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"Se não tem mar, vamos pro bar!" ("We haven't got the sea, so we'll go to the bar!") is a mineiro catchphrase that epitomizes the Belo Horizonte lifestyle. No other city in Brazil has as many bars and coffee shops as Belo Horizonte—there are 14,000, or one for every 150 inhabitants.
This isn't a recent trend: the first bar appeared in 1893, four years before the city was founded. The bar culture is the core of the city's nightlife. There's even a contest every year in April, the Comida di Buteco, or Bar Food Contest (www.comidadibuteco.com.br), to reward the bar with the best appetizers (tira-gosto, as the locals say) and the coldest beer.
For fabulous city views and some of Brazil's best cachaças, head to this bar where musicians perform daily except on Monday. The music is mainly pop-country and forró, and the audience is young and hip. You can party all night here: Alambique opens at 10 and closes at dawn.
A traditional bar in a colonial building owned by Brazilian comedian and actor Saulo Laranjeira, Arrumação specializes in cachaças and serves excellent appetizers. It often hosts performances and concerts.
Belo Horizonte's intellectual beau monde collects at this café to eat dainty salads and drink imported wine in a beautiful interior surrounded by books and art. DJs spin music on most nights, and there's sometimes live jazz.
A hip and young crowd ranging in age from 18 to mid-30s gathers at A Obra, a basement-level pub with a dance floor. Music styles vary from indie rock to classic rock and more, but this is always a good place to go for something other than mainstream music.
Belo Horizonte's best and most authentic live-music venue is Pedacinhos do Céu, literally, "little pieces of heaven." This small bar is known mostly for choro, an instrumental version of samba, for which guitars dominate the sound. Groups of musicians gather here with their cavaquinhos (small four-string guitars), violões (guitars), and flutes for jam sessions that last late into the night. The bar is named after a song by composer Waldir Azevedo (1923–80) and provides access to his archive.
By day a furniture store and an architecture office, this space transforms at night into a venue for jazz, blues, and Brazilian and Cuban rhythms.
Bohemians, musicians, and poets hang out at this large and lively bar and restaurant in Santa Tereza, a neighborhood worth exploring itself. Grab a seat outside and order a cold lager and the rochedão (the big rock), a hearty dish of steak, eggs, potatoes, rice, and beans.
Established in 1962, this cantina is a cultural landmark beloved by middle-aged locals, who flock here on weekends for its standard Italian fare. The portions are enormous—and cheap—and the service is efficient and courteous. This could be a good option for the start of your evening: order a porção (sharing snack platter) and a glass of cold lager.
The dance club Josefine is popular with the GLS crowd—gays, lésbicas, e simpatizantes (gays, lesbians, and sympathizers).
One of BH's best bars operates out of a small grocery store in a bohemian enclave. By day the owner sells eggs, cereal, and soap. In the evening, tables are placed on the sidewalk, and he serves iced beer and incomparable appetizers. At the back, there is a great panoramic view of the city.
BH's most modern and well-equipped nightclub is also its premier house-music venue.
The Status is a great place to hear live music. The large, warm space houses a café/bar and a bookstore. On Sunday morning, there is a buffet breakfast with music.
