Porto Alegre

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Urban space and natural wondersCulture and sports

Tradition and technologyHistory and futureEconomic force and life quality

Diversity e multiplicityLeisure and work

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Porto Alegre was founded in 1772 by Portuguese

Azorean couples. Along the following centuries, it

welcomed immigrants from all around the world,

and particularly from Germany, Italy, Spain, Af-

rica, Poland and Lebanon, among them Catholics,

Jews, Protestants and Muslins. The result of this

composition is a set of multiple expressions, of

a variety of faces, ethnic and religious origins,

which makes the state of Rio Grande do Sul a

unique place, where contrasts and differences

are always appreciated and welcome.

That is what Porto Alegre is like, multicultural by

nature, land of great authors, intellectuals, artists

and politicians who marked the history of Brazil.

Being able to produce and hold big events, with

national and international expression, it is also

the capital which launched from the State of Rio

Grande do Sul to the world great soccer players

such as Ronaldinho and Pato, Olimpic cham-

pions such as Daiane dos Santos and

João Derly, and celebrities

such as the übermod-

el Gisele Bündchen.

Porto Alegre,multicultural by nature

The State Gateway

for tourists at only 120 kilometers from

the pleasant Serra Gaúcha, Porto Alegre is a bustling hub

of services and infrastructure of recognized quality. Great national

and international companies are headquartered in the city and it is one

of the main destinations in Brazil

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Porto Alegre definitely entered the international

circuit of big events after experiencing the Global

Social Forum that was held here, between 2001

and 2005, and the World Conference on the De-

velopment of Cities, in 2008. Today, the capital

from Rio Grande do Sul is among the cities in

Brazil which receives most international events

and it is one of the most visited by foreign tour-

ists in business trips, seminars and congresses.

Among other accomplishments, the Mercosur Vi-

sual Arts Biennial, the Global Forum of Tourism

and the International Forum of Free Software

The best structure for tourism andbusiness events in the south of the country

also carry the brand of Porto Alegre, which is also

a dynamic center of events in the medical field.

This role is linked to the entrepreneurial environ-

ment and to the economical profile of the city, a

hub in trade of goods and services par excellence.

This sector represents 86% of the local economy

and it offers an extremely favorable environment

for the logistic solutions of event organizers, who

are able to find facilities that are unmatched for

their productions.

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*in this calculation, excluding the percentage of taxes

Economic data

Industrial and technological region

Gross Domestic Product (GDP):R$ 36.774 billion (18 % of the

state GDP) Source: 2008/IBGE

The sector of services represents 86% of the GDP of the municipality, followed

by the industrial sector, with 13%*.

Porto Alegre’s per capita GDP:R$ 25.712 mil (2008)

The main capital city in the South of Brazil is an

economical, financial, political, cultural and ad-

ministrative center, and the Center of 31 satellite

cities which form the Metropolitan Region of Porto

Alegre - an area with 3.9 million inhabitants and a

thriving and modern, industrial and technological

center, with a strong exporting profile.

This status is ensured by big national and

international names, such as Ger-

dau, General Motors, Dell

Computers, Braskem,

Petrobras, Doux Frango-

sul, International, Marco-

polo, Tramontina, Pirelli,

Basf, ALL América Latina

Logística, Thyssenkrupp

and Nestlé.

Porto Alegre is among the first Brazilian cities which offer more facilities for business activities, according to a report by the World Bank – Doing Business in Brazil – conducted together with the Movimento Brasil Competitivo (MBC).

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Venues and services: quality for events

The Events Center at the Rio Grande do Sul In-

dustry Federation (FIERGS) is one of the most

technologically prepared in Latin America for

congresses and conventions, fairs, shows and

receptions. There are 36 thousand square me-

ters, with a capacity to hold 7 thousand people

in modular and conditioned spaces and a mod-

ern theater with 1,790 seats. The structure of the

city can also count on options such as the Events

Center at Pontifícia (PUCRS) and the Hotel Plaza

São Rafael Convention Center.

Salgado Filho International Airport, a 15 minute-

drive from the center of the city, serves an aver-

age monthly movement of more than 500 thou-

sand passengers. In the public transportation

system, a fleet of 1,572 buses, 403 jitneys and a

service of taxi with 3,925 vehicles are in opera-

tion. The surface metro, with six boarding sta-

tions, quickly connects the capital to cities in the

Metropolitan Region.

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Comfort andgood service in hotels

In Porto Alegre, the tourist is welcome and it is

possible to notice the quality of products and

services consumed, starting from the accommo-

dation. In the hotel network, international brands

such as Sheraton, Accor (Íbis, Novotel, Mercure),

Blue Tree and InterContinental Hotels Group

(Atlântica) operate. There are 250 accommoda-

tion types and 14 thousand beds.

Digital Capital

Porto Alegre is among the first Brazilian capital cities

to make a free public network available for wireless

Internet Access and it offers a wide coverage of WiFi

Zones, through its Infoway. In public facilities and

parks and around them, in places such as bars,

restaurants and hotels, the tourists may have

access to the web from their own mobile

devices, without any restriction.

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The chimarrão ritual

The chimarrão is one of the most traditional and

singular cultural manifestations of the south of

Brazil. Its preparation and consumption are the

ritual: the infusion is done with ground leaves and

twigs of mate herb, accommodated in a “gourd”

and sipped through a pump, a kind of straw that is

normally made of silver. A genuinely native drink,

the chimarrão is the most popular habit among

gaúchos. To offer it to a visitor is, for a gaucho, a

gesture of hospitality.

Situated in the geographic Center of the South-

ern Cone region, Porto Alegre is in the region

formed by broad plains that dominate the land-

scape in Southern Brazil and part of Argentina

and Uruguay. This is the scenario of Pampas, of

pastoral tradition, where the gaucho, a historical

character, was born, a character endowed with

bravery and fighting spirit.

Porto Alegre is the Center for preserving and

spreading this kind of culture. It is also, histori-

cally speaking, a vanguard city. It was the cradle

of great Brazilian political movements in the past

century and of the first environmental move-

ments in Brazil, in the 1970’s.

Tradition and modernity make theprofile of the capital of Rio Grande do Sul

Legitimate local culturein unique experiences

History, tradition and folklore from Rio Grande

do Sul stand out in the Brazilian scenario. Habits

and beliefs of the gaucho show up in music, poetry,

literature, dance and gastronomy. Porto Alegre of-

fers a rich experience of this cultural universe in

about 50 Gaucho Tradition Centers (CTGs). The

environment is the right place for you to try a

chimarrao, a typical beverage from the region, to

follow the steps of music, dance and rhythm of

the vanerão, chamamé, milonga and chimarrita,

and to taste the churrasco, a barbecue with beef

cooked over the heat of charcoal fire.

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13 cultural centers

30 theaters

63 movie theaters

50 museums, memori-

als and art galleries

Land of world championsand host of the World Cup

Porto Alegre is one of the host cities of the World

Cup 2014 and football (soccer) is one of its main

attractions. It is the only Brazilian city to count

on two clubs that are certified world champions

after winning the Libertadores Cup: Sport Club

Internacional and Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Aleg-

rense. And it is proud to be the land that launched

world soccer stars such as Ronaldinho, Pato, Fal-

cão, Emerson, Dunga and the coach Felipão.

Internationally acclaimed athletes, such as

Daiane dos Santos, in the Olympic gymnastics,

the twice world champion João Derly and the

champions Mayra Aguiar and Tiago Camilo in

judo, are also talented people from Porto Alegre.

Cultural optionsin multiple spaces

Culturally rich, Porto Alegre is an important

hub for the production of drama, music, litera-

ture, cinema and fine arts. It also stands out as a

destination for large national and international

productions of Latin-American cultural events.

There are 13 centers of culture, more than 30

theaters, 63 movie theaters, concert halls and

about 50 museums, memorials, art galleries,

among other spaces.

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Contemporary Art

Porto Alegre is the first city in the continent to

receive the works of the vanguard artist Álvaro

Siza. The bold concepts of the awarded Portu-

guese architect are in the building of the museum

of Fundação Iberê Camargo (FIC). With a Golden

Lion from the Venice Architecture Biennial, the

project gathers environmental concepts and is

integrated to the Guaíba Lake landscape, at the

South Region of the city, a new point for art and

tourism in the Capital.

Technological theme park

A real theme park which stimulates the scientific

curiosity and the senses of adults and children,

this is the PUC-RS Science and Technology

Museum one of the most respected ones in

the country. There are three floors of pure

interactivity in more than 800 scientific and

technological experiments, distributed in a

17.5 thousand square meter area. The space is a

reference in Latin America.

Mobility and life qualityin the Southern metropolis INDICES

HDI:0.865 (The capital with the best indices of education, longevity and income in Brazil/UN 2000)

Life expectation:71.59 years (2000)

Infant Mortality: 12.37 by a thousand born alive

Population growth:1.25% per year Literate population:96.55%

Illiteracy rate:3.45%

Sewage services: 87%

Water supply: 100% Electric power supply: 99.8%

Garbage collection: 100%

There are about 1.3 million

trees only at the public streets,

almost one for each one of

the 1.4 million inhabitants

Considered the number one Brazilian Metropolis

in life quality by the United Nations (UN) three

times, Porto Alegre is also one of the cities in

Latin America with the best indices in the main

areas of the Human Development Index (HDI):

health, sanitation, education, environment and

economy. It has 23 university institutions, almost

97% of the population is literate and the life ex-

pectation is of 71.59 years.

Situated at the Banks of a lake, the Guaíba, and

surrounded by 40 mountains, Porto Alegre keeps

a green area index per inhabitant that is higher

than the one recommended by the World Health

Organization (WHO). Walking is a pleasure to

share in the city, which is one of the greenest

ones in the country. There are about 1.3 million

trees only at the public streets, almost one for

each one of the 1.4 million inhabitants.

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Porto Alegre has in the Guaíba Lake its stron-

gest geographical expression. Its 72 kilometers of

river shores, partly urbanized and optimized for

leisure and entertainment activities for a popu-

lation that values life outdoors.

Guaíba Lake

Eight parks form a real oasis in the urban bustle

of the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

The most traditional and popular is the Redenção

Park, whose official name is Farroupilha Park. At

weekends, more than 70 thousand people circu-

late through its green area where there are more

than eight thousand native and exotic trees. On

Sundays, the park receives the Brique, a crowded

flee market with handcraft and antique goods.

Redenção Park

The Rio Grande do Sul metropolis has the rare

privilege of counting on typically rural places and

just a few minutes from the city center. In this 142.5

km² area is the route Caminhos Rurais, a differenti-

ated touristic product for those who are visiting the

city. Those are small agro-ecological properties that

produce grapes and wine, they offer accommoda-

tion, colonial gastronomy, leisure areas and many

other attractions.

Pure nature in the attraction of Caminhos Rurais (rural tour)

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Porto Alegre reveals its multiculturalism also

in the flavors of gastronomy. There are 3.8 thou-

sand restaurants and fast food places, bars and

cafes with environments for the most diverse

public. In classical or innovative addresses, qual-

ity is the strong point of the Rio Grande do Sul

state capital cuisine. Starting with the real and

juicy barbecue, the main dish from their regional

cooking prepared with different beef cuts and

served abundantly in tradi-

tional steakhouses.

Fu r t h e r m o r e

Porto Alegre

From barbecue to internationalcooking, gastronomy is a pleasure to share

offers an exquisite tour through high interna-

tional cuisine in ethnic restaurants which serve

food from Japan, Thailand, Italy, Germany, Spain,

Portugal, Uruguay, Arabia, China and specialties

from Brazil.

In the historic district, the neoclassical building

of the Public Market, built in 1869, coexists with

the daily motion of 100 thousand people. In this

democratic and popular environment, there are

centenarian restaurants that serve regional food,

cachaçaria with the best national production,

stalls with spices from international gastronomy,

handcraft and Afro-Brazilian religious products.

The night vibrates

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Cultural events, bars, pubs, breweries, cafes a nd

concert halls c ompete i n the Porto A legre n ight

scene in a variety of r hythms and styles. The

Cidade B aixa ( Low City), o ld n eighborhood w ith

Azorean architecture, is the most bohemian point

in t he c ity w ith eclectic public a nd underground

places. T he n ight life options i n the Bom F im,

traditional Jewish n eighborhood, are t he f avorite

ones for the alternative public.

The most g lamorous c ircuit i s in t he pubs and

cafes of the “Calçada da Fama” (sidewalk of fame),

in the Moinhos de Vento neighborhood. The infor-

mal atmosphere p revails i n the bars a nd restau-

rants of Ipanema beach, in the South Region, which

has as a backdrop the city lights on the Guaíba.

At the end of the day, Ipanema is one of the many

places o n the shore which offer Porto A legre’s

sunset show of c hanging colors, a unique e ffect

afforded by the climatic diversity of the southern-

most capital city in Brazil.

Usina do Gasômetro

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26th March 1772

Situated: Latitude S - 30º

Longitude W - Greenwich 51º

The southernmost capital city of Brazil.

Altitude: 10m

Area: 496.8

(Source: Fundação de Economia e Estatística/2010)

Demographic density: 2,837.90 inhabit/km (FEE/2010) 2

Temperature: Annual average of 19.5º C

Winter (Jun to Sept) - between 02ºC and 20ºC

km² Summer (Dec to Mar) - between 25ºC and 35ºC

Autumn (Mar to Jun) - between 10ºC and 25ºC

Spring (Sept to Dec) - between 15ºC and 30ºC

Porto Alegre has a privileged location.

It is a strategic point in the

Mercosur and the geographic

center of the main routes in the

Southern Cone, midway from

the main axis Buenos Aires

(1,.063 kilometers) and

Montevidéu (890 kilometers),

São Paulo (1,109 kilometers) and

Rio de Janeiro (1,558 kilometers).

The city is interconnected by the

Federal highways BR-290 and

BR-116, which enable the link to other

States in the country, with Uruguay and

with Argentina.

Landscape: The city occupies a plain area

surrounded by 40 mountains which encompass

65% of its area. It is limited by the lakeshore of

the Guaíba, 72 kilometers long.

Population: 1,409,939 inhabitants

Climate:

four seasons in a year. The rainy season is during

the months of June and August.

Sunset: In spring, the sun sets at 6:45 pm;

in summer, at 8:15 pm (Brazilian summer time);

in autumn, at 5:40 pm, and in winter, at 5:30 pm.

Dudu Leal/FIERGS, Divulgação Sheraton, ³ Elias Eberhardt