The Rio Carnival Parade or Samba Parade is undoubtedly the highlight of the Rio Carnival, a totally unique event in the world. It is something everybody has to experience at least once in life.
The Rio Carnival Parade is however not a street style party, where people just move about as they like but rather a highly orchestrated show of vast proportions. Thus it is not free. However Rio Carnival Parade tickets are definitely worth the money. You will see (and probably dance to) a show you have never seen before. The Rio Carnival Parade is often referred to as the biggest Show on Earth.
The venue of the Rio Carnival Parade, the Sambodromo, is quite small and can only seat around 70,000 people. The demand for Rio Carnival Parade tickets is, obviously, significantly bigger as it is one of the most interesting and well-known events in the world. Lots of visitors from all over the globe arrive every year, just to see and experience it at least once in life. At the same time, all Brazilians and Rio citizens want to see it as often as possible. Thus you should buy your Rio Carnival Parade tickets well in advance not to get disappointed. Do not leave it to the last minute as tickets sell out and prices increase with time.
Rio Carnival Parade Tickets Description
All Rio Carnival Parade tickets are valid for one night only and are for a specific sector. You should decide for the day, seat type and sector.
You can buy tickets for any of the Rio Carnival Parade nights separately. The most important nights are Carnival Sunday and Monday, which are similar in terms of set-up. 6 of the best 13 Samba Schools (the Special Group) march on Sunday and 7 on Monday.
On Champion´s Saturday, the best samba schools parade once again. It is significantly more quite and tickets are much cheaper.
For deciding on the sector of your Rio Carnival Parade tickets, you can study the description of the Sambodromo with the sectors' map.
Tickets consist of two parts which are only valid together. One part, with a magnetic stripe, will be retained at the first gate to the Sambodromo. The remaining part, which you can put around your neck with the supplied string, is for your sector entrance. After you have checked into the Sambodromo with your magnetic card, you can come and go out of your sector as many times as you like and walk around within the Sambodromo but you can enter only your own sector.
In emergency or with special needs, you can agree with the Coordinator of your sector to leave the Sambodromo and return later that night.
Although tickets are allocated very early by the authorities they only issues vouchers to all agencies and applicants. These vouchers can be exchanged by the agents for the actual magnetic tickets only one week before Carnival, for security reasons and to avoid fraud. Thus tickets cannot be sent out before nevertheless they can be delivered within Rio after they come into existence.
Come to Carnival in Rio de Janeiro to see and experience the Rio Carnival Parade in the Sambodromo yourself.
Seat types
There are two types of seats: grand stand seats and numbered seats.
Grand stand seats (bleachers) offer free seating with no allocated seats. You can get as high and will sit wherever you want and can.
Allocated/numbered seats are either in boxes or there are numbered chairs. All seats in sector 9 (the tourist sector) are also numbered.
The numbered chairs are right on the samba run-way at Apotheosis Square, placed on steps for good viewing, in front of sectors 6 and 13. All of them are allocated and only the person with the right ticket can take them.
Boxes are covered or open.
The open boxes (so called "frisa") offer better value, are right on the samba run-way, in front of sector 3, 4, 5, 7, 9 and 11. Each open box seats 6 people and has a little coffee table and is as close to the run-way as it gets.
Covered boxes are the most expensive. The best ones are in the sector 2 building, on 3 floors (A, B and C-being the top floor). They hold 12 people. There are more covered boxes in between sectors 3, 5, 7 and 9 holding up to 20 spectators in A Boxes and 18 in B Boxes.
Recommendations The drummers of every school stop, perform and play in the drummers’ niche where the atmosphere is the most intense and at its highest. The open boxes in front of Sector 4 are located just opposite, offering the best view of them. Sector 11 is being one of the best grand stands as it is next to them with excellent acoustics. Sector 5 is right in the middle of the Avenue, offering ideal views from the front and back of the Parade. Sector 7 has one of the best locations and is more up-scale with most judges and better-off people.
Ticket Prices
Tickets are priced differently by the individual agents after the central allocation, reflecting their pricing policy. Agencies who source tickets from the central allocation charge less. Agencies using other intermediaries will charge more.
Sector 9 is called the tourist sector to justify the considerably higher price than all neighboring sectors. You might feel there quite isolated from the Brazilians and the "party". You will be better of in the boxes in front of Sector 4 for the same price and VIP seating.
Price differences between the sectors reflect what the market thinks about the view of the Parade from that particular section of the parading avenue. The best locations are around half-way and just a bit towards the end of the Avenue, being sectors 5 and 7.
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