The clock is ticking down to Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro, the city’s first really big celebration since the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic games.

Rio de Janeiro is the most famous and the largest of Brazil’s carnival celebrations. In Rio the focus is on samba and the parade of the samba schools organised by the League of Samba Schools on the Sunday and Monday evenings.

The main parades of the Grupo Especial will next take place on the nights of Sunday, 26 February and Monday, 27 February 2017. The schools parading will be:

Sunday, 26 February 2017

• Paraíso do Tuiuti
• Grande Rio
• Imperatriz Leopoldinense
• Vila Isabel
• Salgueiro
• Beija-Flor

Monday, 27 February 2017

• União da Ilha
• São Clemente
• Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel
• Unidos da Tijuca
• Portela
• Mangueira

Six schools will parade on Sunday night and six on Monday and they will start at 22.00, 23.05, 00.10, 01.15, 02.20 and 03.25.

Up coming dates for Carnival in Brazil (Friday-Wednesday) are:

• 2018: 9-14 February
• 2019: 1-6 March
• 2020: 21-26 February
• 2021: 12-17-February
• 2022: 25 February-2 March
• 2023: 17-22 February
• 2024: 9-14 February
• 2025: 28 February-5 March