My Dream Brazilian Carnival – Salvador, Recife & Rio

Brazil hosts the most famous carnival in the world: Rio Carnaval. The scantly-clad samba queens writhing to rhythmic drum beats fill up news screens in 30-second clips all over the world during the month of February. At least this was my first glimpse of Brazilian carnival.

However, the iconic Rio Sambódromo (samba stadium or Sambadrome) is just a small feature of Brazilian carnival and over the next week, I’ll be participating in the full gantlet of carnival parties in three Brazilian cities: Salvador da Bahia, Recife and of course, Rio de Janeiro.

The Bahian carnival is known as “The biggest carnival in the world” (“O maior carnaval do mundo”) and Salvador da Bahia is the state capital. This carnival is particularly popular with both Brazilian and international tourists with the revelry centered around “trios elétricos” which are musical floats featuring some of Brazil’s most famous singers and musicians.

It’s possible to get really close to the trios by purchasing an “abadá” (a special t-shirt that acts as an entry pass) or you can watch the different performers from a VIP stand called a “camarote”.

The Rio carnival features two main elements: the samba parades which take place in the sambradrome and the “bloco” street parties which run on a continuous cycle around the city. This year I’ve chosen to participate in the Mangueira samba school in the parade which will perform on the Monday night – one of my favorite schools along with Beija-Flor.

My carnival will conclude with a tour of the various “bloco” parties which are local music events with a more informal atmosphere.

I plan to produce a series of videos to show you what it’s like to experience the best carnivals in Brazil. If you have any tips, stories or requests that you would like to share with me, please leave a comment below the article. I love reading your messages! 🙂 Até logo!