Brasília National Park (Água Mineral), Botanical Garden & Parque da Cidade Guide

Few national capitals in the world have as much protected wilderness inside their city limits as Brasília. Immediately beyond the residential wings of the Plano Piloto, thousands of hectares of native Cerrado savanna, buriti palm gallery forests, and underground mineral springs offer an effortless morning or afternoon escape into nature.

1. Parque Nacional de Brasília (Água Mineral, 1961)

Created on 29 November 1961 just eighteen months after the capital's inauguration and covering 42,355 hectares at the northwestern tip of Asa Norte (only 10 kilometres from the central Rodoviária via the EPIA highway), Parque Nacional de Brasília (universally known to locals as Água Mineral) is one of the largest urban national parks on earth.

• The Natural Mineral Swimming Pools: The park's centrepiece is a pair of large outdoor swimming pools, Piscina Velha (Pedreira) and Piscina Nova (Areal), built into natural stone basins where crystal-clear, unchlorinated mineral water bubbles up continuously from the underground water table beneath shaded gallery forest trees.
• Cerrado Wildlife & Trails: Walk the shaded 1.3-kilometre Trilha da Capivara (ideal for spotting capybaras, toucans, and monkeys along the stream) or hike and cycle the 5-kilometre Trilha Cristal Água across open savanna; check the official ICMBio Parque Nacional de Brasília portal for current daily entry hours.

2. Jardim Botânico de Brasília (JBB, 1985)

Located twenty minutes southeast of the Plano Piloto across Ponte JK in Lago Sul, the Jardim Botânico de Brasília was founded in 1985 as the first botanical garden in Brazil dedicated specifically to the conservation of the Cerrado biome. Across 526 hectares open to visitors (within a 5,000-hectare ecological reserve), stroll through the Orchidarium, the Japanese Garden, the Sensory Garden, and the shaded Alameda das Nações to the Casa de Chá (Tea House) and panoramic lookout tower.

3. Parque da Cidade Dona Sarah Kubitschek (1978)

Right inside the Plano Piloto along the western side of Asa Sul, the 420-hectare Parque da Cidade, larger than New York's Central Park, united the city's original creative quartet once more: Lúcio Costa planned its layout, Oscar Niemeyer designed its administrative pavilions, Roberto Burle Marx landscaped its lakes and groves, and Athos Bulcão covered its public park rest pavilions in playful blue-and-yellow geometric tile murals.