Wellcome to São Carlos, and to Brazil

There is a lot of things to see and to do in São Carlos and in the neigbourhood, we are sure you will not get bored. São Carlos is located at the geographical center of São Paulo State, 850m above the sea level. The countryside around São Carlos is beautiful, with many slopes, very green vegetation and a diversity of cultures that include coffee plantations, bananas, orange orchards, animal pastures and a lot, really a lot of sugar cane. Near to São Carlos there are many historical farms with constructions from the last century where you can see how the wealthy farm owners used to live and to manage their plantations. There are also the two public universities campi, the University of São Paulo at São Carlos and the Federal University of São Carlos with large green areas and many interesting research laboratories to visit. In the center of town there is the CDCC that is an institute for science promotion that has an interesting science exhibition. São Carlos has also a small zoo, called Parque ecologico with native Brazilian and South American fauna and flora species. There is also in São Carlos the museum Asas de um Sonho ("Dream Wings") in honor to the TAM airlines founder; the museum has a fine collection of old airplanes including replicas of Santos Dumont first flying machines. Brazil is a multicultural racial country, so you will find in São Carlos a variety of restaurants and bars that will satisfy every taste, this includes typical Brazilian food, barbecue houses, French, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, Arabic and vegetarian restaurants of course. A good guide to São Carlos is the official tourism site.

If you extend your stay you can visit many interesting places around São Carlos, including Barra Bonita where you can make a boat trip in a reservoir, climbing a 26 m lock; to São Pedro with its mineral spring waters; to Brotas and Analândia where you can do eco sport activities such as tree climbing, rappel, rafting and others; to Santa Rita do Passa Quatro with magnificent natural park and to Caxoeira de Emas where you can eat (and maybe catch) fresh river fish. All those places are less than 80 Km from São Carlos.

And of course, Brazil opens a large spectrum of possibilities if you wish to know magnificent natural places and landscapes, going from the pampas in the south, to the beautiful Iguazu Falls, to the metropolitan São Paulo, to the astonishing Rio de Janeiro, to the splendorous Amazon forest, and to the 8600 Km sea coast where you can just spread in the sun, collect shells, or dive seeing magnificent marine landscapes and sea species. You can arrange post or pre conference trips in your country by internet or at São Carlos travel agents.