When is Rio de Janeiro Carnival?

Rio de Janeiro Carnival festivities start on the Friday evening before fat Tuesday (mardi gras). So, Rio de Janeiro Carnival takes place from Friday night until Tuesday night.

Rio de Janeiro Carnival Dates

Carnival 2023
February 21, 2023 (fat Tuesday)

Carnival 2024
February 13, 2024 (fat Tuesday)

Carnival 2025
March 4, 2025 (fat Tuesday)

Carnival 2026
February 17, 2026 (fat Tuesday)

Carnival 2027
February 9, 2027 (fat Tuesday)

Carnival 2028
February 29, 2028 (fat Tuesday)

Carnival 2029
February 13, 2029 (fat Tuesday)

Carnival 2030
March 5, 2030 (fat Tuesday)

Carnival 2031
February 25, 2031 (fat Tuesday)

Carnival 2032
February 10, 2032 (fat Tuesday)

Carnival 2033
March 1, 2033 (fat Tuesday)

Tip: reserve a Rio de Janeiro private tour to get the most out of your stay

About the Rio de Janeiro Carnival

Rio de Janeiro Carnival is a world-famous festival, celebrated with various events, such as samba school parades, balls, and street bands.

The party in the streets, which was decadent, has reborn with great force outside the circuit of the official parade. Currently, downtown with the largest number of carnival street bands, with around 100 of them and 2.7 million participants.

These are street bands with various rhythms — samba, “marchinhas”, etc. — and thematic, such as Sergeant Pimenta’s street band, which plays Beatles music to the rhythm of samba.

Rio de Janeiro Carnival has its moment of greatest representation on Avenida Marquês de Sapucaí, officially called Passarela Darcy Ribeiro and nicknamed Sambódromo, where, from the inauguration, in 1984, the Parade of Samba Schools takes place.

The Carioca has created its carnival samba schools and street bands, using irreverence, double-sense names and daring fantasies. From the very first samba school, the rhythm and its compositions exploded, bringing out Mangueira, Salgueiro, Beija-flor, Portela, among others.

Read also: What time is it in Rio de Janeiro?