Sao Paulo is a city like no other in Brazil. The largest metropolis in South America, Brazil’s cultural and avant-garde center needs to be known, to be discovered, in order to be loved. After that, it’s impossible to forget. “Sao Paulo is for urban tourism. “Culture is our beach,” explains Caio Luiz de Carvalho, president of Sao Paulo Tourism. This is Sao Paulo: hospitable, sophisticated and glamorous.

The city is glamourous and sophisticated; it’s a mixture of national origins, a melting pot of art and new tendencies, of musicals, of over 70 museums, of urban art, of Modern Art Week and typical festivals.

Sao Paulo has thousands of restaurants that offer the cuisine of over 50 countries, from the “pasteis” in the farmers’ markets and “mortadela” sandwiches to the charming bars and art studios of Vila Madalena. It is the modernism of Paulista Avenue, the green of the Ibirapuera and over 50 other parks. In terms of religion, Sao Paulo has temples that range from Catholic and Orthodox churches to Buddhist shrines,mosques, synagogues, as well as umbanda and candomble ceremonial grounds.

People from the city of Sao Paulo are known as paulistanos, while paulistas designates anyone from Sao Paulo state, including the paulistanos. The city's Latin motto is Non ducor, duco, which translates as "I am not led, I lead". A famous nickname for the city is "Sampa". Sao Paulo is also known for its smog, the sheer size of its helicopter fleet, unreliable weather, multitude of skyscrapers and the largest gay parade event in the world.

Sao Paulo is located on a plateau that is part of the Serra do Mar (Portuguese for "Sea Mountain Range"), itself a component of the vast region known as the Brazilian Highlands, with an average elevation of around 800 meters (2,625 ft) above sea level - though at a distance of only about 43 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. This distance is covered by two highways, the Anchieta and the Immigrants, which roll down the range, leading to the city of Santos and the beach resort of Guaruja. Rolling terrain prevails within the urbanized areas of Sao Paulo but in the North of the city - where the Serra of Cantareira Range boasts higher elevations and a sizable remnant of the Atlantic Rain Forest. The entire region is very stable tectonically, and no significant seismic activity has ever been recorded.

The original flora consisted mainly of a great variety of broadleaf evergreens. Today, non-native species are common, as the mild climate and abundant rainfall permit a multitude of tropical, subtropical and temperate plants to be cultivated, with eucalyptus being especially ubiquitous.

According the Köppen climate classification Sao Paulo has a humid subtropical climate. Temperatures seldom reach 86°F during summer, while frost is rare during winter. August is a month which, in the last years, despite of belonging to the winter, is mostly dry and hot, sometimes reaching temperatures of 82.4°F. This is a phenomenon called "veranico" (in Portuguese, "little summer").

Jesuit missionaries Manuel da Nóbrega and Jose de Anchieta founded the village of Sao Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga on January 25, 1554. Along with their entourage, they established a mission named Colegio de Sao Paulo de Piratininga aimed at converting the Tupi-Guarani Native Brazilians to the Catholic religion.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, groups of explorers who called themselves the Bandeirantes traversed forests and new territories within the South American continent searching for gold, diamonds and other riches. The Bandeirantes are regarded as being responsible for a great deal of the Brazilian territorial expansion beyond the Tordesilhas Line and for the discovery of many mines of precious metals and stones. There are several monuments in honor of their contribution to the city, including the Monumento das Bandeiras, one of the landmarks of Sao Paulo.

Sao Paulo officially became a city in 1711. In the 19th century, it experienced a flourishing economic prosperity, brought about chiefly through coffee exports, which were shipped abroad from the port of the neighbouring city of Santos. After 1881, waves of immigrants from Italy, Portugal, Spain, Germany and many other countries came to Sao Paulo in order to, among other reasons work at the enormous coffee plantations established in the State. At the beginning of the 20th century, the coffee cycle had already plummeted due to, among other factors, a sharp decline in international coffee prices. The local entrepreneurs then started investing in the industrial development of Sao Paulo, attracting new contingents of overseas immigrants to the city. In addition to Europeans, Japanese and Arab immigrants arrived in large numbers in the first half of the 20th century. Along the 20th century, the booming economy of the city also attracted huge waves of immigrants from poor regions of Brazil, especially from Northern Brazil.

Sao Paulo is a major cultural centre. The city has an ethnically diverse metropolitan area, with heavy Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, German, African, Jewish, Arab and Japanese influences.

The city is known for its varied and sophisticated cuisine, ranging from Chinese to French, from fast food chains to five star restaurants. There are approximately 52 different types of cuisines in Sao Paulo, and more than 12,000 restaurants. Other venues such as bars, pubs, lounges and discos cater to a variety of music tastes. Tourist events in the city:

• The Sao Paulo Gay Parade attracted about 2.5 million people to Paulista Avenue in 2006. It is usually opened by the city's mayor. A large carnival runs along the avenue, with several “Trios Elétricos”;

• The March for Jesus is a Protestant parade that takes place every year in Paulista Avenue, now in another downtown avenue. It is organized by the Renascer Church, a Pentecostal denomination created in the 1980s;

• The Eletronic Language International Festival (FILE) is a non-profit cultural organization, whose purpose is to disseminate and to develop arts, technologies and scientific research, by means of exhibitions, debates, lectures, and courses. The festival promotes a yearly meeting in Brazil, in the city of São Paulo. The event is open to the public, and intends to expand its educational reach to local and eventually remote audiences, thus sharing the experiences learned with FILE, through technologies of education, communication, registration and memory. The FILE shows in its events web art, net. art, artificial life, hypertext, computer animation, real time teleconferences, virtual reality, panoramas, interactive movie, e-video, electronic art installations and robotics through interactive and immersive rooms.

Other events:

• Sao Paulo Fashion Week;

• Anima Mundi (an international competitive video and film festival devoted exclusively to animation);

• AnimeCon - International Anime Convention;

• AnimeDreams - International Anime Convention;

• Anime Friends - International Anime Convention;

• Mercado Mundo Mix;

• São Paulo International Film Festival;

• Carnival of Sao Paulo;

• Skol Beats;

• Tim Festival, indie music festival;

• Nokia Trends;

• Festa de N. S. Achiropita;

• Fenasoft (International Computer and Software Trade Fair);

• UD Fare (Domestic Utilities Fair);

• Feira Internacional do Livro (Book International Fair);

• Sao Paulo Restaurant Week. (http://en.wikipedia.org).