CARNIVAL RIO DE JANEIRO TICKETS

Carnival of Rio, unique in the world.

Undoubtedly, the most famous event of the year is the Rio de Janeiro Carnival, one of the biggest shows in America and one of the biggest manifestations of Rio’s culture, which fills the streets of the city with music and color. week and that has its climax in the spectacular parade of the Samba Schools that takes place in the Sambadrome. Whoever visits Rio de Janeiro during the Carnival will enjoy an incomparable atmosphere that shows like no other, the cheerful character of the Cariocas, where the social, cultural or racial differences disappear and all the hearts beat to the rhythm of the same passion. But the Rio de Janeiro carnival is not only a few days a year, it is the result of months of preparation during which the Samba Schools create fantasies, allegorical cars and impossible costumes and, specialized musicians create rhythms that will be sung and danced by hundreds of people during the official parade that will end with the great election of the best Samba School of the year.

The official parade at the Sambadrome, the heart of Carnival

Stadium of the biggest festival in the world Marqués de Sapucaí Sambadrome (Officially called Passarela Professor Darcy Ribeiro). This gigantic open-air stage with 500 meters long and with capacity for 75,000 people was designed by the architect Oscar Niemeyer.

The party starts on Carnival Friday with the Coronation of King Momo by the mayor who gives him the keys to the city. That same afternoon the event begins with the parade of the children’s samba schools.

On Saturday the official parades begin and that day the samba schools of Group A or Access Group are presented, but the most important days are on Sunday and Monday, when the Samba Special Schools parade, the best schools that compete for the title of Carnival Champion. Each school has 80 minutes to tour the sambodromo dancing, singing and presenting the show they have designed for that year (the presentations of each school are different every year). In the parade of each school participate several groups of dancers, percussionists and allegorical cars as well as the traditional Baianas, women dressed to the use of the typical women of Bahia of the nineteenth century, as a tribute to the Afro-Bahian root of the carnival and the samba.

To decide which is the winning samba school, the jury takes into account the percussion, the samba do enredo (the musical theme), the harmony between the percussion, the song and the dance, the choreography, the costumes (fantasies), the story told by the presentation and decoration of floats. For participating Samba Schools being named winners is a national pride and justifies the hard work of a whole year. The final result is announced on the Saturday following the end of the carnival, when the so-called Parade of Champions takes place, where the six best samba schools of that year participate. The most renowned samba schools are Beija Flor, Portela, Imperatriz, Mocidade, Salguiero, Villa Isabel, Unidos da Tijuca and Mangueira.

How to attend the official parades of the Rio de Janeiro Carnival

If you want to attend any of the Carnival parades, it is best to buy tickets as early as possible to get the best prices and locations. LIESA, the Independent League of the Samba Schools of Rio de Janeiro sells tickets from December or January (the dates can be seen on its website), but most of them are acquired immediately by travel agencies that then sell them to your customers, so buying tickets through agencies is usually the most common and easy.

The tickets for the Parade of the Champions on the Saturday after the carnival, where the six best samba schools are presented, are a cheaper alternative.