5 Biggest Carnivals around the World

Who doesn’t like Carnivals? Loads of music, street parties, beautiful masks, obscure costumes, colorful parades, gigantic parade floats, its something you won’t want to miss! Here we picked some of the best Carnivals around the world to add into your bucket list to celebrate together the joys of the festival.

1. Rio de Janeiro Carnival  |  Brazil

Date: 12 February -17 February/2021

Also known as “The Greatest Show On Earth”, The carnival of Rio de Janeiro takes place every year in the month of February or March. The festival is celebrated for five days that precede Ash Wednesday with millions of visitors.

The most fascinating part of Carnival is the Grand Samba Parades for which top Samba schools prepare all year and compete against each year for the title of Rio de Janeiro Carnival Champion and a million dollar reward. Sambodromo stadium is the open-air venue or the meeting point of the carnival where tourists are entertained with the parades among the Samba schools.

However, The Sambodrome Parade is not the only highlight of this Carnival! Before and after the main parades, dozens of street parties are held across the city. These parties are more casual than the parades in Sambodrome.

2. Carnival of Venice  |  Italy

Date: 6 February-16 February/2021

Carnival of Venice or “Carnevale di Venezia” is another famous festival attracting thousands of tourists every year securing its place in our top 5 list. Carnival of Venice takes place in the days leading up to lent. The San Marco Square is the central location for all the carnival events.

The beautiful costumes and typical Venetian Masks are the major attractions of this carnival. During the two-week celebration, the city of Venice lights up with a number of events such as masquerade balls, street parties, concerts, performances, parade of boats, and street magic shows, transforming into a magical city.

As the carnival is predominantly focused on masks, The Venice carnival most beautiful mask competition is held everyday where the competitors parade through the streets of Venice.The Carnival ends on Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday.

3. Nice Carnival  |  France

Date: 13 February-27 February/2021

Nice Carnival is another most famous festival around the world attracting millions of spectators of all nationalities every year organised on the French Riviera. The good thing is, this carnival lasts for straight two weeks offering its visitors creative and eye-catching parades. There are 3 different carnival parades: The Carnival parade and Carnival parade of lights take place around Masséna while Flower Parade occurs on the Promenade des Anglais.

During the Flower Parade, several floats move down the streets with performers wearing colorful Costumes on top of the floats throwing flowers to the crowd. Every year the theme of Carnival changes. There’s a king of Carnival puppet along with the puppet of Queen of Carnival on the place Masséna where all the parades begin. On the last night, the carnival king is burned in the sea followed by fireworks.

4. New Orleans Mardi Gras  | USA

Date: 16 February/2021

Each year during Mardi Gras, a million of visitors come to the streets of New Orleans to participate in various parades and festivities. The planning and execution of Carnival parades, masquerade balls and numerous street parties are handled by the organizations called Krewes. “Mardi Gras throws” is the fun part of the carnival. Throws are the items that Krewe members on floats throw to spectators across the city. Throws include doubloons, cups, trinkets, beads, toys, etc. Each Krewe has its own unique set of throws. The festivities continue until shrove Tuesday.

5. Carnival of Trinidad and Tobago

Date: 15 February-16 February/2021

Also known as “The Biggest Street Party on Earth”, The Carnival of Trinidad and Tobago is a 2 day festival celebrated before Ash wednesday. This pre-lenten celebration attracts thousands of visitors every year. The streets fill up with music bands, soca, calypso, steel bands, limbo, colorful costumed band parades, rum-soaked street parties and what not.