Parading through Rio de Janeiro during Carnival.

Characterized by the enjoyment of all excesses one can imagine, Carnival is celebrated as a farewell to the bodily pleasures that are relinquished during Lent. This year, the carnival will start on Saturday March 5^th and end on Fat Tuesday, March 8^th.

Although almost every town and village throughout Brazil and other catholic countries in Latin America have their own festivities, Rio de Janeiro has long been considered the premier place to celebrate the sensual feast of Carnival.

Not only is the Rio celebration the biggest one in South America, it is also the reference for any carnival and one of the most fascinating events on the planet. Up to 500,000 foreign visitors make the trip each year to take part in the celebrations.

The Rio Carnival is a truly euphoric and cheerful event that sums up the Carioca culture and way of life, with dancing, singing and partying taking over the whole city and culminating in the famous Samba Parade. This world-famous parade features a display of dances and competition between Rio’s top samba schools.

The Parade has been held in the famous Sambadrome since 1984, a building especially constructed for this event as the parade was becoming too big for spontaneous gatherings. However, historically Carnival looked a little different.

The spectacular views of Rio from its most famous landmark.

The first records of carnival festivities date back to 1723 when Portuguese immigrants introduced the Entrudo. The Entrudo involved throwing water bombs, mud pies, and flour missiles at unsuspecting, and suspecting, neighbors.  In the beginning of the 20^th century, the Rio carnival became more organized with dance and costume competitions known as ranchos. These ranchos eventually morphed into the development of the world-famous samba schools that began in the late 1920s.

Millions of people attend the Rio Carnival so you have to plan your trip carefully and well in advance to make sure that you get the most out of this spectacular event, although the last minute traveler can occasionally find special offers. Flights and hotel prices tend to increase drastically at this time of year, and tickets for the shows and parade are sold months in advance.

Others events that should not be missed during the Carnival are the many costumed balls taking place all over town. You can easily purchase tickets for most of them and enjoy the parties without having to spend a fortune. For those travelers who decide to wing it, there are street parties on almost every corner of the city that are still a lot of fun. Check out the open-air dances and concerts organized all throughout Rio and you will not be disappointed.

For last minute Rio Carnival travel deals contact one of our Travel Advisors who can arrange your Brazil vacation for you.

With Brazil’s soaring economy and selection as the host for the 2016 Summer Olympics, Rio was in good spirits for the preparation of this year’s Carnival, which for many visitors is the defining Brazil travel experience.

Flamboyant scenes from the streets of Rio during Carnival

Things kicked off on Saturday 13 February and despite the crippling heat making it the hottest Carnival in five decades, dancers and performers rocked the streets sporting colorful flamboyant costumes sprouting feathers from their backs and sometimes even reptiles from their heads.

During this wildly expressive event, everyone is encouraged to flaunt it, any way you want, the more color the better. There are no ridiculous costumes in Rio during carnival. No matter how outlandish someone is dressed, someone else has found a way to stretch the limit even further.

Amidst the unprecedented heat wave but refreshingly cool nights, the city estimates that a total of 2.5 million people took to the streets to let loose in typical Carnival fashion.  The usual crowd of Hollywood and MTV stars made appearances, including Beyonce, Madonna, Hugh Jackman, Paris Hilton, and Alicia Keys.

The mayor took efforts to reduce the usual problems of disorder and sanitation by quadrupling the number of public toilets available and restricting certain activities on the two main Rio beaches, Ipanema and Copacabana. In general the attempts at a more safe and secure Carnival, especially with mounting pressure from Rio’s coming Olympic bid, were successful.

This year’s champion of the Rio Carnival parades competition was the Unidos da Tijuca samba group who took home the title for the first time in more than seven decades. The theme of their performance was “It’s a Secret,” and they made references to some of the great mysteries of the world including the Bermuda Triangle, ancient lost civilizations and Area 51.

Over 3,600 people played a part in the presentation which included a huge ski ramp that was climbed by a team of Spidermen and skied down by a team of Batmen.  They even paid homage to Michael Jackson at one point. Groups spend millions of dollars putting together their extravagant shows and are judged in ten different categories before a winner is selected.

The streets may have quieted down for a while, but with Brazil’s continued growth as a popular South America travel destination, the quiet won’t last long. Soon Samba schools will begin pooling creative ideas for next year’s performances and people will begin checking their calendars to see if they can squeeze in some vacation time for February 2011.