Hello! I've never posted to the Latin American board before so I'm a newbie (I can usually be found lurking about on the U.S. or Caribbean boards.) My husband and I will be traveling to Rio for Carnival 2008 next year, and I need a little advice about when to go, how long to stay. Airline tickets are very expensive from where we are - around $1,200/ticket - so we want to use our Delta Sky Miles for one of the tickets. By using the Sky Miles, the only option we have for travel is to arrive in Rio on Thursday early morning before Carnival (January 31st) and leave Rio on Tuesday late night during Carnival (January 5th). I think arriving on the Thursday before Carnival is fine, but I'm concerned about leaving that Tuesday. Is that in the thick of Carnival, and would we be missing out on a lot? Or are most things winding down by then? By the way, we are planning to attend the ball at the Copacabana Palace on that Saturday night. I also want to see some great parades and any other must-see, must-do Carnival events.

I think arriving before the Carnaval actually starts, is the best thing to do. In fact, i always suggest arriving a few days before (Tuesday or Wednesday) so that there is time to see the sites, because once Carnaval starts (Saturday - Wednesday) it is very difficult and crowded to see anything. (However, this will depend on how many days you can spend on holidays)

Arriving on Thursday and leaving Tuesday is fine. (The main parades are on Sunday and Monday night, and by Tuesday, things do slow down, and you wont miss much. (Most people have to go back to work on Wednesday for the afternoon).

I strongly suggest taking advantage of the Miles and book your tickets. Once you get those out of the way, work on your accomodations and getting tickets for the Parade in the Sambadrome. The main parade nights are Sunday and Monday, and unless you have a specific school or schools, there will not be any difference between what night you attend.

I also suggest checking out the action on the street when the "blocos" are getting ready. These take place all over the city and it is a congregation of people who then march down the streets, trucks playing loud music and dancing. It is quite an experience.

There is also a classic football (soccer) match at the Maracana every Saturday of Carnaval. It is always 2 local Rio teams, as it is part of the state Championship. This may be of interest as well.

I hope this info. is useful, and if you have any specific q's, just ask.

topping

hi! right, carnaval is very early on net year due to early easter. This means it will be very busy and should be pretty hot. Arriving on the thursday will give you a chance to see the sites, visit the historical downntown etc when things are still open. The statue of christ and sugar loaf and botancical gardens are virtually only things open over carnival. If you plan going to copacabana carnival ball on the saturday I recommend going to the carnival parade on the monday night, as you wont ( i guess ) want to be out all night 2 nights ruunning. At the carnival parade things start around 9pm and go on till around 5am ! So be prepared. There are many carnival parades going round different parts of town over all carnival days, go along and enjoy, just dont take anything of value with you. You need to book hotels soon, and also make sure you get your tickets for parade. They arent being sold yet, but you can reserve.Usually includes transport to parade ground and back to hotel, but there are safe taxis at ground going to hotel zone all night. Carnival tickets not cheap but is once in a lifetime experience and like nothing else on earth. Best to go to statue of christ early in the morning, before all the tour buses start going, and you can do sugar loaf at sunset. Hotel prices are also higher over carnival and many do a set number of nights for a certain price. Try stay ipanema or copacabana, ipanema's nicer, more lively, better restaurants, less touristy, good shops, easy to walk around etc. If you need any more help please ask.

I went to Rio a couple of years ago for New Year's, and me and two friends are planning on returning in February for Carnival in 2008. The one thing we keep debating is whether or not to book a tour package that will take care of everything for us or whether to just plan the trip out on our own. We know where we want to stay and everything, but I'm hoping that you might be able to give me a better idea of what it will be like trying to get tickets for the samba parades, etc.?

Some tour companies that I've seen provide you with airfare, lodging, tickets to the samba parades, entry into nightclubs at night, etc. Do you think it's worth doing something like that or would it be easy enough to do all of that on our own? With regards to the nightlife, do most people just attend street parties the whole night or is going to clubs more popular?

Also, do you have any thoughts on whether we should break up the trip and go to Salvador, Bahia for a few days before coming to Rio? Our trip is going to be from January 26th through February 6th, so with 12 days, is it worth going to Salvador for a few days in the beginning before coming to Rio?

Thanks for your help!

hiya, right, re the carnaval tickets, you will really have to get them thru an agency, here or there to make sure are real ones and you get a good place, near the front and in a good sector, ie sitting on actual seats and not on the stands, and near the centre of the parade and not at beginning. Best sector from 7-11. As for night clubs, you can get in those here, and the parades at night are at the carnaval ground, the parades by day are on the streets. There arent street parties all night, people go to clubs and bars if they're not at the samba ground. YOu can get into those once here, the clubs and bars. The tickets for carnaval cost around 500US$ a night for great tickets, if you go onto the web you should be able to get a quote from the hotel you want and see whether the agency gives a better price or not. Dont forget all gets much more expensive then , espec hotels. and they usually have minimum number of nights over this time. You could go to salvador before for a few days, sure but it will also be carnaval madness there. It's a great city, all depends whether you want to be on beach there or in historical centre. In Salvador there are street aprties all night because the carnaval there ios different. Goes on for longer than in Rio.