Saloon City

Belo Horizonte is by no means a well-known city from the South American country of Brazil. But with more than 12,000 bars, the city is gaining notoriety as one of the world's best places to drink.

1 minute read

October 29, 2007, 11:00 AM PDT

By Nate Berg

"Its international anonymity was born of no coastline and thus no beaches, no famous Carnival and thus no February madness, and no big attractions save a few buildings designed by Oscar Niemeyer that pale next to his famous works in Brasília."

"But Beagá, the city's nickname (from the pronunciation of its initials in Portuguese), does have a claim to fame: as the bar capital of Brazil. Not bars as in slick hotel lounges or boozy meat markets, but bars as in botecos, informal sit-down spots where multiple generations socialize, drink beer and often have an informal meal. If you believe the local bluster, there are 12,000 bars in the city, more per capita than anywhere else in the country. Why, no one is completely sure, but one theory has turned into a popular saying: 'Não tem mares, tem bares.' Loosely: 'There are no seas, thus there are bars.'"

FULL STORY: A Town Where All the World Is a Bar

Sunday, October 28, 2007 in The New York Times

History / Preservation Social / Demographics Central and South America

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