BRAZIL: Rio De Janeiro for Carnival
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
To be honest, Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro was never really on my list as I am not a fan of huge crowds or late night partying at this point in my life. However, a few Uruguayan’s said it was a must and we figured “When in South America” aka living this close to Brazil we might as well take advantage of getting to see this epic event. After attending Carnival (Carnaval in Brasil) I agree with everyone else that it is a must! Carnaval was a wild and colorful experience that you have experience once in your lifetime.
I’ve always had interest in visiting Rio de Janeiro and Iguazu Falls so we added a few days around carnival to explore some highlights of the city and then flew to Foz do Iguaçu to see the famous falls from the Brazilian side and Argentinian side. Below is all the information we learned while attending Carnival (it’s a lot I know, but hopefully useful) and our day by day breakdown with my favorite photos and helpful links in pink.
RIO DE JANEIRO DAY BY DAY
DAY ONE - Arrive in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and watch access group at Sambadrome
DAY TWO - Rest and then watch special group at Sambadrome
DAY THREE - Relax at Copacabana Beach
DAY FOUR - Visit Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain with tour
DAY FIVE - Personal walking tour of Rio de Janeiro, Aquarium and Ipanema Beach
DAY SIX - Fly to Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil to see Iguazu Falls
CARNIVAL IN RIO DE JANEIRO:
WHAT IS CARNIVAL?: It’s the main festivity in Brazil that consists of balls, block parties, extravagant costumes, music and the famous samba parades. It has been called “The Greatest Show on Earth.”
WHEN IS CARNIVAL?: The Rio de Janeiro Carnival starts on the Friday before Ash Wednesday and goes until Tuesday or just a day shy of Ash Wednesday. In 2023 Rio Carnival was from 17-25 FEB.
THE SAMBADROME: The stadium known as SAMBODROMO DE MARQUES DE SAPUCAI can sit more than 80,000 visitors and is where the spectators can watch THE SAMBA PARADE of different samba schools. Your whole body and soul can feel the resonance of the drums, cymbals and trumpets while you soak in the color of all the flashy costumes and floats.
“The Sambadrome, has the sophisticated Samba Parade and it is the focal point of all competing samba schools, trying to win the coveted championship title. Schools present spectacular shows on a daily basis! The Access or Gold Group samba schools each compete to win a spot among the next year’s best 12 schools.”
THE SAMBA PARADE: The goal of the samba parade is to give samba schools the chance to demonstrate all their talents. They choose a Carnival theme and compose a song (tip: look for the small pamphlet while you are there that has the lyrics to each schools song and you can sing along). For the Rio Carnival, samba school members, accompanied by dancers, in their fantastic and often provocative costumes are joined by a number of choreographers, who have invested tremendous efforts in preparing costumes and floats.
Every school has sixty minutes to demonstrate their skills and convince the 40 judges of their talents. All the Samba Schools compete for the Championship title and their fate lies in the hands of the judges who grant points based on elements such as costumes, samba song and theme.
WHERE TO BUY TICKETS FOR THE SAMBA PARADE: RioCarnaval.org is the place to buy your tickets online. You should book your tickets in advance in order to see the samba parade at the famous sambadrome. If you have to choose one parade to go to I’d choose the SPECIAL GROUP on Sunday and Monday as this is when the top 12 samba schools compete. You can pick up your tickets in person in Brazil (for 2023 it was at Hotel Atlântico Copacabana) or pay a delivery fee to get them delivered to your hotel.
WHERE TO SIT AT THE SAMBADROME: I highly recommend the grandstands in SECTOR 9 as it is the only stadium seating that has reserved seats and is also where they recommend the tourists sit. This is where we sat for both nights we attended Carnival. Reserved seats were key so we didn’t have to get there early to get a seat. The event started at 9pm on Saturday and 10pm on Sunday. And true to South American times - it started late and ended around 4am! Note: These are not actual seats like at a baseball stadium - it is a long concrete slab with numbers spray painted on the concrete and spray painted lines to section off each seat.
If you want to spend more money and not sit in the grandstands go for the FRONT BOX. Each box sits six people with numbered chairs and you are front row right next to all the dancers and floats as they parade by. We decided to go grandstand stadium seating so we could be a bit more above the dancers and see the overall parade.
HOW TO GET TO THE SAMBADROME: The metro is the best way to get to the sambadrome. It was running 24 hours with trains every 10 minutes during the parade evenings. We stood in line and bought four one way tickets (for us to get there and back) with our credit card. For Sector 9 they recommend getting off at the Central Station as this is where you can access the odd sectors.
However, Travis and I found the Praça Onze stop (where you get off to access the even sectors) to be lit a lot better and if you have phone service you can easily find your way to the other side of the sambadrome with google maps (as you can’t just cut through the stadium). We enjoyed this walk as we crossed two walkways that had the floats and dancers lined up so we could get a preview of them before entering the sambadrome.
WHEN TO GET TO THE SAMBADROME: This is all personal preference on how much time you want to give yourself before the parade. Double check RioCarnaval.org to see what time the samba parade starts. We arrived an hour early the first night and the parade started at 10pm (but started late) so after a long travel day we were exhausted by 1am and only saw two schools parade. The next night for the main even we arrived at 11:30pm during the first school parade and made it until 3:30am. The samba parades start late evening (10-11pm) and last well into the early morning (4-5am!).
ENTERING & EXITING SAMBADROME: There are some signs around, but it can be a bit confusing to find Sector 9. We found it easiest to enter at Sector 5 (cross under the freeway) and walk around inside the sambadrome to get to our section. You will go through a metal detector and your ticket will be scanned to enter and exit (yes upon exit! so make sure you don’t lose your ticket!)
FOOD AND DRINKS: They have some food (pizza, hot dogs) and beer, soda, water available to buy inside the sambadrome and they all took credit card. However, we would try to eat beforehand so we could enjoy better food! However, make sure you find the two separate lines which are not labeled. One to buy your food where you get a printed ticket and the other to give your ticket to pick up the food. We stood in the wrong line a few times and would show up with no ticket and have to go back in the other line! There were also a few people walking around with ice cream, drinks and popcorn to buy from while sitting in the stadium - so bring some cash.
WHAT TO WEAR: Rio de Janeiro is hot during carnival. It is their summer and it is humid and sunny. Even during the evening it doesn’t cool off too much. As far as what to wear during the carnival events - whatever your free-spirited happy heart desires. We saw a lot of buts and boobs. Many people were barely wearing anything. So you can pretty much get away with what ever you want. I settled on comfy clothing that was easy to move in for the walking, sitting and standing portions of the evening. The one thing Travis and I regret not packing is comfortable walking shoes. We walked about 7 miles a day!!
WHERE TO STAY DURING CARNIVAL: We stayed in the famous Copacabana beach area as it is known to be one of the safer areas in Rio. I would highly recommend finding a hotel within your price range in this beach city or even Ipanema (which is a bit more fancy). We chose MIRASOL HOTEL in Copacabana as it was close to the metro (Cardeal Arcoverde Copacabana), had a great rooftop pool with amazing views and free breakfast. Overall the room was okay as the AC unit was very loud, but the pool area and views made up for it and we didn’t spend much time in our room anyways.
DID WE FEEL SAFE DURING CARNIVAL?: This is literally the number one question we got from all of our family and friends. Yes, during carnival we felt safe as there was a lot of police presence (I don’t know if it is always like that in Rio). We just made sure to avoid dark areas and alleyways. We also traveled together and didn’t wear watches, jewelry or anything flashy. We took advice from other visitors and we carried just an ID and one credit card and didn’t take our phones out often. There were a few moments when we would walk into a dark unlit area and decided to trust our gut and find another way to the location we needed to get to. Just be extra aware and as a local said - don’t try to be a local!
If you have more questions about Carnival in Rio the FAQ on Rio Carnaval Org is very helpful
GETTING AROUND RIO: There are many modes of transportation: Metro, Taxi, Uber, Walk or if you download the Itau Bike App you can even rent bikes that are located all over town.
MONEY & PAYING FOR THINGS IN RIO: Almost every restaurant, store and the beach vendors take credit card so we didn’t carry much cash on us. A lot of people also were using ApplePay. The only ATM that would accept our international cards was Bradesco Bank. Tipping is not a common practice and most restaurants include a service fee.
WHAT TO PACK FOR RIO: Besides the basics, these are the things you don’t want to forget to pack:
Swimsuit
Swim cover
Turkish towel (my easy goto for beach travel) although our hotel had beach towels
Sunscreen
Hat for the beach
Book to read when relaxing by pool or on beach
Flip flops (Mine broke the day we got there - thankfully there are plenty of Havanna stores around so I bought some new ones!)
Comfortable walking shoes. It was about 7 miles of walking each day for us!
Comfy clothing that breathes well in the heat
Type C plug adapters for charging electronics
Fanny pack or over shoulder purse you can keep in front of you
18 FEB 23 - CARNIVAL @ RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
Day one: The nice thing about living in Uruguay is we took a morning flight to land in Rio in the afternoon on Saturday, Feb 18th. We took a cab straight to our hotel in Copacabana and even though we were too early for check-in they let us hang out at the pool. We chose MIRASOL HOTEL for their rooftop view which had amazing views of Copacabana and we could even see Christ the Redeemer. We chilled out with a nice swim, cheered with the local drink Caipirinha and munched on their fried chicken - which is a must if you stay here!
I took a quick power nap, while Travis walked a few blocks down to Hotel Atlântico Copacabana to pick up our Carnaval tickets! He booked them through RioCarnaval.org and even though he made a reservation to pick up the tickets at a certain time, he had to wait in line for two hours! Just something to keep in mind - things might not always go as planned which seems to be a common theme here in South America.
We decided to view an access group samba parade the first night we got there so we could get a taste of the big night which was going to be Sunday (Monday is the other big night). Another very popular thing to do if you have the money is attend the classy black tie BALL at the Copacabana Palace Hotel.
After a 45 minute ride from the airport to our hotel (a ride that should have taken only 15 minutes) we were well aware of how crazy the traffic was and a taxi and uber seemed like a bad idea. So we took the advice of the ticket company and decided to take the metro to the Sambadrome. Our hotel offered a shuttle to the Sambadrome and back for US $45 a person. The metro tickets cost us a total of $10 US dollars and took about 30 minutes. The Cardeal Arcoverde Copacabana metro stop is only three blocks from Mirasol Hotel so we jumped on the metro and headed to the sambadrome.
The metro stop for Sector 9 is Central Station and it is a 20 minute walk to the Sombodromo. Be prepared to walk through some block parties and on your right hand side you’ll see a lot of the dancers and floats behind a fence prepping for their parade. It was definitely cool to see the dancers “in the wild”. Sector 9 can be a bit tricky to find, but it is near the end of the sambadrome, so just keep following the large stadium until you find the sign for the entrance.
The Samba Parade was absolutely insane and pretty difficult to explain in words. It really is something you have to experience in person! The energy of the crowds, with everyone dressed up (or in little clothing) and the vibrant costumes of the samba schools. The floats were massive and the music truly resonated in my whole body. This Saturday event was just a taste of Sunday’s bigger event.
Attending Saturday night’s samba parade ended up being quite a learning lesson for us. It took us about an hour to actually find the entrance - so make sure you give yourself plenty of time if you take the metro or get dropped off as a lot of streets around the sambadrome are closed. We showed up an hour before the 9pm start time so we ended up just sitting there for almost two hours before the parade started. We decided getting there a bit late would be worth it for the next time in order to see more schools. However, the number one thing we learned is we are too old to hang haha. Staying up past 1am was very difficult as the Samba Parade doesn’t even finish until way past 4am. So after 2 samba schools we left and made our way back to the hotel knowing what to expect for the big event on Sunday and that a day nap would be necessary to make it through the long evening/early morning.
19 FEB 23 - CARNIVAL DAY TWO @ RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
After our trial run the day before - hahah - we were more than ready to see the SPECIAL GROUPS on Sunday, Feb 19th. We took the day to hang out pool side and then after dinner at a local restaurant we took a good two hour nap before getting up and adventuring to the sambadrome again. This time we arrived at 11:30pm - an hour and half after it was set to start and we were able to sit down during the middle of the first samba parade. So in my opinion, it was perfect timing.
Wow! Yesterday was incredible and today was even more insane. The stadium was completely packed - I don’t think there was an empty seat in the house (it was sold out!). The energy of the crowd was mesmerizing as everyone sung along and danced to the samba songs. The floats were even bigger (I mean multi-level huge) and more extravagant than the night before. The dancers were so talented and the costumes so majestic. It really was incredible to be there in person and soak up “The Greatest Show on Earth.”
We were able to make it till 3:30am and finished our morning on a samba school that was dedicated to the marine life and thought that was pretty appropriate with Travis being in the Navy and loving the ocean. One benefit of heading home a bit early is you can beat the crowds and find a seat on the metro on the way back to Copacabana.
The samba parade was our main focus during Carnaval! BUT there is so much more like block events, balls and huge parties all over the city. Hopefully these photos and tips and tricks get you inspired to attend a samba parade in Rio de Janeiro!! As always, feel free to contact me or comment below if you have any questions and I will try to answer them to help you plan your carnaval experience.
20 FEB 23 - COPACABANA BEACH DAY @ RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
We got back to our hotel in Copacabana around 4:30am so we decided to sleep in and have a chill day. When we finally crawled out of bed we made our way down to the beach for an ultimate chill day. They have tons of little restaurants along the beach so we stopped to get some drinks and appetizers. There are also tons of little numbered tents on the beach where you can rent chairs, umbrellas and buy drinks/snacks. We found the people at #91 to be super friendly (they accepted credit card as do most tents on the beach) and they made great drinks. So with our chairs, umbrellas and of course some piña coladas we spent the rest of the day on the famous Copacabana beach people watching!
The beaches in RIO are known for small petty theft, so one of us always stayed with our things while the other went into the water. The beach setup was very nice with outdoor showers on the beach every 100 yards or so. There are also bathrooms along the sidewalk that you can pay 350 R to use. They have tons of vendors that walk along the beach selling swimsuits, mate, corn and many other things if that interests you keep your eyes peeled, they aren’t hard to miss!
FOR DINNER we dined at the famous CHURRASCARIA PALACE which was conveniently only a block from our hotel. This upscale Brazilian steak restaurant was founded in 1951. It serves a buffet of oysters, sushi and other food while they walk around with delicious meat cuts that you can add to your plate. The steak was very tasty!!
Rating: 4.5/5 Don’t forget to make reservations.
21 FEB 23 - EXPLORE RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
We couldn’t miss seeing some of the major tourist attractions while in Rio! I am a huge fan of using Viator for different tourist adventures around the world. We booked this half day trip in order to easily see Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf. It was very nice to get picked up near our hotel and not have to worry about transportation to the two different locations especially with all the carnival chaos.
We had a fabulous guide, Lucas, who told us all about the two major tourist spots and other facts about the city. Even with the early morning tour, Christ the Redeemer was packed - so be prepared for little space on the small platform. However, we got super lucky with great, clear weather and of course, amazing views of the city.
If you prefer to skip this tour from Viator and do it on your own, you can take a 20 minute tram up the mountainside to see Christ the Redeemer. The train leaves every half hour from Cosme Velho Station.
After seeing the famous CTR, we jumped back in the van and made our way down the mountainside and over to the famous Sugarloaf Mountain. Here we took two gondolas to get to the top and by far this mountain has the best views of the city. We walked the small paths around the viewpoints and even found a monkey! Then we took the two gondolas back down to return to our hotel by mid afternoon. P.S. Don’t forget to wear sunscreen or a hat - it was very HOT and sunny on top of these mountains.
FOR DINNER we dined at CANTON which was also right next to our hotel. It is a Peruvian & Chinese Restaurant with some of the most fabulous Chinese decor. The drinks and dumplings appetizer were divine. The lo mein noodles and fried rice meal were just okay. I have determined that South America (from what I have discovered so far) just can’t do Asian food like the Asian food I have had in Asia and America. So if you come with little expectation you should be fine, hahha.
Rating: 3.5/5 Don’t forget to make reservations.
22 FEB 23 - EXPLORE RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
Today we decided to create our own walking tour, hitting some of the major highlights of Rio de Janeiro:
First we took a 20 minute Uber ride from our hotel to the famous Escalera de Selarón. There are over 2000 colorful tiles from all over the world on these steps.
If there is anything we have learned from traveling, it is get up early to avoid the crowds! We got there at 8am to try and avoid the crowds and there was already a huge line at the bottom of the steps to take a photo on them. Travis and I walked up a bit to get a photo without waiting in line.
We walked all the way to the top taking photos of some of our favorite tiles along the way. Don’t miss out on getting a photo by this beautiful mural near the top of the stairs!
Escadaria Selarón, also known as the 'Selaron Steps', is a set of world-famous steps in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They are the work of Chilean-born artist Jorge Selarón who claimed it as "my tribute to the Brazilian people"
After taking our time wandering the stairs (and spotting a gorgeous samba dancer taking photos) we made our way back down the stairs to walkover to the nearby Lapa Aqueduct.
A quick walk from the stairs is the Lapa Carioca Aqueduct. This is an 18th-century aqueduct with two rows of arches that now serves as a bridge for a tram. We walked under the aqueduct and made our way to the well-known Catedral Metropolitana de São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro. This concrete church resembles a pyramid, but take a look inside to see the amazing stained glass. From here you can easily walk to the beautiful Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro which is a Parisian-style theater from 1909 - although we decided to skip this and jumped in an Uber to the Aquarium.
The second part of our walking tour was along the port and dock area to see:
AquaRio was recommended by a few friends and I LOVE AQUARIUMS. You need to buy your tickets in advance which includes a time you have to show up. We planned for 10am and spent about an hour exploring all the different tanks. They had great displays that had everything in English too - which was a bonus to be able to read everything. Some of my favorite parts was the piraña bubble where it feels like you are inside the tanks, the deep sea tank with a tunnel and SHARK and the color fish section. Travis loved all the surf boards as part of their “Surf Museum”.
Exit through the back of the Aquarium and take a right to walk along the old port area where you will find tons of street art. Including the famous 3,000 square meter mural painted for the rio olympics by Eduardo Kobra. I was blown away by all the beautifully painted buildings. Watch out (caution) for the metro train that also comes through this area.
We continued our walk down to Museu do Amanhã which is a highly rated museum exploring humanity’s future challenges and opportunities. Unfortunately, due to a private event they were closed for the day - which super bummed me out, but we got a photo in front of the cool building anyways. Tickets need to be purchased in advance with a time slot for this museum as well.
Want to create your own walking tour? Here is a great resource for some ideas!
After our early morning walking tours we jumped in an Uber back to our hotel to grab some things for the beach and headed to the other famous beach, Ipanema to relax for the rest of the day. We tried the very popular corn that you can order from vendors walking around on the beach.
Which beach was better Copacabana or Ipanema? Travis and I liked the funky feel of Copacabana better #funkysouls, but Ipanema was a bit cleaner and had less vendors walking around selling things.
FOR DINNER we dined at NOVO which about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. We took advantage of sitting outside on the corner so we could people watch. We weren’t starving so we just got a bunch of appetizers, which ended up being huge and satisfying. Especially the shrimp and fried chicken!
Rating: 4.5/5
As always, leave a comment if you have any questions about planning your trip to Brazil! I can try and help as much as possible. Or contact me via email.
GET TO KNOW MORE ABOUT RIO through this helpful Website in English.
Our Rio de Janeiro travel dates were 18-24 February 2023. THE ABOVE INFORMATION IS PROVIDED BASED ON MY OWN EXPERIENCE. THESE ARE MY PERSONAL OPINIONS AND ALL FACTS, DETAILS AND INFORMATION ABOVE COULD CHANGE WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE IF COPYING THIS ITINERARY DOES NOT GO EXACTLY AS PLANNED OUT. SOME LINKS ABOVE ARE AFFILIATE LINKS WHICH MEANS IF YOU CHOOSE TO MAKE A PURCHASE I MAY EARN A SMALL COMMISSION. AFFILIATE LINKS COST YOU NOTHING AND HELP KEEP THIS CONTENT FREE. THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!