If you can transport it properly, yes - it's a protected Brazilian cultural product, and Mercado Central sells several styles, from fresh frescal to aged canastra.
Discover Local Belo Horizonte: What to Do Around Mercure Belo Horizonte
At Mercure, we believe you shouldn't need a guidebook to feel like you belong somewhere. That's the idea behind Discover Local: since 1973, every Mercure hotel has been built around its neighbourhood, not just dropped into it — from the décor on the walls to the flavours on the menu. Step into any Mercure and our teams are on hand with the kind of tips you won't find in a guidebook: the market stall locals queue for, the bar where nobody speaks English, the walk that skips the crowds. They live here. They know. Discover Local isn't a generic city guide — it's a short, honest list of the restaurants, markets and neighbourhoods our own hotel teams actually recommend to guests, updated as the city changes around us. Below, you'll find our picks for Belo Horizonte, an interactive map to help you find your way, and answers to the questions travellers ask us most. So — where will Discover Local take you?
Belo Horizonte in 5 picks
Mercado Central
Opened in 1929 to feed a young Belo Horizonte, the market now packs 400-plus stalls into one building. Go for queijo minas (protected as Brazilian cultural heritage), cachaça de alambique, and goiabada, and taste before you buy - vendors expect it.
Praça da Liberdade
The city's grandest square, ringed by early-20th-century government buildings now turned into free museums. Sunday afternoons bring a craft fair to the surrounding gardens.
Pampulha
Oscar Niemeyer's first major commission as a young architect: a lagoon-side complex including the curved Igreja São Francisco de Assis, decorated with murals by Cândido Portinari.
Savassi
Belo Horizonte practically invented the boteco (neighborhood bar) culture - Savassi is packed with them, each with its own specialty petisco and cold chopp.
A Pão de Queijaria
Minas Gerais' cheese bread reaches a cult following at this Savassi bakery, turning out pão de queijo crackling straight from the oven. Locals eat it for breakfast, alongside strong, sweet coffee.
FAQ
It was Oscar Niemeyer's first major architectural project and helped define the modernist style he later brought to Brasília.
A classic Belo Horizonte neighborhood bar serving cold draft beer and small shared plates (petiscos) - Savassi has one of the city's densest concentrations.
Where to sleep
See Mercure hotels in Belo Horizonte, all within reach of these picks.