Carnival in Rio De Janeiro | Useful Tips and Things to Know

---

Before my trip, when I thought Carnival in Rio De Janeiro, I immediately pictured the Samba costumes: feathers, nipple pasties, thongs, high heels and the most muscular butt cheeks I’ve ever seen. Marry me, please? But unfortunately, you’ll very rarely see these costumes in the streets. That’s because the people who are wearing these costumes are competing in the Sambadrome. No, Carnival isn’t just a big parade that everyone watches. It’s actually a competition of parades put on by several different samba schools.

Tickets: Tickets can be bought in advance on this website and can range anywhere from 200 reais and up, depending on where you want to sit. Pro tip: If you don’t really care where you sit, and you just want to be amongst the action, don’t buy your tickets in advance. There are plenty of scalpers that hang out outside of the Sambadrome selling the tickets for super cheap. I’ve known people to get their tickets for as low as 40 reais.

 

---

As I said before, Carnival isn’t just this huge parade that everyone watches. In fact, there are so many free events, that you can go the entire Carnival without visiting the Sambadrome because of the amount of festivities that are occurring outside of it. These are called blocos, which is exactly as it sounds– they’re block parties, and they are everywhere.

Each bloco has music and huge crowds of people drinking, dancing, and kissing. Some are better than others, but they all contain these same elements. Sometimes it’s just a crowd of people surrounding a stage, or it can be a crowd of people following a marching band. Either way, expect to be stepped on. They can start as early as 6 am and some last until 6 am. Expect to have your days full of constant hopping from one bloco to another.

---

Don’t be shy. Carnival is not a party for wallflowers. Actually, no. Scratch that. It is. Because even the shyest wallflowers will find themselves half naked, covered in glitter, with flowers in their hair that they didn’t start the night off with. I spent the first night in normal clothes that I thought were super cute and comfy, but I ended up feeling out of place because I wasn’t half naked with face paint or glitter.

Feeling subconscious about your body? No one cares. Everyone is just looking to have a good time, sing and dance. Cover yourself in glitter, put flowers in your hair, wear fake tattoos, wear tutus and a bathing suit, wear whatever you feel like. It’s Carnival.

Fun Things to wear:

Tutus

Bathing suit

Glitter

Paint

Feathers

Flowers

 

Don’t worry about buying these things before you arrive in Brazil.

Items like these are sold on the street everywhere you go.

As far as shoes: Wear whatever makes you comfortable. I wear flip flops because I’m comfortable in them, but I can’t go more than 8 hours walking around in them. Whatever you wear, just know that they will get dirty from everyone stepping on you, so don’t wear brand new shoes. 

---

If you’re thinking that you’re going to find the perfect location for you to walk everywhere, you’re wrong. You will be taking a lot of Ubers and taxis during your time in Rio, not only because everything is spread out, but for safety purposes. Anyway, why waste time walking to the location when you need to get there as soon as the action starts!

I highly recommend looking into Airbnb’s as they can be quite affordable in Rio, especially since hostels can basically be about the same price. Plus you’ll get the privacy that you’ll need during Carnival ;P.  You can use my code to get $40 off of your travels!

There are some Airbnb’s or hostels which are located in favelas, but I’ve never felt unsafe in the favelas. If you decide you’re comfortable with staying in a favela, just know that Ubers and taxis won’t go all the way up the hill to your hostel to meet you or drop you off, which can be frustrating.