Where to stay in Belo Horizonte: the 4 neighborhoods to know in 2026
Photo : ophelie
In Belo Horizonte, you do not choose a neighborhood around an old center: there is none. The city came off a drawing board in 1897, a grid and diagonals inside a ring avenue, to replace Ouro Preto as the capital of Minas Gerais, and a member who hated it says so in one sentence. What it has instead is three cities that three wishes set apart. The center, where you eat pão de queijo standing up at the Mercado Central and where the streets empty at eight; Savassi and Praça da Liberdade, where the city goes out at night and visits its museums by day; and Pampulha, the lagoon where Niemeyer drew in 1943 a church the Church took sixteen years to accept, and which Unesco listed in 2016. To the south, the Serra do Curral closes the beautiful horizon that gave the city its name, and Belvedere sleeps in its towers.
A bunk in a dorm, downtown, in Funcionários or by the lagoon, starts at $9.10* and hardly goes past $17*; a simple room in the center, $29 to $46*; the three- and four-stars of Savassi, Pampulha and the south cost $57* at the least and $102* at the most; and the grand house of Lourdes, the only one in the city, from $169 to $400*. Twelve addresses follow, by neighborhood and by price, each with its score, the number of reviews carrying it and what guests hold against it most.
A gigantic, dirty, polluted, and noisy capital city with no real historic center.
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At a glance: our picks by traveller type
Pick the profile that suits you to head straight to the recommended neighborhood.
The neighborhood map in Belo Horizonte
Get your bearings on the neighborhoods and must-see sights before choosing where to drop your bags. Click a name to jump to its description.
The center: Praça Sete, the station and the Mercado Central Centro: Praça Sete, Praça da Estação, Mercado Central, Praça Raul Soares, Parque Municipal, Palácio das Artes, Rua da Bahia, Barro Preto, Minascentro; to the east, Horto, the Independência stadium and Santa Inês
for the Mercado Central, the buses and trains, and a clean hotel at a guesthouse price
The center is the grid of 1897: streets crossing at right angles and diagonals that all lead to Praça Sete, with its obelisk of 1922 that the city calls the lollipop, the banks, the arcades and the street vendors. To the south, the municipal park of 1897, eighteen hectares of trees and lakes among the towers, with the Palácio das Artes and its theater at its edge and the Sunday morning craft fair on Afonso Pena avenue, two thousand stalls; to the north-west, Praça da Estação, the 1922 station turned museum of arts and crafts, and the SESC Palladium; to the west, the Mercado Central of 1929, four hundred shops of Minas cheese, cachaça, dulce de leche and pão de queijo, and its bars where you lunch standing up. The metro, the bus terminal and the buses to Ouro Preto leave from here. You sleep here for the market, for an early bus and for neat hotels at a guesthouse price. The downside: a center that pulls down its shutters at eight and streets where you do not linger at night, the hotel reviews repeat it.
Where to stay in this neighborhood
B Hotel 888 Mid-range
On Espírito Santo street, five minutes from Praça Sete and the bus terminal: a three-star with neat air-conditioned rooms, staff the reviews praise, and an 8.7 on eight hundred reviews. A guesthouse price for a clean hotel, in the middle of a center that closes in the evening.
Samba Belo Horizonte Centro Mid-range
In the center, steps from Praça Sete: functional rooms, a breakfast the reviews put first, staff rated 8.9, and an 8.1 on two thousand nine hundred reviews, 8.8 for location. Street noise climbs to the lower floors, the reviews repeat.
Home Center Hostel Budget
On Brasil avenue, between the center and Funcionários: a simple hostel, dorms and rooms, a kitchen, and a 7.9 on seventeen hundred reviews, 9.4 for location and 8.6 for value for money. Comfort is rated 7.5, the reviews say why: you sleep here for the price and the spot.
Pros
- The Mercado Central, the park and the Sunday fair on foot, the metro and the bus terminal
- Neat hotels at a guesthouse price
Cons
- Shutters down at eight, streets where you do not linger at night
- No luxury hotel, and noise on the lower floors
Savassi, Lourdes and Praça da Liberdade Savassi, Funcionários, Lourdes, Santo Agostinho, Cidade Jardim: Praça da Liberdade, Rua da Bahia, Rua Pernambuco, Rua São Paulo, Praça da Savassi, DiamondMall
for the museums, the bars, the restaurants and walking in the evening
Praça da Liberdade is the square of 1897 where the city wanted to show itself: the governor's palace, the imperial palms, and around them the former ministries turned museums, the Memorial Minas Gerais Vale, the museum of Mines and Metal, the university's knowledge space, the center of popular art, the library and Niemeyer's wavy building of 1954, which you visit on Sundays. To the south and east, Savassi, the neighborhood of the bars of Rua Pernambuco and the terraces of the square, where the city that calls itself the capital of bars goes out from Thursday to Saturday; to the west, Lourdes, the restaurants of Rua São Paulo, the DiamondMall and the only grand house in the city; between the two, Funcionários and its hostels in houses. The metro does not come this far, taxis and buses do, ten minutes from the center. You sleep here to walk in the evening, for the museums and for the best-rated hotels in the city. The downside: noisy weekend nights around the square, and prices that rise with the score.
Where to stay in this neighborhood
Hotel Fasano Belo Horizonte Luxury
On São Paulo street, in Lourdes: the house opened in 2018 by the São Paulo group, a spa with a pool, the Gero restaurant and the Baretto bar, and a 9.2 on two hundred reviews, 9.5 for location. The grand house of the city, the only one.
Tryp by Wyndham Belo Horizonte Savassi Mid-range
In Savassi, on a quiet street steps from the square: silent rooms, a breakfast with pão de queijo the reviews mention, staff rated 9.2, and an 8.7 on two thousand five hundred reviews, 9.1 for location. The lobby is tiny, the reviews note.
Belô Hostel Budget
On dos Aimorés street, in Funcionários, between Praça da Liberdade and Savassi: a recent hostel with a garden and a bar, organized evenings, dorms and rooms, and an 8.4 on two hundred and twenty-five reviews, 9.4 for location and staff. Breakfast is modest and luggage storage is paid, the reviews say.
Pros
- The museums of the square, the bars and the restaurants on foot, in the evening too
- The best-rated hotels in the city, from the hostel to the grand house
Cons
- Noisy nights around Praça da Savassi from Thursday to Saturday
- No metro, and prices that rise with the score
Pampulha: Niemeyer, the lagoon and the Mineirão Pampulha: the church of Saint Francis of Assisi, the Casa do Baile, the art museum, the lagoon shore, the Mineirão, the Mineirinho, UFMG, the zoo and the botanical garden, Pampulha airport, Lagoa do Nado; Caiçaras and Shopping Del Rey
for the architecture, a match, running by the water and the regional airport
Pampulha is the artificial lagoon of 1938 and what a thirty-seven-year-old mayor, Juscelino Kubitschek, had built there by a thirty-five-year-old architect, Oscar Niemeyer: the church of Saint Francis of Assisi of 1943, four wave-shaped vaults covered in Portinari's blue tiles, which the archbishop refused to consecrate for sixteen years; the Casa do Baile on its islet, the casino turned art museum, the yacht club. Unesco listed the whole in 2016. Around the water, eighteen kilometers of shore where the city runs and cycles, the ecological park, the Japanese garden, the zoo and the botanical garden, the UFMG campus, and the Mineirão, the 1965 stadium rebuilt for the World Cup, sixty thousand seats, with the Mineirinho next door for volleyball and concerts. Pampulha airport, for regional flights, sits by the lagoon. You sleep here for the architecture, for a match, to run by the water in the morning. The downside: twenty to thirty minutes by taxi or bus to the center and Savassi, and avenues where you do not walk in the evening. A member says what she saw inside the church.
For those who love contemporary design, this church is an architectural feat, all curves. So much so that the Catholic Church had a hard time recognizing it as a church.
Where to stay in this neighborhood
CHA Pampulha Design Hotel Luxury
On the shore of the lagoon, Niemeyer's church across the water: a design hotel with small, well-kept rooms, a breakfast the reviews praise, and an 8.2 on two thousand seven hundred reviews, 8.8 for location. Paid parking and the wifi come back in the complaints.
Quality Hotel Pampulha Mid-range
In Pampulha, next to the Mineirão: rooms with blackout curtains and beds the reviews put first, an Italian restaurant, a convention center, and an 8.6 on sixteen hundred reviews, 8.8 for cleanliness and comfort. You need a car or a taxi for everything, the reviews say.
Da Orla Pampulha Hostel Budget
On Otacílio Negrão de Lima avenue, which circles the lagoon: a hostel with a pool, a garden and a barbecue, dorms of ten and fourteen beds, rooms with a view of the water, and an 8.2 on four hundred and eighty reviews, 9.4 for location.
Pros
- Niemeyer's church, the lagoon and the Mineirão on foot or by bike
- Hotels with a pool by the water, from the hostel to the design hotel
Cons
- Twenty to thirty minutes by taxi or bus to the center and Savassi
- Avenues where you do not walk in the evening
The south: Praça do Papa, the Mangabeiras and Belvedere Serra, Mangabeiras, Sion, Belvedere: Praça do Papa, Mangabeiras park, the Serra do Curral, BH Shopping; in Nova Lima, Vila da Serra, the Alta Vila tower, the Serra da Moeda; further out, Inhotim sixty kilometers away
for the mountain, the view, a business meeting and the road to Inhotim
To the south, the city climbs toward the Serra do Curral, the iron ridge that gave it its name and its symbol, and which you climb in an hour from the park: Praça do Papa, laid out for the mass of 1980, from where you see the whole basin and where the city comes in the evening for the sunset; Mangabeiras park, designed by Burle Marx in 1982, two hundred and forty hectares of forest, trails and lookouts; then Belvedere, the neighborhood of glass towers around BH Shopping, the city's first mall, and, across the municipal line, Vila da Serra, in Nova Lima, with the Alta Vila tower and its restaurants. The road to Inhotim, the open-air museum of Brumadinho, sixty kilometers away, starts here, as does the one to the Serra da Moeda, where people paraglide. You sleep here for a business meeting, for the air and the view, and to leave early for Inhotim or Ouro Preto. The downside: everything by car, nothing on foot outside the mall, and soulless business hotels.
Where to stay in this neighborhood
Caesar Business Belo Horizonte Belvedere Luxury
In Belvedere, facing BH Shopping: a four-star business hotel with rooms over the mountain or the city, a Japanese restaurant, and an 8.4 on six hundred and seventy-five reviews, 9.2 for location. Value for money drops to 7.4: the reviews find the rooms expensive for what they are.
Bourbon Hotel Savassi Mid-range
On the southern stretch of Afonso Pena avenue, in Serra, between Savassi and Praça do Papa: a heated outdoor pool, large rooms with soundproof windows, and an 8.4 on fifteen hundred reviews, 9.0 for location. The reviews expect a renovation for the four stars.
Mercure Belo Horizonte Vila da Serra Budget
In Vila da Serra, in the municipality of Nova Lima, ten minutes from Belvedere: large apartments with beds the reviews mention, a praised breakfast, and an 8.0 on seven hundred and fifty reviews, 9.0 for location. The cheapest of the three, and the farthest: value for money sits at 7.1.
Pros
- Praça do Papa, the Mangabeiras and the Serra do Curral, the air and the view
- The business hotels of BH Shopping, and the road to Inhotim
Cons
- Everything by car, nothing on foot outside the mall
- Soulless business hotels
Our tips for booking the right place
- The city is eaten standing up, at the market and at the counter: Belo Horizonte calls itself the capital of bars, and it has the most per inhabitant in the country: the botecos serve warm pão de queijo, feijão tropeiro, chicken with okra and liver with jiló, with an ice-cold beer, from noon to midnight. The Mercado Central is visited in the morning, when the Minas cheeses, the cachaça and the dulce de leche arrive, and you lunch there standing at a counter. In April and May, the bar contest, the Comida di Buteco, fills the neighborhoods in the evening. The restaurants of Lourdes and Savassi serve until midnight; in the center, you dine before eight or not at all.
- Winter is dry and the nights are cool: At eight hundred and fifty meters, the city has two seasons. From May to September, it does not rain, the sky is blue, it is twenty-five degrees at noon and twelve at night: a jacket for the terraces. From October to March, it is thirty degrees and a storm breaks almost every late afternoon, for an hour, before the evening comes back clear. The hotels fill up at carnival, which has become one of the biggest street carnivals in the country, during the Comida di Buteco, and on match nights at the Mineirão.
- The metro goes neither to Savassi nor to Pampulha: The single line of the metro follows the valley from east to west, with a Central station at Praça da Estação and another at the bus terminal, and that is all it offers the traveler. Pampulha is reached by the fast buses of Antônio Carlos avenue, in thirty minutes from the center, Savassi and the south by ordinary buses or by taxi, ordered through an app, for a handful of reais. In the evening, you walk in Savassi, in Lourdes and on Praça do Papa; not in the center, not at Praça da Estação, not on the avenues of Pampulha. The buses to Ouro Preto, two hours, and Inhotim, an hour and a half, leave from the bus terminal in the center.
- Two airports, and the big one is forty kilometers away: International flights and most domestic flights arrive at Confins, forty kilometers to the north, forty-five minutes to an hour by road: an express bus reaches the center and the bus terminal for a few dozen reais, a taxi costs ten times more, at the fare posted at the desk. Pampulha airport, by the lagoon, serves only regional flights, but it is twenty minutes from Savassi. For an early flight from Confins, any neighborhood will do, leaving two hours ahead; there is nothing to see around the airport.
- The center if you come back late: Praça Sete and Praça da Estação empty at eight, and the reviews of the neighborhood's hotels talk about streets where you do not linger.
- A street-side room around Praça da Savassi on Friday and Saturday: the bars of Rua Pernambuco close late, and the reviews of the hotels on the square say so.
- The hotels of the bus terminal rated below 6 on their listing: $5.70* less than the center, and reviews that talk about cleanliness, noise and safety.
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