Belo Horizonte is Brazil's fourth-largest city and the capital of Minas Gerais state. The name means "Beautiful Horizon," and it earns it — the city is built on rolling hills completely surrounded by mountains, giving you sweeping views from nearly everywhere. Designed at the end of the 19th century on a grid modeled after Washington D.C., the wide, tree-lined avenues still give the center a sense of order, even as the city has grown far beyond its original plan.
The growth brought some rough edges — there is plenty of uninspired concrete alongside the remaining colonial buildings — but it also brought energy. Belo Horizonte is one of Brazil's great food cities, famous for its comida mineira, a hearty cuisine built on pork, beans, greens, and cheese. The bar scene is legendary even by Brazilian standards, and the Savassi neighborhood pulses with life most nights of the week.
Don't miss the fin-de-siecle buildings around Praca da Liberdade, the enormous Sunday market on Avenida Afonso Pena, and the Pampulha district where Oscar Niemeyer left his mark. The surrounding region is rich too — the colonial gold-mining towns of Ouro Preto and Congonhas are easy day trips, and the caves and mountain parks of Minas Gerais are within reach.