Brasília's monumental core was designed to be walked through for free, and most of it still is. Three days of open-door modernism, R$5.50 metro rides, R$20 market plates and lake decks that charge nothing for the best view of the Plano Piloto.
Underground gallery beneath Praça dos Três Poderes holding the 170m² scale model of the Plano Piloto plus Costa's original 1957 competition sketches. Free entry, Tue–Sun 09:00–18:00, air-conditioned and almost empty at opening.
Niemeyer's dove-shaped monument on the same square, free 09:00–18:00 Tue–Sun. Inside are João Câmara's seven painted panels on the Tiradentes conspiracy and Marianne Peretti's stained-glass ceiling, across three ramped floors.
Free church in the 702 Sul superblock built from 80 concrete columns filled with 7,400 panes of Murano glass in twelve shades of blue. Open daily 07:00–19:00, and buses running the W3 Sul corridor cost R$5.50 a ride.
Free lakeside promenade facing the Ponte JK, gates open until midnight. Skip the restaurant terraces and take the wooden deck instead: sunset over Lago Paranoá at no cost, kiosks selling água de coco near R$8, 1km loop.
Craft market spread under the TV Tower, Thu–Sun 09:00–18:00 and free to walk in. Roughly 500 stalls of cerrado handicraft and capim dourado jewellery from Tocantins, plus food tents where tapioca or pastel runs R$8–15.
Northeastern market 26km west of the Plano Piloto, reached on the metro to Ceilândia Centro for R$5.50. Forró bars, rapadura and cachaça stalls, and covered food counters plating baião de dois or carne de sol for R$20–25.
Working-class market trading in Guará I since 1968: fabric stalls, barbers and a food alley known across the Federal District for pastel de carne. Two pastéis with a glass of caldo de cana come to about R$20 total.
The candangos' original 1956 construction camp, now a low-rise village of family-run kitchens between the Palácio da Alvorada and the lake. A prato feito of rice, beans, salad and meat costs R$25–30, half of Esplanade prices.
Two spring-fed pools holding around 24°C inside a 42,000-hectare cerrado reserve, open daily 08:00–16:00. The Cristal Água trail runs 5km past buriti palms and maned wolf territory. No shops inside, so carry food and water.
Small white chapel on a peninsula across the lake, marking Dom Bosco's 1883 dream of a city between the 15th and 20th parallels. Free and open daily — the only no-cost viewpoint looking back at the Plano Piloto over water.
A 420-hectare urban park, larger than Central Park, free and unfenced around the clock. It holds a 6.5km cycle circuit, free outdoor gym stations, shaded picnic lawns and kiosks selling coffee for R$5 near the main gates.
Concrete deck on the south lakeshore sitting directly beneath the Ponte JK's three offset steel arches. Free, no gate, busy with runners at dusk; the arches catch the last light near 18:10 and the bridge lighting starts at 19:00.