When Is Carnival in Brazil? 2027 to 2030 Dates and How Cities Differ
Carnival is counted back from Easter, so the dates move, and what you pay depends on the city. These are the dates to 2030 and a comparison of Rio, Salvador, São Paulo, Recife and Olinda, built from what organizers and official sources published by October 9, 2026.
By Jeff Bruno
· Editor, Curitiba
In this article
Carnival 2027 falls on Monday and Tuesday, February 8 and 9, the two days national calendars name, with Ash Wednesday on February 10. Top-division parades in Rio and São Paulo run from Friday, February 5 to Tuesday, February 9, and a September 17, 2026 city gazette notice lists Salvador's Carnival as Thursday, February 4 to Tuesday, February 9. The date moves with Easter: February 28 and 29 in 2028, February 12 and 13 in 2029, March 4 and 5 in 2030.
What you pay depends on the city. Rio and São Paulo sell seats for the samba-school parades, and São Paulo's rules bar fees at street parades. On October 9, 2026 none of the five city governments had published its list of 2027 street parades.
Brazil has no single Carnival, only festivals that share a calendar. Below are the dates to 2030, then Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, São Paulo, Recife and Olinda compared on what their organizers published: facts, not quality.
Why the date changes, and the dates to 2030
Carnival follows Easter, not the calendar. In every year below, Carnival Tuesday falls exactly 47 days before Easter Sunday. That is our subtraction from two published tables, which do not state it as a rule. Vatican News describes the church's rule in words: Lent began six Sundays before Easter, then moved four days earlier, to Ash Wednesday. ANBIMA, the financial-markets association, lists Carnival Monday and Tuesday and Good Friday; the US Census Bureau lists Easter. Ash Wednesday (Quarta-Feira de Cinzas) is the day after ANBIMA's Tuesday, 46 days before Easter, and the weekend column is the two days before its Monday. The same arithmetic closes for 2026: Ash Wednesday on February 18 (federal ordinance, below) and Easter on April 5.
| Year | Easter Sunday | Weekend before Carnival | Carnival Monday and Tuesday | Ash Wednesday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2027 | Mar 28 | Feb 6 and 7 | Feb 8 and 9 | Feb 10 |
| 2028 | Apr 16 | Feb 26 and 27 | Feb 28 and 29 | Mar 1 |
| 2029 | Apr 1 | Feb 10 and 11 | Feb 12 and 13 | Feb 14 |
| 2030 | Apr 21 | Mar 2 and 3 | Mar 4 and 5 | Mar 6 |
The parades start earlier. In 2027 Rio's top division, the Special Group (Grupo Especial), parades Sunday to Tuesday, February 7 to 9, under LIESA (Liga Independente das Escolas de Samba do Rio de Janeiro). São Paulo's top division parades on Friday and Saturday, February 5 and 6, under Liga-SP (Liga Independente das Escolas de Samba de São Paulo).
Carnival is not a national holiday. The federal ordinance for 2026 (Portaria MGI 11,460, published December 30, 2025) made Carnival Monday and Tuesday optional leave (ponto facultativo) for federal offices, and Ash Wednesday optional until 2 p.m. An exact-phrase search of the Official Gazette on October 9, 2026 found that ordinance and found nothing for 2027, so the 2027 days are not yet published. What closes, and when covers banks and shops.
Five places, compared
Cells come from the organizers' pages and their named ticket sellers, read on October 9 and 10, 2026. Not published means the pages read did not say.
| Place | Format | Run by | Calendar page, and what it held for 2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rio | Samba-school parades on one runway, the Sambadrome (Sambódromo), plus licensed street blocos (groups that parade behind a band or sound truck) | LIESA; Liga RJ, the second division (Série Ouro); Riotur, the city tourism company, for blocos | liesa.com.br: Special Group Feb 7 to 9. ligarj.com.br: Série Ouro Feb 5 and 6. Blocos: carnavalderua.rio still read 2026; Riotur's process ends Jan 15, 2027 |
| Salvador | Trios elétricos (sound trucks) on city-set circuits, with blocos de corda (rope blocos) and rope-free trucks | City hall | carnaval.salvador.ba.gov.br still showed 2026. Elsewhere: Carnival Feb 4 to 9 (vendor notice in the gazette, Sept 17), pre-Carnival from Jan 29 (press office). In 2026 the program came Feb 4 and the order Feb 11 |
| São Paulo | Samba-school parades at the Anhembi Sambadrome and, for a separate league, at two other sites; plus licensed street blocos | Liga-SP for parades; city hall through SPTuris, its tourism and events company, for the street | ligasp.com.br: parades Jan 30, Feb 5 to 7, champions Feb 13. Street periods Jan 30 and 31, Feb 6 to 9, Feb 13 and 14; list due by the second half of November (city, Oct 2) |
| Recife | Frevo (the region's carnival music) and street groups on city-run stages called polos | City hall (Culture Secretariat) | carnaval.recife.pe.gov.br still showed 2026. The Galo da Madrugada bloco announced Saturday, Feb 6 on its own site (Oct 7). For 2026: attractions named Dec 4, 2025, main program Jan 22, 2026 |
| Olinda | Frevo, blocos and giant puppets on the slopes of the historic center | City hall | olinda.pe.gov.br/pagina/casa-do-carnaval: no program; the page says the city poderá reunir (may gather) it. In 2026 the theme came Jan 22 and the program Feb 2 |
| Place | Free | Paid | Sold by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rio | Technical rehearsals, Jan 23, 24, 30 and 31 (Riotur). Blocos: not published | Special Group grandstand seats, per night: R$ 250 in the Sept 10 stage (boxes cost more), marked sold out Oct 9 (Ticketmaster) | Ticketmaster Brasil, linked from the league's site |
| Salvador | The crowd outside the ropes, pipoca (city press office, 2023) | Abadás (shirts that act as passes) and camarotes (private lounges) | Private companies on their own sites, such as Bloco Eva |
| São Paulo | Street blocos, by rule (city, August 2026); rehearsals Dec 19 to Jan 24 (Liga-SP) | Anhembi grandstands R$ 109 to R$ 189 plus a fee for Feb 5 (Oct 9) | Clube do Ingresso online; box office at the Liga-SP headquarters |
| Recife | 2026: the city called more than 60 previews and its decentralized polos' program free; nothing for 2027 | The 2026 Baile Municipal, the city's ball, R$ 50 standing floor; the Galo's 2026 camarote | 2026: Bilheteria Digital and Recife Ingressos (ball); Ticket Simples and the Galo's headquarters (camarote) |
| Olinda | Not published | Not published | Not published |
Two street rules are written down. São Paulo's joint ordinance bars admission fees, VIP areas and abadá sales at street parades. Riotur's Portaria 331, an administrative order (gazette of August 24, 2026), bans roped-off VIP areas at bloco parades, paid or not, except a roped space around the sound truck for the band and organizers only. Salvador's press office describes the crowd outside the rope as the free one.
Rio de Janeiro
The samba-school parades in Rio happen on one runway and are ticketed: the league's site links its ticket buttons to Ticketmaster Brasil, and on October 9, 2026 that page marked the Special Group grandstands, chairs and boxes (frisas) sold out, while its 13 camarotes carried no sold-out label. The street blocos are licensed one by one, and no 2027 list had appeared. Buying Sambadrome tickets and how the bloco calendar works each have a guide.
Salvador
Salvador's Carnival is a street festival on circuits the city sets. Its Carnival site highlights three: Dodô (Barra and Ondina), Osmar (Campo Grande) and Batatinha (Pelourinho). The city's 2026 program listed blocos de corda and trios 'pipoca' among its categories. In a rope bloco, cordeiros (rope handlers) pull the rope to protect its revelers. The crowd outside is the pipoca (popcorn), which the press office describes as people correndo atrás do trio elétrico de graça (running behind the sound truck for free). Private companies sell the paid side: on October 10, 2026 Bloco Eva's site described its VIP abadá as o nosso camarote móvel (our mobile lounge). For 2027 the city had published dates only. The Salvador guide covers the circuits, ropes, sellers and rules.
São Paulo
São Paulo runs two systems. The samba schools parade at the Anhembi Sambadrome under Liga-SP. Its site lists the 2027 order: the Special Group on February 5 and 6, the first access group on February 7, the second on January 30, and a champions' parade on February 13. Technical rehearsals run from December 19 to January 24, open to the public with free entry; the league says the schedule may change. Tickets go through Clube do Ingresso, which the league calls its official partner, and a box office at the league's headquarters, Monday to Friday, 10:00 to 17:00. On October 9, 2026 the February 5 grandstand sectors listed R$ 109 to R$ 189 in the second lot, plus a fee of R$ 16.35 to R$ 28.35; on September 14 the league said some sectors had sold out. A separate league, the União das Escolas de Samba Paulistanas (UESP), runs its own parades: a UESP news item of June 7, 2026 lists them from January 30 to February 9 at Vila Esperança and Butantã and names no price.
The street Carnival belongs to the city. SPTuris registers the blocos under Decree 65,414 of August 12, 2026. The 2027 street Carnival has three periods: January 30 and 31, February 6 to 9, and February 13 and 14. On October 2 the city said 741 blocos had registered, against 630 in the last edition. The list with dates, times and routes is due in the Diário Oficial (the city gazette) by the second half of November. The city's rule guide calls the parades gratuitas (free) and authorizes no ticket charge, VIP area, camarote or abadá sale on public streets.
Recife and Olinda
Both cities sit in Pernambuco and share frevo. For 2026 Recife's city hall, through its Culture Secretariat, planned 50 polos with about 3,000 performances, and announced them in two steps: more than 80 names on December 4, 2025, and the main program on January 22, 2026. On October 9, 2026 its Carnival site still showed the 2026 edition and its news list held nothing on 2027. The one 2027 date found came from a bloco, not from the city: the Galo da Madrugada announced a parade on Saturday, February 6, at 9 a.m., on its own site. The city licenses blocos, troças (traditional carnival groups) and camarotes; in 2025 that ran through the Conecta Recife portal until February 14. A February 16, 2026 city news item calls the program of its decentralized polos gratuita (free).
Olinda's city hall describes a Carnival of frevo, blocos, troças, bonecos gigantes (giant puppets) and more on the slopes of the historic center, and says its Carnival page may gather the official program. None was there on October 9, 2026. The 2026 edition ran six days, February 12 to 17.
What every city shares
Papers and money. Anything sold under a name, such as seats, camarotes and abadás, tends to ask for a CPF, Brazil's tax number (what it is and how a foreigner gets one). Rio's ticket platform lets a foreigner register with an identification document instead, writes its sale limits per CPF and took only Pix (Brazil's instant payments) for boxes on September 10; São Paulo's sign-up page has a box for people who are not Brazilian or live outside Brazil; its sale contract asks at the gate for a photo ID and, if the buyer paid by credit card, that card; for the identity check it names a CNH (driver's license) or RG (identity card) and does not mention passports. Pix runs on Brazilian accounts (what tourists can do); cards are in cards in Brazil and how to pay; street vendors are in how much cash to carry.
Safety. Crime data is in is Brazil safe to travel and, for Rio, the neighborhood data.
Getting there. GRU serves São Paulo and GIG Rio; ride apps follow city rules (Uber in Brazil).
Visa. The visa requirement for the United States, Canada and Australia still stood in the foreign ministry's chart, updated October 7, 2026: who needs a visa and US citizens.
Sources
Accessed October 9 and 10, 2026.
- Dates — ANBIMA 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030 holiday tables; US Census Bureau, Easter dates 1600 to 2099; Portaria MGI 11,460/2025 and the Official Gazette search; Vatican News, Ash Wednesday
- Rio — LIESA parade times and tickets; Ticketmaster Brasil and its sign-up help; Liga RJ; Riotur bloco registration and rehearsals; carnavalderua.rio; city gazette of August 24, 2026
- Salvador — gazette no. 9,352; press office on the 2027 dates, the 2026 launch, the 2026 order, the pipoca and the rope handlers; official site; Bloco Eva
- São Paulo — Liga-SP parade order, rehearsals and box office notice; Clube do Ingresso event page, sign-up and sale contract; city news of October 2, Decree 65,414 and joint ordinance 7/2026; SPTuris; UESP parade order
- Recife and Olinda — Recife Carnival site and city news of December 4, 2025, January 22, 2026, February 16, 2026 and January 10, 2025; Galo da Madrugada and its camarote page; Olinda Carnival page, rehearsals, 2026 theme and 2026 program
- Visa — foreign ministry visa-regime chart, edition of October 7, 2026
Method on how we research; Jeff Bruno writes from Curitiba. The rest sits in all guides.
What we could not verify
- A source that writes the number. Vatican News gives the rule in words (above), but no page we opened writes 46 or 47, and the US Naval Observatory's pages would not open. The figure rests on the two tables.
- Prices for Rio's blocos, Olinda's parades and UESP's parades. The pages read neither set nor waive a price. For Recife's polos only the 2026 wording above exists.
- Checkouts. We opened no ticket checkout. Ticketmaster's event FAQ accepts cards issued abroad, without installments; still open are whether a passport passes either seller's checks and whether Clube do Ingresso takes a card issued abroad. The sign-ups in Rio and São Paulo each offer a foreign-buyer option.
- The 2027 federal optional days. The gazette's exact-phrase search and its search for ponto facultativo (September 15 to October 10, 2026) found no federal act for 2027; the acts for 2022 to 2026 appeared December 22 to 30 of the year before. A differently worded act could still escape the search.
Frequently asked
ANBIMA's tables put Carnival Monday and Tuesday on February 28 and 29, 2028, February 12 and 13, 2029, and March 4 and 5, 2030. Ash Wednesday follows on March 1, February 14 and March 6.
Not a national one. The federal ordinance for 2026 made Carnival Monday and Tuesday optional leave for federal offices, and no ordinance for 2027 had been published by October 9, 2026.
It depends on the city and the event. São Paulo's rules call its street parades free, Salvador's press office (2023) calls the crowd outside the ropes free, Recife's city hall called its decentralized stages' 2026 program free, and the Sambadrome nights in Rio and São Paulo are ticketed. Olinda's pages did not say.
Citizens of the United States, Canada and Australia do. The foreign ministry's chart, updated October 7, 2026, still marks all three as visa required. Other nationalities are listed country by country in the same chart.
São Paulo expects its list in the city gazette by the second half of November. Rio's registration process ends January 15, 2027. Salvador, Recife and Olinda had published no 2027 line-up on October 9, 2026.
Jeff Bruno
Curitiba, Paraná
Runs online retail in Brazil. Pays suppliers by PIX, ships through the Correios, crosses to Paraguay for stock.
About the author →Every guide names its sources
And says what it could not verify. That is the whole point.
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