Preparing for the worst could save your life
Dating back to the Middle Ages, the Carnival flourished for centuries before being abolished in 1797. Revived in 1979, it has since thrived, drawing three million visitors each year. Despite the packed streets and soaring hotel rates, three million people still flock to Venice to participate in the two-week extravaganza.
With its exquisite costumes and distinctive decorative masks, the Carnival of Venice is renowned worldwide. This spectacular event features historical reenactments and lavish masquerade balls that look straight out of a movie set.
In the early 1900s, Samba and Batucada rhythms, now iconic to Rio Carnival, were introduced. With its roots in West African traditions brought to Brazil by enslaved peoples, the samba style of music and dance is now embedded in Rio's identity, and it's an integral part of Carnival.
Considered the biggest celebration of Carnival in the world, with two million people per day on the streets, the Rio de Janeiro Carnival is a festival held every year before Lent. The first Carnival festival in Rio occurred in 1723. The first Rio masquerade was held in 1840, featuring polka and waltz.
Notting Hill Carnival was first held in 1966 attracting around 500 people. The carnival has since grown extensively, attracting more than one million people to West London over its weekend.
Notting Hill Carnival is Europe’s biggest street festival, with around one million people taking to the streets of the city to celebrate London’s Caribbean communities, traditions, and cultures. You can usually expect to see some 50,000 performers in the parade with more than 30 sound systems.
Participants can immerse themselves in the festivities by dressing as iconic characters such as Gilles, Peasants, Pierrots, and Harlequins. Among them, the Gilles are the most cherished, easily identified by their distinctive wax masks, wooden clogs, straw-filled costumes, and eccentric antics.
Recognized as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage event, Belgium's Binche Carnival dates back to approximately the 14th century and includes many folkloric traditions, including a ritual of throwing oranges for good luck.
Packed with parades, steel pan jam sessions, costume competitions, and stick-fighting, traditionally, the festival is associated with calypso music, developed by enslaved West and Central Africans in 17th century Trinidad. However, Soca music has begun to replace calypso as the more popular musical genre for the carnival.
The Trinidad and Tobago Carnival is an annual event held on the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday in Trinidad and Tobago, the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Coined the "Greatest Show on Earth," Trinidad and Tobago Carnival is one of the most popular carnivals in the Americas.
The oldest Carnival celebration in mainland Spain, Cádiz's festival originated from the city's trading partnership with Venice in the 16th century. Its main characteristic is humor. Through sarcasm, mockery, irony, and song, the main groups and the people of the street "purge" the most pressing problems of today.
The whole city participates in the carnival for more than two weeks each year. The most famous component of the festival is the singing groups, called chirigotas, who write and perform satirical lyrics.
As one of Italy's most widely attended events, Viareggio's six Carnevale parades draw thousands of spectators each year. The parades feature themed, animated caricatures of both Italian and international political figures, offering a critique of current events and social injustice.
The Carnival of Viareggio is an annual festival held in the Tuscan city of Viareggio, Italy. Renowned in Italy and across Europe, it takes place for five weekends. Usually between the second half of January and the first week of March.
A huge draw of the Santa Cruz Carnival is that it takes place on a stunning Canary Island. The whole island celebrates carnival, but Tenerife’s capital, Santa Cruz, is where you can find the biggest parties.
This energetic celebration begins with the crowning of the "Carnival Queen" in a gala featuring live music and elaborate costumes. Throughout the month-long Carnival, a host of daily parades, dances, and concerts keep visitors thoroughly entertained.
The Salvador de Bahia Carnival, acclaimed as the second largest Carnival in Brazil, differs from the Rio festivities in that samba parades do not play a role at all. The parades embody an African cultural influence that has been preserved over time.
Bahian Carnival is the annual six-day carnival festival celebrated in the Brazilian state of Bahia, mainly in its capital, Salvador. The overwhelming sound of hundreds of Bahian drummers is the highlight of the event.
This carnival is one of UNESCO's Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. More than 48 groups of folk dancers specializing in 18 different folk dances perform a pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Tunnel every Saturday of the carnival in a traditional parade.
The Oruro Carnival is a religious and cultural festival held in Oruro, Bolivia. Originally an indigenous celebration, the carnival was later transformed to incorporate a Christian ritual around the Virgin of Socavón.
From rainbow-filled parades and high-energy dance parties to drag performances and theater productions, the event attracts hundreds of thousands of people from across Australia and around the world, celebrating love, diversity, and equality in spectacular fashion.
In Australia, Carnival blends with one of the year's biggest celebrations: Pride. The Sydney Mardi Gras, one of the world's largest LGBTQ+ festivals, transforms the city with two weeks of dazzling festivities.
This three-week extravaganza beckons hundreds of tourists to "Experience Life" the St. Maarten way, with colorful parades, spectacular local and international concerts, and an abundance of culinary delights that demonstrate why St. Maarten is the culinary capital of the Caribbean.
The tropical carnival of Paris kicks off in early summer every year, and the streets are flooded with the pure fire that is Jamaican and Caribbean music, food, and dancing. The Carnival Tropical is part of the city's tradition of major cultural events.
From parades to exotic culinary offerings, thousands of dancers, musicians, performers, and singers take to the streets. This event captivates the senses and celebrates the cultural diversity of the city, drawing in thousands of visitors from all over the world.
Rijeka Carnival, Croatia’s largest and most vibrant festival, has been held annually since 1982, filling the city with color, spectacle, and unbridled energy. A dazzling blend of tradition and modern festivities, it draws over 100,000 participants and spectators.
Rijeka Carnival has its own traditions that you won’t see elsewhere, like the Zvoncari (aka the bell ringers), a group of men dressed up as animals who ring bells to ward off the evil spirits of winter. It showcases Croatia’s rich cultural heritage while embracing a spirit of fun and celebration.
Sources: (Guardian) (Lonely Planet) (Ryanair) (Travel and Leisure)
See also: Los templos más coloridos de México
With a tailor-made Carnival village, this is a very family-friendly carnival with themes and designs that parents can explain to their children and design costumes for. The Caribbean's longest annual festival runs from April to May.
Fat Tuesday’s Mardi Gras has earned a reputation as America’s ultimate street party, but in New Orleans, the celebration goes far beyond a single day. Krewes, social organizations that plan extravagant parades, balls, and parties, keep the festive spirit alive year-round, especially in the weeks leading up to the big event.
The first recorded Mardi Gras celebration in Louisiana took place on March 2, 1699, near the mouth of the Mississippi River in what is now Plaquemines Parish. Today, New Orleans boasts the longest revelry season, kicking off with Carnival and culminating in the world-famous Mardi Gras.
The dazzling spectacle of feathers and sequins, the tantalizing aroma of local cuisine, the cheers of an electrified crowd, the hypnotic pulse of percussion... Nothing compares to the magic of a great carnival. In some cities, carnival weekends bring more festivities than any public holiday, transforming streets into a whirlwind of color and celebration.
From New Orleans to Rio de Janeiro, Venice to London, you can don your most eye-catching attire and dance from day to night in some of the world’s most iconic festivities.
We’ve rounded up the 15 biggest, brightest, and most boisterous carnivals worth experiencing. Click through the gallery to explore them.
The 15 best carnivals around the world
A journey through the globe's most vibrant fiestas
TRAVEL Festivals
The dazzling spectacle of feathers and sequins, the tantalizing aroma of local cuisine, the cheers of an electrified crowd, the hypnotic pulse of percussion... Nothing compares to the magic of a great carnival. In some cities, carnival weekends bring more festivities than any public holiday, transforming streets into a whirlwind of color and celebration.
From New Orleans to Rio de Janeiro, Venice to London, you can don your most eye-catching attire and dance from day to night in some of the world’s most iconic festivities.
We’ve rounded up the 15 biggest, brightest, and most boisterous carnivals worth experiencing. Click through the gallery to explore them.