Pampulha is an area of Belo Horizonte you want to stay. The rest of Belo Horizonte isn't BAD in any way but staying in Pampulha is great. You'll arrive from the northern airport and not the tiny one in Pamulha so it will take a good 40 minutes to reach the area. I'll tell you now that staying here for a few hours is minumum, a day is probably best. I stayed here for the trips to Ouro Preto/Congonhas as well so it was basically a 2 day stay. My hotel was at the north side of the lake although there are several at the south end. I previously planned to come here and had a hotel at the south end much cheaper but this time I had to filter for "parking" which gave me much less results. The rental agency also said there was no parking and from the steep look you get when arriving you would agree, however, there is free public parking if one wishes to save some money. It might not be the saves option so don't take my word for it.

My main goal was to walk around the entire lake. It is a good 18km and all flat. It's also bikable and obviously also drivable for those looking for an easier time. Almost all highlights have a stop somewhere to park and as you aren't leaving your car overnight it should be fine. I started at the north side and walked east. It was beautiful. Glorious weather, other hikers, walkers, dog walkers, joggers, people just chilling at the parking lots, bikers. Every once in a while you get a sign pointing out highlights in both Portuguese and English. Good reads. After a good 40 minutes I reached the Museum of Art which is closed and has been for a while. There are guards, gardeners and inside is something but I wasn't allowed to enter. It's not big deal and was prettier from the outside anyway. A short hike later I was walking across the long bridge with the airport strip on the left and the lake on the right. This is shared with bikers and at the time the worst part of the hike. It's also a long hot stretch of hike.

Afterwards you will reach a tourist info center which I probably should have entered, the tennis court, that statue pictured, the Center of Urbanism, and a couple of hours later you will reach the main destination of the lake: Church of Saint Francis of Assisi. It's beautfiul and reminds me of Le Corbusier buildings.

The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi is better from the outside than the inside. You can also peek through the glass as I did and get a look inside. Nevertheless it was super cheap to enter so I paid the entrance fee, walked around inside (takes 1 minute) and sat down to relax. As I said it's better from the outside so don't feel bad about missing out and it has some events that foreclose the church anyway.

After the church you are pretty much done seeing the best parts of the lake. Yes, the hike goes around all the way and perhaps one of the main attractions is the upcoming smelly ecopark but I think this isn't why you came here. In retrospective I would recommend either hiking back (YES! it would take longer but it's probably best) or get a ride for the rest. As others have pointed out already it's a bit of a churn to hike all the way around. First off you have to get past the ecopark area and it's not always next to the lake. In a way that's good because it can get smelly here. When you finally make it around you still have a good ways to go and it's not fun at all. I took the shortcuts along the way because the rest just looked dull. I was also getting tired from several hours of walking which isn't an excuse: if it were exciting to hike I'd be happy to do another 8 km thus my recommendation to turn back at the ecopark (or maybe at the church already) is still valid. I also didn't see any bus at the west side of the lake.