Campinas Travel Guide, Brazil

Campinas (which means fields of grass in Portuguese) is a famous city of Brazil. It is part of the state of São Paulo which is the largest industrial zone of Brazil, the largest economic production of Brazil, and contains the largest population of the country. Spread over the area of approximately 8000 km² Campinas has a population of around 1,100,000 (as per the consensus of 2004).  The city of Campinas is the third largest within the state of São Paulo and it comes after São Paulo (the city which is the capital of the state São Paulo) and another city Guarulhos. People of Campinas are known as campineiro.

Campinas is located on the highways which connect the capital of São Paulo to northern parts of the state. These highways are built as per international standards and hence this makes Campinas an important transportation center for the state of São Paulo. Railway lines used to be important in Campinas but recently they were taken off and now no railway system operates in Campinas.

Climate of Campinas is mostly hot throughout the year. Around 200 days of the year are hot and sunny but this does not mean you will keep sweating if you visit Campinas. Temperature ranges between 7.2 degrees as minimum and 35.9 degrees as the maximum. Cool winds keep blowing during the sunny days too and hence the climate of Campinas becomes bearable. It is due to such reasons that the airport of Campinas rarely closes as the city hardly faces heavy smog or pollution problems. Moreover, due to regular rains Campinas remains green throughout the year.

Santa Genebra forest (which comes under IBAMA), José Pedro de Oliveira Foundation, and Campinas City Hall are some of the ecological foundations which reflect the concern of Campinas towards environment. Besides these organizations, there are some local parks in the city which attract people for jogging and cycling. Some of these parks are: Lagoa do Taquaral Park, Bosque Municipal, Lagoa da UNICAMP, and Ecological Park of Campinas.

Cidade das Andorinhas (meaning the city of Swallows) is another name of Campinas. It was given this name because huge number of birds used to fly to Campinas downtown every year. These birds usually used to take shelter in some churches and the city’s plaza, but they disappeared once these monuments were brought down in 1950. 

Campinas was officially given the tag of metropolitan city in the year 2000.