Bosque dos Buritis

Bosque dos Buritis is a large urban park in the centre of Goiânia, a green island among the broad avenues of the planned city. The park is defined by its tall buriti palms, which rise above the surrounding tree canopy and give the place a strikingly different feel from the grassy parks common elsewhere in Brazil's cities.

Within the park is the Museu de Arte de Goiânia, a small but well-curated collection of visual art with a focus on Goianian and central Brazilian artists. The museum is free and worth the 30 minutes it takes to walk through. On weekday mornings the park fills with joggers and dog walkers; on weekend afternoons families take over. There is a small artificial lake with ducks and a children's playground. It is, in short, everything a city park should be and a good first stop in Goiânia.

things to do sight
A story
The park takes its name from the buriti palm (Mauritia flexuosa), a tree deeply embedded in the culture of central Brazil's cerrado. The buriti is the state tree of Goiás, and local Indigenous peoples have used its fruit, oil, leaves, and fibre for centuries. Seeing it growing in urban parkland is a reminder that Goiânia sits at the edge of one of the world's most biodiverse savannas.