22 Reasons Why You Would Love Franca

Thinking about coming to Franca? Here's a list of 22 reasons why you would love to come to our city!

22. It has the best of two big Brazilian states: São Paulo and Minas Gerais.

Coxinha and Pão de Queijo - Internet

Franca is located on the São Paulo border with Minas Gerais state, which is well known in the country for its kind hospitality and good dairy-based food. As Franca was once a part of that state, it kept its good qualities. The people of Franca are known for being especially open and hospitable to foreign people, often interested in getting to know more about different cultures while offering assistance. On the dairy based food subject, cheese bread can be found everywhere, along with all kinds of cheese produced in Minas.

From the São Paulo side of the border, Franca's got the amazing paulista food (especially fingerfood and snacks, such as the famous "coxinhas") and the industrial entrepreneur mind that made it grow to its current level of development.

21. It's the official All-You-Can-Eat city.

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You can find almost every kind of All-You-Can-Eat restaurant, "Rodízio" in Portuguese. From Brazilian food restaurants to pizza, pan pizza, potato pizza, baked potato, crepe suzzete, churros, hamburger, fogazza, pastel, Japanese food, French fries, barbecue and even ice cream places, all providing the best and cheapest service you will ever find and the biggest amount of food you'll ever be able to eat, while, of course, paying way less than you expect to.

20. Food is good and cheap almost everywhere, even places you don't expect it to be.

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Food is considered to be extremely cheap, you can easily find places where a meal costs around 1 dollar (sometimes less). Self-service restaurants are common, you only pay for what you put on your plate. The cheap price also apllies for doing your own grocery shopping, especially if you're the type to buy fresh organic food straight from the producer at open fairs and small markets.

19. Taxi rides are amazingly cheap.

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Around here, taxis have a fixed fee. Whenever you take a regular cab, you'll pay 16 reais (less than 4 bucks). There's no need for more, even if in normal cases you'd be paying way more than that. If you're ever by yourself, you'll have an even cheaper option: to take a mototaxi and pay half of that price (8 reais, less than 2 bucks!). In Franca, Taxis and mototaxis are registered, common and safe. You just have to call.

18. You don’t need to go far to get to the beach.

Rifaina beach - Internet

The countryside region that surrounds Franca has more than cattle farms and sugarcane plantations. The Rifaina beach consists of an artificial beach created after the building of the Mascarenhas de Moraes Dike. There you can find bars, restaurants and places to stay, just as if you went to the coast, but closer and way cheaper.

17. It's the local Windy City.

Pocahontas - Internet

Although it's a 1 hour ride from Ribeirão Preto (what makes people assume it is a really hot city), Franca is more elevated than normal (1.040 m / 3.410 ft), so the wind is constantly there to cool things up.

16. It has a big number of closeby places with beautiful waterfalls.

Delfinópolis Waterfalls - Facebook

Just to mention one, Delfinópolis is a city quite close to Franca. Well, I don't know about the city, but the waterfalls are heaven on earth. It's the perfect place to spend the weekend trailing with friends.

15. It's one of the coffee capitals of São Paulo.

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Here you can find the great national and local brands. Coffee here is considered so great, the city oftenly hosts big events that include international critics who come all the way here just to taste the region’s excellent coffee production.

14. It is JK Filet City

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The mandatory dish for foreigners has a special story behind it. Back in the 1950s, legend has it that the brazilian president Juscelino Kubitschek (JK) came to Franca and insisted on trying something new at the kitchen. He created a dish that consists of a breaded filet mignon beef filled with ham and cheese, while accompanied by saffron tempered rice, fresh peas, french fries and breaded bananas. The JK Filet is the city's signature dish.

13. It has amazing Bars and PUBs to go to.

Internet - Bistrô Retrô Bar

Bistrô Retrô, Devassa, Pub Zé and Copacabana are just a few to be mentioned. It offers the best drinks, beer, fingerfood and the Franca friendly service everyone loves.

12. It hosts lots (and I mean LOTS) of great college parties.

Macacareta 2015 - Facebook

Although not being considered a big city, Franca has 3 big universities (UNESP, Uni-FACEF and Unifran) and the Franca Law School. The student population is estimated in over 30.000 people, around 9% of its overall population. Because of that, good student parties happen all the time and are really easy to find. UNESP parties, for example, happen every Thursday and Saturday on a regular schedule.

11. It's a good place to take care of your body health

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Gyms and organic food businesses have been opened nearly everywhere. Running and bodybuilding events are frequently part of the city's main schedule. Franca's becoming a body fit city, the perfect place for anyone to get a new and healthy lifestyle.

10. Sports play a big part in day-to-day life.

Facebook - Associação Atlética VI de Junho/2013

Along with the city’s gym wave, local associations and the local public multi-sport gimnasium, Pedrocão, all of Franca’s big universities have athletic associations. Sports play a huge part in the city life, with open courts available almost everywhere.

9. It's the Basketball Capital of Brazil.

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The Franca Basketball Team is the only team in Brazil that has never stopped competing ever since its foundation, more than 60 years ago. It collects a great deal of trophies and titles, being historically considered the best basketball team in Brazil.

8. It has a rich cultural program available for everyone.

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Franca has 4 major theaters (Teatro Municipal, Teatro Judas Iscariotes, Teatro de Bolso and Teatro SESI) and a movie theater (Moviecom). Often, the city hosts plays from both big and small companies that bring culture and amusement to the city, along with the national and international movies being screened at the movie theater, located inside Franca's main Shopping Mall.

7. It's the Shoe Capital of Brazil

Shopping do Calçado de Franca - Franca Shoe Mall - Internet

Franca is home to a huge number of shoe factories, thus being the best place for anyone to buy shoes. It even has a Shopping Mall dedicated only to shoe stores. Here, people can buy the best and cheapest shoes imaginable.

6. It preserves lots of its natural green

Main Square - Franca - Internet

Franca is a green-friendly city. You can find trees and green almost everywhere. The city makes it easy to be closer to nature.

5. Franca cherishes its history and tradition.

Colégio Champagnat - Internet

Franca was founded on November 28th, 1805. In these last 210 years, the city has passed through many changes meanwhile growing up to be what it is today. The old City Hall is today Franca's History Museum. The old Champagnat Boarding School is today a centre for educational activities. It provides many free courses, a science museum and an astronomy observatory, all available for everyone to visit and participate. The Catholic Christian tradition has also been preserved, with the city's main church restored and open for anyone to visit its beautiful works of art.

4. It is the second most important city for one of the major brazilian-based religions: Spiritism.

Hospital Psiquiátrico Allan Kardec - Internet

Franca is the second biggest Brazilian city for Spiritism. The french Allan Kardec doctrine, nationalized in Brazil (it became the country with most followers), finds in Franca a great deal of believers, while having a big number of centres and places that develop activities based on their phylosophy and religious beliefs.

3. It has more than 1.000 NGOs.

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Not only a hospitable place, Franca is also a place for charity work.To help those who need, Franca’s founded more than a thousand NGOs, where social work volunteers can help and work for the better living of the people in need in our community.

2. It has an AIESEC Local Committee.

In the city since 2007, AIESEC in Franca offers great opportunities for foreign university students, where they can develop their skills through social volunteer work, while helping the local community and, of course, enjoying their time in the city.

1. It is, by all means, a Brazilian city.

Brazil - Internet

Along with every good aspect mentioned above, Franca is a southeastern Brazilian city, not far from Rio de Janeiro and quite close to São Paulo. A place where soccer and caipirinhas are part of the main culture. In Franca, the Brazilian spirit burns bright, the spirit of happiness the whole world knows and admires so much.