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That's not the first time I've heard the city is ugly and without many tourist attractions, but couldn't the same be said for a city like Medillin? As long as the talent's there, we'll be able to entertain ourselves.
True, BH is comparable to Medellin in many of the respects you've mentioned.
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I've been flipping through some BH expat blogs, and the insight shared is almost all positive. People have said the city feels pretty safe and there are plenty of things to do to keep oneself busy. But this is from people who live there, so perhaps your statement is true that the city really opens itself up to you once you've been there a while.
The expats I met all seemed quite happy there and it seemed like quite a close knit group since it was pretty small. A lot of them hang out in a place called Bar do John run by a cool Aussie guy who's travelled the globe. It's about 5 mins walk from Savassi. The danger of being an expat in somewhere like Rio (or Dubai, Paris, Rome etc etc) is that there are so many expats that you end up meeting few locals. This didn't seem the case in BH.
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Despite the obvious element of size, in what ways would you say SP is different/better than BH?
Sampa is huge but bear in mind that BH is also a massive city of 5 million, making it all the more surprising so few people have heard of it.
SP is Brazil's cultural centre and has the best of the arts, live music etc that the country has to offer. It's not particularly touristy but there are more genuine sights that are worth a visit. The nightlife is excellent and varied (although very expensive). BH is a relatively new planned city and most neighbourhoods look the same. Whilst SP is generally ugly, the different areas are more distinct making it interesting to walk around - you have the bohemian area (Vila Madalena), the Japanese district (Liberdade), gritty working class areas (e.g. Luz), the super-elite rich area (Jardins) and Se/Centro where you can see neo-Gothic churches and monastaries randomly placed inbetween huge skyscrapers. It's also very ethnically diverse and the food is very good, although again a bit pricey.
On the other hand, BH is a little cheaper, the nightlife is still very good and I'm sure if you stayed there you'd find plenty to keep you occupied. Minas Gerais is also a stunning area of Brazil and you have easy access to great scenery that you don't have in Sampa. Locals are friendly and pretty curious about you.
As a rough analogy, Rio is comparable to Miami, Brasilia is like Washington DC and Sao Paulo is like New York.
Belo Horizonte would be like a less well-known east coast or midwestern city ... not much interesting to see there but a decent quality of life and a good place to live if you know the right people.
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I imagine SP would get a little overwhelming, but I haven't been so I can't assume that to be the case.
Sao Paulo
is overwhelming to start with and since it's so big, busy and also quite ugly most tourists get out of there after a couple of days. You need a while to get your head around it. I'd recommend staying in the Vila Madalena neighbourhood which is quite arty/bohemian, very safe, and feels like a village in the middle of the metropolis. Don't overly concern yourself with the size; public transport is good and it's surprisingly easy to find your way around.