Rio de Janeiro Carnival: the Sambadrome, the Blocos and the Summits

1. Day 1: Arrive in Rio, a first walk on Copacabana

   Galeão International Airport to your hotel near Copacabana or Ipanema beach

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Rio de Janeiro
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Rio de Janeiro's international airport, Galeão (GIG), where a driver meets you in arrivals for the drive of about 30 km to your hotel near Copacabana or Ipanema beach. It usually takes under an hour, longer in Carnival-week traffic, so plan to land by about 3 pm to join the first walk. Late in the afternoon your See Sight Tours guide meets the group in the hotel lobby and walks you along Avenida Atlântica, the beachfront avenue paved in Copacabana's black-and-white waves, to get your bearings: the nearest metro station, the numbered lifeguard posts that Rio uses as addresses on the sand, where to buy water and a cheap pair of flip-flops. Over a welcome dinner at a local restaurant your guide goes through the days ahead: the parade night and the two rides home, what to wear and carry at a bloco, and how to look after your phone and cards in big crowds. The city is already warming up, with drums practising in the squares.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Rio de Janeiro Galeão International Airport (GIG)
   • Orientation walk along Avenida Atlântica with your guide
   • Welcome briefing and dinner

   Free time: Free until the late-afternoon walk

   Activity: If you land later, your guide catches you up at dinner.

   

2. Day 2: Corcovado early, Santa Teresa and a samba school

   Copacabana to Cosme Velho and Corcovado, then Santa Teresa and the Selarón Steps; a samba school's hall in the evening

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Rio de Janeiro
   Day 2 details

   We drive to Cosme Velho for one of the first trains up Corcovado, at about 8 am. Friday morning is the quiet window of Carnival week: the long weekend has not started and most visitors are still at breakfast. The rack railway climbs for about 20 minutes through the Tijuca forest to the foot of Christ the Redeemer, finished in 1931 and about 30 m tall, at about 700 m, with Sugarloaf, Guanabara Bay and the beaches below. From there it is a short drive to Santa Teresa, the hilltop neighbourhood of old mansions and artists' studios, which we walk with your guide before a sit-down lunch. We finish down the Selarón Steps, 215 steps that Chilean-born artist Jorge Selarón covered in tiles from around the world, then rest at the hotel through the heat of the afternoon. In the evening we drive to a samba school's quadra, the hall where its drummers, singers and dancers rehearse for the parade, to hear a full bateria up close.

   Included

   • Corcovado train and Christ the Redeemer, on one of the first departures
   • Santa Teresa on foot with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Santa Teresa
   • The Selarón Steps
   • A samba school rehearsal at the school's quadra, or a visit to a school's hall and workshop if no rehearsal falls on our dates

   Easier option: Skip the Selarón Steps and ride back to the hotel after lunch; the vehicle meets the group at the bottom.

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: About 3 km on foot, on cobbles and steps. Schools do not always open their quadra on the Friday before Carnival. Which school and which evening is set from that year's rehearsal calendar; if no rehearsal falls on our dates, we visit a school's hall and workshop with a member of the school instead, in the late afternoon. Rehearsals start late, often around 10 pm; leave whenever you like and the vehicle takes you back.

3. Day 3: Carnival Saturday: a bloco with your guide

   A morning bloco in the Zona Sul, then lunch in Ipanema

   • By train
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Rio de Janeiro
   Day 3 details

   Carnival Saturday, and the blocos take over the streets. These free street parties, each with its own band, songs and costume theme, start from early morning all over the city, and the city publishes the official list a few weeks before. From that list your guide picks a morning bloco in the Zona Sul, usually in Ipanema, Leblon or Botafogo: big enough to feel the scale of Carnival, small enough to move in. We go together on foot or by metro at about 8 or 9 am, while it is cooler, dance along behind the band for two or three hours and leave together from a meeting point set before we go in. Wear something light, a costume if you like, and closed shoes. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Ipanema, out of the sun, a chance to compare costumes. The afternoon is yours: Ipanema beach is a few blocks away, or sleep before the evening, when blocos and parties carry on late across the city.

   Included

   • A morning bloco with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Ipanema

   Easier option: Watch the bloco pass from the edge for an hour, then go ahead to the lunch restaurant with your guide's directions or a taxi.

   More active option: Your guide suggests a second, larger afternoon bloco for anyone who wants more, with a meeting point to go together.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: Two to three hours standing and dancing in heat and dense crowds. Carry a copy of your passport, a little cash and one card in a front pocket.

   

4. Day 4: Sugarloaf at opening, the Sambadrome at night

   Copacabana to Urca and Sugarloaf, then the Sambadrome in the evening

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Rio de Janeiro
   Day 4 details

   Sunday morning, after the first big night of Carnival, is the calmest time in Rio, and we use it for Sugarloaf. We take one of the first cable cars from Praia Vermelha in Urca, first to Morro da Urca at about 220 m and on to the 396 m summit, with the bay, Copacabana and Christ the Redeemer around you and few people beside you. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Urca, at the foot of the rock, then back to the hotel to rest, because tonight is long. At about 7:30 pm the group sits down to an early, light supper near the hotel, and at about 9 pm we leave for the Sambadrome, the parade avenue designed by Oscar Niemeyer and opened in 1984, by metro or our vehicle, whichever that year's road closures make quicker. The parades start at about 10 pm. From grandstand seats you watch the Special Group schools with your guide: each brings thousands of dancers, hundreds of drummers and towering floats down the avenue in about an hour. A first ride back leaves around 1:30 am with a local escort; the group returns with your guide at the end, towards dawn.

   Included

   • Sugarloaf cable cars, on one of the first departures
   • Sit-down lunch in Urca
   • Early supper near the hotel before the parade
   • Sambadrome grandstand ticket for the Special Group parades
   • Transport to and from the Sambadrome, with your guide all night

   Easier option: Take the early ride back from the Sambadrome at about 1:30 am with the local escort.

   More active option: Walk the Pista Cláudio Coutinho, the flat path around the foot of Urca hill by the sea, before the cable car.

   Free time: Afternoon free to rest

   Activity: If our tickets are for the Monday night, days 4 and 5 move one day later. The sector is named when the tickets are confirmed; seats are concrete steps, so bring a cushion. Food and drink are on sale inside.

5. Day 5: A slow day, Arpoador at sunset

   Copacabana and Ipanema, then the Arpoador rock

   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Rio de Janeiro
   Day 5 details

   A slow morning after the parade: sleep in, and the hotel keeps breakfast late for the group. Carnival Monday carries on all over the city, and early in the afternoon your guide takes anyone who wants to an afternoon bloco near the hotel, or points you to a quieter stretch of beach, such as Leme at the eastern end of Copacabana, and a long lunch on your own at a beach kiosk. Around 6 pm we walk to the Arpoador, the granite point between Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, to watch the sun go down at the far end of Leblon, behind the Dois Irmãos peaks. When it disappears, people on the rock applaud, a long-standing Rio habit. Then the group sits down together to a farewell dinner, with time to swap photographs from the Sambadrome and decide who is going out again. Afterwards the streets are yours: Carnival nights run late, and the hotel is a short walk or taxi ride away.

   Included

   • An afternoon bloco with your guide (optional to join)
   • Sunset from the Arpoador rock
   • Farewell dinner

   Easier option: Skip the bloco and spend the afternoon at the hotel or on the beach, meeting the group at the Arpoador.

   Free time: Morning free, evening free after dinner

   Activity: The Arpoador rock is a short, uneven scramble from the promenade; you can watch from its foot instead.

6. Day 6: Carnival Tuesday and home

   A free morning in Copacabana, then Galeão International Airport

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 6 details

   Carnival Tuesday, the last day of the festival. After breakfast the morning is free: a last swim at Copacabana, a walk along the sand past the vendors carrying parasols hung with hats and sarongs and the grills of queijo coalho, cheese toasted on a stick, or one more morning bloco on your own with your guide's tips on where to find one. Hotel checkout is usually around noon, and we keep your bags until you leave. A driver takes you to Galeão airport (GIG), about 30 km away. On Carnival Tuesday, roads close for blocos, so allow at least an hour and a half for the drive and leave the hotel about four hours before an international departure; your guide checks the timing with you the evening before. Book a flight leaving after about 3 pm to keep the morning. If you want to stay on, ask us and we can price extra nights at the same hotel.

   Included

   • Drop-off at Rio de Janeiro Galeão International Airport (GIG)

   Free time: Morning free

   Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 3 pm.

   

Wildlife and weather: Carnival falls in Rio's hot, wet summer: expect humid days around 30°C or more, warm nights and short heavy storms late in the day. The parades go ahead in the rain, so a light poncho is worth packing.

• Rio de Janeiro5 nights