World Cup 2014 city guide: Porto Alegre

Given the city’s size and rich footballing heritage, Porto Alegre may feel aggrieved to be getting only five World Cup games. For this is a dynamic, industrious city, heavily influenced, like Curitiba, by European immigration and with a distinctly different feel to the rest of the country.

It is a prosperous, developed city and, with four million inhabitants, represents one of the biggest metropolitan areas in Brazil.

Even if there aren’t too many architectural wonders on display, there are plenty of places in which to eat and drink, particularly in the Centro Historico, Cidade Baixa and Moinhos de Vento neighbourhoods. Nor is there any excuse for drinking on an empty stomach. This is churrasco (barbecue) country and even if you don’t fancy a trip to a churrascaria (steak house), you’ll never be far away from a hunk of sizzling meat.

The region’s gaucho (a kind of cowboy from the southern part of Latin America) roots are constantly on display, whether it is the locals strolling around the city sipping chimarrao (a type of green tea) or listening to the traditional folk music of the region.

Porto Alegre has no concerns over whether it will be able to fill the 43,000-capacity of the renovated Estadio Beira-Rio after the World Cup. Internacional are one of Brazil’s biggest and best supported clubs, beating Barcelona to win the Club World Cup in 2006, and boast 110,000 members.

In an extreme example of keeping up with the Joneses, hated rivals Gremio have just built their own stadium, the Arena do Gremio. Both clubs play in Serie A and are regular title contenders. Derby games between the two are fearsome, often violent affairs.