Santana de Parnaíba Historic Center.

Santana de Parnaíba is a city in the Grande São Paulo, São Paulo state. The city has a well-preserved Colonial-era historic center, a state heritage site (with a few national heritage buildings), and important cultural festivities, like the annual Passion of Christ open-air performance. Despite being close to the state capital, Santana do Parnaíba is a quite unspoiled destination due to its complicated access and its underdeveloped tourist infrastructure.

Understand

Santana do Paranaíba is a large municipality, and is effectively composed of multiple, effectively distinct, cities:

• The small "main" city, containing a charming colonial heritage district east of the city center
• Alphaville Santana do Parnaíba and Aldeia da Serra, two collections of gated communities, each containing their own "city centers". They are often (mistakenly) assumed to belong to the municipality of Barueri
• Fazendinha, a large district containing industrial and working class neighborhoods

Go next

• Barueri, containing the fully planned city of Alphaville