Carnival 2027 peaks on February 9, a state holiday in Rio de Janeiro

By Manuela 2026-11-07 23:03 BRT9 min read

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The 2027 Carnival calendar is already set in Brazil. The main day, Shrove Tuesday, falls on February 9, 2027, and the festivities run from Saturday, February 6, to Ash Wednesday on February 10. Parade organizers, tourism companies, city halls and hotels are already working with these dates to plan logistics and open ticket sales for the large crowds expected from Brazil and abroad.

Knowing the dates early helps travelers who want to join street blocks or watch the parades. Buying air and bus tickets ahead of time and booking hotels before seasonal prices rise are the main gains. For host cities, the calendar also serves as the base for building their cultural programming for the period.

Carnival is more than a break from work. The celebration moves a large production chain and is one of the main showcases of Brazilian popular culture for domestic and foreign audiences. The full season covers more than the five central days, since weekends before and after the festival also hold events in the big state capitals.

Easter sets the date of Brazil’s biggest street party

The date of Carnival changes every year because it is tied to the Catholic liturgical calendar, which uses the Moon and the seasons to fix Holy Week. Under the traditional rule, Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon that follows the March equinox, which happens around March 20. In 2027, Easter Sunday falls on March 28.

Counting back from Easter, the Church sets Palm Sunday seven days earlier and places Shrove Tuesday exactly 40 days before that Sunday. The peak of the party therefore falls 47 days before Easter. The festival ends the day before Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, a 40-day period of reflection, fasting and prayer for Catholics.

Pre-Carnival and post-Carnival events fill January and February

Street activity begins before February through the Pre-Carnival circuit. The main weekend falls on January 30 and 31, 2027, and rehearsals and balls run through the whole first month of the year. Groups and blocks test their song repertoire and costumes on public streets and in clubhouses, which also lifts sales of costumes and accessories.

The official Carnival period ends on Ash Wednesday, February 10, but events continue in several capitals. On February 13 and 14, 2027, the weekend after the holiday brings Post-Carnival programming, known in Brazil as the Carnival hangover, with closing blocks across the country. Visitors who stay in the cities keep the celebration going before normal routines return.

January 30 and 31, 2027 (Saturday and Sunday): official Pre-Carnival weekend and the Grupo de Acesso II parade in São Paulo on January 30.
February 5, 2027 (Friday): opening of the Série Ouro parades in Rio de Janeiro and first night of the Grupo Especial in São Paulo.
February 6, 2027 (Saturday): official start of street Carnival and second nights of both Série Ouro in Rio and Grupo Especial in São Paulo.
February 7, 2027 (Sunday): Carnival Sunday, first night of the Grupo Especial in Rio and parades of the Grupo de Acesso I in São Paulo.
February 8, 2027 (Monday): Carnival Monday, federal optional holiday, and second night of the Grupo Especial in Rio.
February 9, 2027 (Tuesday): Shrove Tuesday, the main day, federal optional holiday, state holiday in Rio de Janeiro and third night of the Grupo Especial at the Marquês de Sapucaí.
February 10, 2027 (Wednesday): Ash Wednesday, optional federal holiday until 2 p.m. and the start of Lent.
February 13 and 14, 2027 (Saturday and Sunday): Post-Carnival weekend with closing blocks across Brazil.

Rio parade order and ticket prices for the Marquês de Sapucaí

In Rio de Janeiro, the Liga Independente das Escolas de Samba (Liesa), the entity that organizes the city’s samba schools, set the official order of the Grupo Especial in a draw held on the night of April 16, 2026, at the Cidade do Samba in the port zone. The event also included performances by singer and composer Dudu Nobre, the group Os Puxadores do Samba and Unidos do Viradouro, a school from Niterói that won the 2026 title with a tribute to Mestre Ciça. For the first time, the ceremony also drew the parade order of the children’s samba schools.

Under Liesa’s rules, the 12 schools of the Rio elite perform over three nights, with four schools per night, at the Marquês de Sapucaí. Three schools had fixed positions before the draw: União de Maricá, which rose after winning the Série Ouro in 2026, opens the Sunday; Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel, 11th place in the previous year, opens the Monday; and Portela, 10th place in 2026, opens the Tuesday. Beija-Flor de Nilópolis, runner-up in 2026, will bring the theme “Zeneida: o sopro do pó de louro”, a tribute to the Marajoara healer, writer and environmentalist Zeneida Lima. Estação Primeira de Mangueira closes the Grupo Especial with “Oyá por nós”, dedicated to the orixá Iansã.

Tickets for the Sambódromo went on sale in a fifth stage that opened on September 10, 2026. Seats in special stands (Sectors 2 to 11, except Sector 9, on both the odd and even sides) and individual numbered chairs (Sector 12) cost R$ 250 per night, and half-price tickets cost R$ 125 for students, people aged 60 or older, people with disabilities and low-income young people. Each CPF can buy up to two tickets per parade day. Frisas, boxes for six people per night, range from R$ 1.835 to R$ 10.200 depending on their distance from the track, with a limit of one per CPF per night.

Sunday, February 7, 2027: União de Maricá, Beija-Flor de Nilópolis, Paraíso do Tuiuti and Unidos de Vila Isabel.
Monday, February 8, 2027: Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel, Unidos da Tijuca, Acadêmicos do Salgueiro and Imperatriz Leopoldinense.
Tuesday, February 9, 2027: Portela, Unidos do Viradouro, Acadêmicos do Grande Rio and Estação Primeira de Mangueira.

Before the elite parades, the Sambódromo hosts the Série Ouro, the Rio access division, on Friday, February 5, and Saturday, February 6, 2027.

Anhembi parade schedule for 32 samba schools in São Paulo

In São Paulo, the Liga Independente das Escolas de Samba de São Paulo (Liga-SP) set the official parade order on the night of May 16, 2026, at the Fábrica do Samba in the west zone of the city. Representatives of the 32 affiliated schools attended to define the schedule for the three divisions that use the Anhembi Sambódromo. Because the 2027 calendar places Carnival in early February, the São Paulo parades start in January.

The Grupo de Acesso II opens the Anhembi on Saturday, January 30, 2027, with ten schools on the track: Unidos de Santa Bárbara, Brinco da Marquesa, Unidos do Peruche, Imperatriz da Pauliceia, Imperador do Ipiranga, Nenê de Vila Matilde, Unidos de São Lucas, Torcida Jovem, Primeira da Cidade Líder and Camisa 12. The following week, the 14 schools of the Grupo Especial divide into two consecutive nights, on Friday, February 5, preceded by the traditional Desfile das Velhas Guardas, and Saturday, February 6. On Sunday, February 7, 2027, the Sambódromo receives the eight schools of the Grupo de Acesso I.

Friday, February 5, 2027 (Grupo Especial, first night): Pérola Negra, Vai-Vai, Barroca Zona Sul, Dragões da Real, Acadêmicos do Tatuapé, Mocidade Unida da Mooca and Camisa Verde e Branco.
Saturday, February 6, 2027 (Grupo Especial, second night): Império de Casa Verde, Gaviões da Fiel, Mocidade Alegre, Tom Maior, Estrela do Terceiro Milênio, Colorado do Brás and Acadêmicos do Tucuruvi.
Sunday, February 7, 2027 (Grupo de Acesso I): X-9 Paulistana, Dom Bosco de Itaquera, Rosas de Ouro, Águia de Ouro, Unidos de Vila Maria, Mancha Verde, Morro da Casa Verde and Independente Tricolor.

Federal optional holidays and budget tips for the trip

Workers who plan to travel during the festivities should check with their employers ahead of time. Carnival is not a national holiday under federal law, but many shops, banks and public offices stop working. In the federal public administration, Monday, February 8, and Tuesday, February 9, 2027, are federal optional holidays, the same rule that applies to Ash Wednesday, February 10, until 2 p.m. In private companies, a day off depends on collective labor agreements, company policies or state and municipal laws. Rio de Janeiro, for example, makes Shrove Tuesday an official state holiday.

Planning the budget also matters for avoiding debt at the start of the year. The national minimum wage is R$ 1.621 in 2026, and household budget specialists recommend spreading the total cost of transport, lodging, street food, tickets and costumes over the months before the trip. Because many tourists arrive in the first ten days of February, flight seats and hotel rooms become scarce, and last-minute packages get more expensive.

Participation formats also differ in cost and structure. Street parades are free and crowded. Camarotes, private boxes in sambódromos and closed circuits, require a named ticket, prior registration, food and drink service, exclusive stages for shows and dedicated transport.

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Salvador, Recife, Olinda and Rio keep distinct Carnival formats

Carnival’s cultural diversity shows in the traits of each tourist hub. In Salvador, the festival revolves around trios elétricos, sound trucks that travel for kilometers along the traditional Dodô (Barra-Ondina), Osmar (Campo Grande) and Batatinha (Historic Center) circuits. To the sound of axé music and other Bahian rhythms, the crowd splits between blocks closed by ropes and the pipoca, the free mass of revelers who follow the trucks through the avenues.

In Pernambuco, the neighboring cities of Recife and Olinda keep a celebration tied to the state’s historic roots and heritage rhythms. In Recife, frevo and maracatu set the pace, with the Galo da Madrugada parade on Carnival Saturday as its main symbol. In Olinda, the party fills the hillside streets with colonial architecture, with itinerant brass bands, frevo dancers and the traditional giant puppets, and without large trios elétricos.

In Rio de Janeiro, besides the competitions at the Marquês de Sapucaí and closed events such as the historic Baile do Copa, held in the halls of the Copacabana Palace hotel, the street party fills every region of the city. Hundreds of free blocks, led by historic parades such as Cordão da Bola Preta, draw millions of people to the Centro, the South Zone and the North Zone from early morning.

Temporary jobs and city services for the festivities

The Carnival cycle is one of the main economic engines of the first quarter in Brazil. It injects money into the service sector and into municipal tax revenue. The movement of travelers also boosts airlines, intercity bus companies, bars, restaurants, app-based transport services and formal and informal sellers of drinks and food.

In the job market, the months before February bring thousands of temporary openings. In the workshops of the Cidade do Samba in Rio and the Fábrica do Samba in São Paulo, carnival artists, set dressers, seamstresses, metalworkers, carpenters, painters and sculptors work non-stop to build floats and thousands of costumes. During the parade days, demand shifts to private security staff, sound and lighting crews, hospitality attendants, firefighters and accredited street vendors.

To handle the larger population in city centers, state governments and city halls run special infrastructure and cleaning operations. The public plan includes closing and diverting traffic lanes, expanding public transport fleets to run 24 hours, setting up advanced medical posts, distributing portable toilets, reinforcing police and running daily street cleaning crews after each block or parade ends.