samba parade guide

Samba Parade Guide – Rio de Janeiro Carnival

If you are traveling to Rio de Janeiro for Carnival, the Rio Carnival Samba Parade is a CAN’T MISS! It takes place from Friday until Monday of the Carnival. On the Friday & Saturday of Carnival week, Rio’s Sambadrome hosts the Access Group Samba Schools. These are minor Samba Schools and the winner of this competition gets invited to the Main Competition the following year.  Although the tickets are less expensive to assist the Rio Carnival Samba Parade during these days, we recommend attending the Main Competition (Special Group) on Sunday & Monday. If you are traveling all the way to Rio to attend Carnival, you might as well experience the Big Time Samba Schools vs. the Smaller Ones. The performances are much better and the energy in the Sambadrome is totally different. It’s kind of like attending a Pre-Season Game vs. the Playoffs or Superbowl and/or the Major Leagues vs. the Minor Leagues.

Because of our recommendations to attend the Main Competition (Special Group), this guide will only concentrate on the Samba Schools competing on the Sunday & Monday of “The Greatest Show on Earth”. The Rio Carnival Samba Schools are kind of like Football Clubs that represent different neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro. They have an intense, devoted following and prepare all year with the main goal of competing and winning the Rio de Janeiro Carnival Parade. Throughout the year the samba schools have various events, most important of which are rehearsals for the main event which start taking place a couple of months before Carnival. Each of the main Samba Schools spend months each year designing the theme, holding a competition for the song, building the floats, creating costumes, and rehearsing. It’s an incredible production that includes over 3000 performers!

For Rio Carnival 2024, please see the exact schedules for the Samba Schools below:

Parade starts Sunday, February 11, 2024 Monday, February 12, 2024
21:30 Porto da Pedra Mocidade
22:30 – 22:40 Beija Flor Portela
23:30 – 23:50 Salgueiro Vila Isabel
00:30 – 01:00 Grande Rio Mangueira
01:30 – 02:10 Unidos da Tijuca Paraiso do Tuiuti
02:30 – 03:20 Imperatriz Leopoldinense Unidos do Viradouro

Before attending the Rio Carnival Samba Parade, it’s a great idea to learn a little bit more about each Samba School. We have put together a great guide for each day of the Rio Carnival Samba Parade. The guide consists of a brief description of each samba school from the past carnival. If you are looking to travel another year, see all Rio Carnival Dates.

To Download our Samba Parade Guide, please enter your details below. You will receive an email with the written guide.

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Customer review: Everything about our recent trip to Rio de Janeiro for New Years was incredible. TGW did an excellent job at setting up all of our accommodations and activities. Our guides were very attentive and quickly responded to any questions we had. The parties and dinners they set up for us were all amazing experiences, Im not sure if we wouldve been the same experience had we tried to seek out these things ourselves. They definitely made for an unforgettable experience and a great start to the year. I would definitely recommend them to anyone looking to travel to Rio or any of the other destinations they offer.

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