Carnaval

Carnival is an annual celebration that embraces the entire country, even a business centre like São Paulo. The celebrations have far more impact on Rio and Brazil and its economy than the Christmas and New Year holidays. Most offices and businesses will close for the week of Carnival.

Carnival is a moveable feast that is tied to the Roman Catholic calendar. It takes place from the Friday prior to Ash Wednesday and continues up to and including Ash Wednesday itself. In some cities and towns, including Rio, the celebrations now take over the entire week and the following weekend.

The earliest date carnival can occur is 30 January – 4 February, but that won’t happen until 2285. The latest is 5-10 March, and that will next happen in 2038.

Up coming dates for Carnival in Brazil (Friday-Wednesday) are:

2025: 28 February-5 March
2026: 13-18-February
2027: 5-10 February
2028: 25 February-1 March
2029: 9-14 February
2030: 1-6 March

Rio de Janeiro is the most famous and the largest of Brazil’s carnival celebrations. In Rio the focus is on samba and the parade of the samba schools organised by the League of Samba Schools on the Sunday, Monday and Tuesday evenings. Tickets for most major carnival activities in Rio can be reserved in advance through LIESA and the better tour operators.

In 2025 the main parades of the Grupo Especial in Rio de Janeiro’s carnival are scheduled to take place on the nights of Sunday, 2 March; Monday, 3 March; and Tuesday, 4 March 2025. The 12 schools that will parade for the first time over three nights are:

Beija-Flor
Grande Rio
Imperatriz Leopoldinense
Mangueira
Mocidade
Padre Miguel
Paraíso do Tuiuti
Portela
Salgueiro
Unidos da Tijuca
Vila Isabel
Viradouro

The most recent parades of Grupo Especial – the Premier League of samba – took take place on the nights of Sunday, 11 February and Monday, 12 February 2024, and the results (out of 270 points) were:

1º – Viradouro – 270,0
2º – Imperatriz – 269,3
3º – Grande Rio – 269,2
4º – Salgueiro – 269,0
5º – Portela – 268,9
6º – Vila Isabel – 268,8
7º – Mangueira – 268,8
8º – Beija-Flor – 268,5
9º – Paraíso do Tuiuti – 268,3
10º – Mocidade – 267,2
11º – Unidos da Tijuca – 265,7
12º – Porto da Pedra – 264,9

Rio’s carnival is larger, livelier, louder and more incredible than anything one can possibly imagine or explain to you. Even living in Rio for the twelve months prior to carnival is no preparation for what happens in the weeks surrounding the event itself and, despite appearances, or what you may have read in magazines and newspapers, Rio’s carnival is not designed to attract foreign tourists, nor is it violent or dangerous. Brazil’s carnival is a genuine national celebration, which for most Brazilians is more important than Christmas, New Year and Easter all rolled into one.

It is the size of carnival that often overwhelms the foreign visitor. It is not an event that is restricted to one area or one social class, but is a celebration, party if you like, that takes over the entire population, and in Rio that means a city that is one of the ten largest in the world.

To survive and enjoy carnival in Rio you are probably going to need al lot of stamina, a fair amount of money and a touch of good humour when not everything goes to plan.

But what is carnival in Rio?

Well, other than the general air of madness and goodwill that pervades the city, carnival in Rio has three main ingredients and they are the parade, the balls, held in clubs and hotels across the city, and the ever more important street carnival. Street carnival does what it says on the label, with hundreds of bands, or “blocos”, going out in the streets all across Rio in the weeks running up to and over carnival. Some will attract a couple of hundred followers, but others will be followed by millions. And we do mean millions of fans and followers.

This amazing tilt shift video, The City of Samba by Keith Loutit and Jarbas Agnelli will give you a little taste of the Rio carnival parade, even in the rain, and the city itself.

Based on the results of the last five carnival parades (2019-2024 – no parade in 2021), the League of Samba Schools (LIESA) ranks the top samba schools in Rio de Janeiro as:

Viradouro (82 points)
Grande Rio (55)
Vila Isabel (43)
Mangueira (42)
Beija-Flor (38)
Imperatriz Leopoldinense (36)
Salgueiro (36)
Portela (28)
Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel (22)
Unidos da Tijuca (10)
Paraíso do Tuiuti (8)
União da Ilha do Governador (1)

[Schools score 20 points for a win, 15 for 2nd, 12 for 3rd, 10 for 4th, 8 for 5th, 6 for 6th, 4 for 7th, 3 for 8th, 2 for 9th and 1 for 10th]

31 different samba schools have paraded in the Grupo Especial since 1985, and the first parade on the purpose built Sambódromo. Since 1985, the year LIEASA was also formed, the top ten most successful samba schools have been: