Rio Carnival 2027 — dates, order of samba schools and anthem of Viradouro

Rio is preparing, and the whole world is holding its breath. From Friday 5 to Tuesday 9 February 2027, the city lives at the rhythm of Carnival — but the heart of the show is beating in a specific place: the Sambodrome Marquês de Sapucaí, the concrete avenue designed by Oscar Niemeyer, where the 12 schools of the Grupo Especial, the elite of the samba, parade three nights during — Sunday 7, Monday 8 and Tuesday 9 February — four schools per night, in front of tens of thousands of spectators and millions of viewers.

The order of the parades is already sealed by LIESA, the league of samba schools. On Sunday, February 7th: União de Maricá will open the ball, followed by Beija-Flor, Paraíso do Tuituti and Vila Isabel. Monday, 8th: Mocidade, Unidos da Tijuca, Salgueiro and Imperatriz Leopoldinense. On Tuesday, 9th, the night of the giants: Portela, then the reigning Unidos do Viradouro, then Grande Rio — and the mythical Mangueira will close the parade, like a green and pink organ on the 2027 edition.

And the champion has already chosen her weapon: her samba-enredo. In her quadra de Niterói, the Viradouro retained "Griô", the endo imagined by carnivalesco Tarcísio Zanon and the enredista João Gustavo Melo, carried by the carria of composers led by Mocotó and Paulo César Feital and by the voice of Wander Pires. The griots — these masters storytellers from West Africa, guardians of the memory of the peoples, historians without books whose words are worth an archive — will cross the Atlantic to march on the Sapucaí. This bridge between the Sahel griots and the Sambatists of Rio reminds us: the same ancestral word, from one continent to another, continues to make the crowds dance.

The Viradouro will not be alone in making the Tamborin vibrate: the 12 sambas-enredo of the 2027 edition appeared on album on 29 October 2026, produced under the aegis of LIESA and Edimusa, with Alceu Maia in production. From that date, all Rio will know the choruses by heart — for in Rio, a samba-enredo is learnt as a national anthem: it sings in the quadras of the schools, open to visitors, and in the streets, months before the first parade.

The Rio Carnival is not just about the Sambodrome. As early as mid-January, hundreds of blocks — these free and joyfully chaotic neighborhood bands — invade the streets from the centre to Santa Teresa. At the end of January, the technical rehearsals of schools, free and open to all at the Sambodrome even (23, 24, 30 and 31 January 2027), offer a taste of the show in real conditions. And the Ouro Series, the second division of schools, scrolls on February 5 and 6 with a fervor that has nothing to envy to the elite.

Discover Rio during the Carnival, it is also visit the Cidade do Samba, the workshop city where tanks and costumes are born; share a Saturday feijoada in a quadra; and, between two nights of samba, find the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, a caipirinha facing the bay. Then, when the points are counted and the tears dried, the six best schools will return one last time, on Saturday 13 February, for the Champions' Challenge — the night Rio says thank you to his queens. Festival TV will be there, microphone in hand: the world's largest carnival is now entering our catalogue, with its complete sheet — order of parades, dates and official sources. With your feathers, your glitters: the Sapucaí already has its hymn!

Practical information

Rio Carnival — edition 2027, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Carnival Festival: Friday 5 to Tuesday 9 February 2027

Scrolls of the Grupo Especial: Sunday 7, Monday 8 and Tuesday 9 February 2027, at the Sambodrome Marquês de Sapucaí (4 schools per night)

Ouro Series: February 5 and 6, 2027 — Champions' Championship: Saturday, February 13, 2027

Free technical rehearsals at the Sambodrome: 23, 24, 30 and 31 January 2027

Official album of the 12 sambas-enredo 2027: October 29, 2026 (LIESA/Edimusa)

Organizer: LIESA — official tourism promotion: Riotur (riotur.rio)

— Moïse 1er, the Festival Explorer