Carnival in Rio

Travel tips you can trust

Why
Carnival in Rio
is special

Carnival in Rio has been called the world's most famous party. A million tourists join millions of Rio de Janeiro citizens ("cariocas") in enthusiastic revelry spanning several days.

Carnival of Rio
highlights

Top three

The Sambodromo parade (described below) is number one. Close runners-up are the street processions and masquerade balls.

Carnival in Rio
schedule

Last and next dates

The last Carnival in Rio:

2014 Friday Feb 28 Tuesday Mar 4

The next Carnivals in Rio:

2015   Friday Feb 13 Tuesday Feb 17
2016   Friday Feb 5    Tuesday Feb 9
2017   Friday Feb 24 Tuesday Feb 28
2018   Friday Feb 9    Tuesday Feb 13
2019   Friday Mar 1    Tuesday Mar 5
2020   Friday Feb 21 Tuesday Feb 25

Carnival in Rio takes place during the days preceding Ash Wednesday, the first of 40 meatless fasting days preceding Easter (Carnival derives from "carne vale" meaning "farewell to meat").

Although the official Carnival in Rio starting day is Saturday, the partying begins in earnest the night before and continues through Tuesday (Mardi Gras means " Fat Tuesday").

Sambodromo
parade

Setting

The Sambodromo is a 700-meter (half-mile) long parade strip flanked by spectator stands and luxury boxes.

The sounds and sights of the parading samba schools that go on from dusk to day break.

Tickets

On the Sunday and Monday nights before Lent, the seats are filled with over 60,000 eager on-lookers. Tickets cost up to hundreds of dollars each and sell out quickly.