Liberdade: From Gallows to the Japanese Quarter

Best Time to Visit

Come on a Saturday or Sunday to catch the Feira da Liberdade, which fills the square from about nine in the morning until six in the evening and shows the old execution ground at its most alive. Late morning is ideal: the fair is in full swing, the museum and temple are open, and the light is good for the lanterns. If you prefer quiet over festival, a weekday visit gives you an unhurried chapel, museum, and temple, though the square will feel comparatively empty and the fair will be gone.

Pro Tips

• •Visit on a weekend if you want the full contrast the walk is built on: the fair only runs Saturday and Sunday, and it is the payoff of the loop.
• •The Japão-Liberdade metro station opens directly beneath the square, so you can arrive and leave at stop one and six without a long walk in.
• •The museum charges a modest paid admission and keeps its own hours on the upper floors of the Bunkyo building; check opening times before you climb up, and carry cash in case cards are not accepted.
• •Bring cash and small change for the fair, since many craft and food vendors do not take cards.
• •Templo Busshinji offers open zazen meditation; if a session is underway, enter quietly, follow the room's lead on shoes and silence, and treat it as a place of practice rather than a photo stop.
• •Take the loop slowly and let yourself skip any stop that does not hold you. The stops are short and self-contained, and the walk works even if you drop one.