How to parade with a samba school at Rio Carnival 2027

At a glance

How commercial wings work

A samba school crosses the Sambadrome in wings (alas), groups of people in the same costume. There are three ways in:

• Commercial wing (ala comercial). Some schools sell these places to the public, so anyone can buy a costume and parade without joining. Not every school has them. This is the usual route for a visitor.
• Membership. Schools without commercial wings ask you to become a member (associado) first.
• Drum section and dancers. The bateria screens people for ability and requires its rehearsals, as do the passistas and other choreographed groups. This rarely fits a short trip.

Most places are allocated months before Carnival, and few schools have any left close to the parade, so we start looking as soon as you know your dates. We name the school and the wing in the proposal.

Which nights you can parade in 2027

Each school parades on one night, and its place in the order sets roughly when you go. LIESA has not published the 2027 times. In 2026 the Special Group nights started at 21:45, and the last school entered between about 2:30 and 3:00.

The costume (fantasia)

Everyone in a wing wears the same costume, and schools start making the costumes about eight months before the parade.

After you book, we send your measurements to the school. The school sets the date and place for the fitting and the pickup, and we put both in your schedule. The proposal shows the costume and what it includes before you pay anything. You usually don’t keep it: costumes generally go back to the school to be used again in later years. If your school does it differently, the proposal says so.

Rehearsals and the samba

The samba-enredo is the song the school sings on the avenue. For 2027 the Special Group schools began choosing theirs on September 4, 2026, at finals in their halls (quadras). We send you the lyrics with a translation so you can sing the chorus.

Required rehearsals apply to the drum section, the dancers and the choreographed groups. For a commercial wing, we ask the school what it expects and put the answer in the proposal. If you are in Rio in January, you can watch a Special Group school at its free technical rehearsal at the Sambadrome on January 23, 24, 30 or 31, 2027.

Parade night, from concentration to dispersal

1. Getting there. In 2026 CET-Rio, the city traffic authority, closed lanes of Avenida Presidente Vargas to move the floats and banned parking around the Sambadrome. We plan your transfer around the 2027 closures once they are published.
2. Concentration (concentração). The school lines up here before it enters, and nothing here is judged. In 2026, schools in even positions lined up along Sector 1 toward the Balança Mas Não Cai building, and schools in odd positions from the Juizado de Menores building toward the CEDAE and Correios buildings. The metro station for the Balança is Central do Brasil. The school sets the time to report, and we get you there early.
3. The avenue. It is 700 meters long, and in 2026 each Special Group school had 70 to 80 minutes to cross it. About halfway, the drum section waits in a recess (recuo). Keep up with your wing: a gap in the school (buraco) can cost points, and so can moving into another wing’s space.
4. Dispersal (dispersão). This is the area past the final line, where the parade ends. We meet you there and take you back.

Parade one night, watch another

After the five competition nights, the six best-placed schools parade again in the Champions Parade on February 13. You can parade one night and watch another from the grandstands or a box, and friends can watch your own night. We book those seats in the same proposal; seat types are on our Rio Carnival 2027 page.

Groups

Wing sizes vary by school, so we ask the school how many places a wing has and confirm in the proposal whether the whole group goes in one wing. We work with groups from about 10 people. Groups of 50 and more are handled together with a large local receptive partner, and you keep one contact on our team. See the Carnival 2027 group program and our page for travel agencies.

What we take care of

• the school, the wing and the booking;
• your measurements, the fitting and the costume pickup;
• the samba lyrics with a translation;
• the transfer around the road closures, and a guide who takes you to the concentration area and meets you at the dispersal;
• seats for another night and a hotel, if you want them.

The price depends on the school, the wing and the costume, and the priced proposal reaches you within 24 hours. Terms and payment are set out in the proposal; you pay nothing before you confirm. Once you confirm a Carnival booking, our deposit is non-refundable, because your places and costumes are reserved for you.