PQ DA LAPA

From R. Xavier de Toledo (near the Theatro Municipal) :

8000 – TERM. LAPA

8400 – TERM. PIRITUBA

8677 – JD. LIBANO

8622 – MORRO DOCE

8594 – JD. D’ABRIL

8696 – JARAGUA

From Largo do Paissandu:

8686 - V. MANGALOT