Rio Carnival 2027 · The confirmed programme
Rio Carnival 2027: Parade Dates, Schools & Rehearsals
The 2027 parade order is set: 17 Série Ouro schools appear on 5–6 February, followed by 12 Special Group schools on 7–9 February. Four free technical-rehearsal dates are confirmed for January, and the Champions’ Parade takes place on 13 February.
Schedule verified: 13 October 2026 · Rio de Janeiro local datesThe 2027 season, in order
Rio Carnival 2027 event calendar
The important distinction is between the wider street-Carnival season and the ticketed competitive nights at the Sambadrome. The latter have confirmed dates and school running orders; individual street-procession details are still subject to approval.
| Date | What is scheduled | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 16 January, Saturday | Planned start of Rio street Carnival; individual bloco routes not yet finalized | Provisional |
| 23, 24, 30 & 31 January | Free Special Group technical rehearsals at the Sambadrome | Announced |
| 5 February, Friday | Série Ouro — first night, eight schools | Order confirmed |
| 6 February, Saturday | Série Ouro — second night, nine schools | Order confirmed |
| 7 February, Sunday | Grupo Especial — União de Maricá, Beija-Flor, Paraíso do Tuiuti, Vila Isabel | Order confirmed |
| 8 February, Monday | Grupo Especial — Mocidade, Unidos da Tijuca, Salgueiro, Imperatriz | Order confirmed |
| 9 February, Tuesday | Grupo Especial — Portela, Viradouro, Grande Rio, Mangueira | Order confirmed |
| 12 February, Friday | Parade by children’s samba schools (escolas mirins) | Announced |
| 13 February, Saturday | Champions’ Parade — six highest-ranked 2027 Special Group schools | Date confirmed |
Calendar references: LIESA parade order and mirim dates, LIESA rehearsal schedule, Liga RJ Série Ouro calendar, and Riotur street-Carnival planning.
Not yet finalized: Published order is not the same as each school’s exact start time. Check the organizers again for gate-opening information, entry schedules and event-day notices. The names of the six schools in the Champions’ Parade cannot be confirmed before the 2027 results are announced.
7, 8 and 9 February · Three nights
2027 Special Group running order — all 12 schools
LIESA conducted the parade-order draw on 16 April 2026 at Cidade do Samba. União de Maricá, Mocidade and Portela were already assigned the opening positions on their respective nights; the remaining places were decided by the draw.
Below are the exact running orders and the schools’ announced 2027 enredos — the themes around which they are developing their music, costumes, floats and choreography. Read them as an introduction to the stories being prepared, not as a prediction of performance quality.
| Order | School | 2027 theme / enredo |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday 7 February | ||
| 1 | União de Maricá | Utopia Brasil: Darcy Ribeiro |
| 2 | Beija-Flor de Nilópolis | Zeneida – O Sopro do Pó de Louro |
| 3 | Paraíso do Tuiuti | Ciata: A Mãe Preta do Samba |
| 4 | Unidos de Vila Isabel | Torto Arado: Sobre a terra há de viver sempre o mais forte |
| Monday 8 February | ||
| 1 | Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel | Latinamente Independente – Nosso norte é o Sul em Remanifesto |
| 2 | Unidos da Tijuca | A Cabeça do Santo |
| 3 | Acadêmicos do Salgueiro | Laroyê Xica da Silva: A História por trás da História |
| 4 | Imperatriz Leopoldinense | A memória do rei e o sumiço de Dona Júlia |
| Tuesday 9 February | ||
| 1 | Portela | Ao Mestre, com carinho |
| 2 | Unidos do Viradouro | Griô |
| 3 | Acadêmicos do Grande Rio | Sankofa Tabon: Os retornados da Costa do Ouro e a Estrela Negra da Liberdade |
| 4 | Estação Primeira de Mangueira | Oyá Por Nós |
The order comes from LIESA’s 16 April draw. Each school name in the table links directly to its current LIESA profile, which identifies its 2027 theme.
Sunday: 7 February
Sunday begins with União de Maricá, promoted after winning Série Ouro in 2026. Beija-Flor follows, then Paraíso do Tuiuti, with Vila Isabel closing the night. Themes include Darcy Ribeiro, Zeneida, Tia Ciata and Torto Arado.
Monday: 8 February
Mocidade opens, followed by Unidos da Tijuca, Salgueiro and Imperatriz. This line-up places the Latin America theme and literary adaptation before narratives involving Xica da Silva and Imperatriz’s announced historical story.
Tuesday: 9 February
Portela opens. Viradouro, the 2026 champion, takes the second slot; Grande Rio follows; Mangueira closes the Special Group competition with its theme honoring Oyá.
What is distinctive in 2027? The confirmed line-up combines a newly promoted Special Group school, the defending 2026 champion, and themes spanning Afro-Brazilian ancestry, literature, spirituality and Brazilian cultural figures. Choosing a night by school or enredo is more meaningful than treating every parade evening as interchangeable. To understand each school beyond the 2027 theme, see the Rio samba schools guide.
5–6 February · Série Ouro
Série Ouro 2027: the two opening competition nights
Before the Special Group begins, the Sambadrome hosts Série Ouro, organized by Liga RJ. Its 2027 programme has 17 schools: eight on Friday and nine on Saturday. These are separate competitions; a ticket for a Série Ouro night is not automatically admission to the Special Group.
Friday · 5 February
Eight schools, in order
- São Clemente
- Unidos do Jacarezinho
- Unidos do Porto da Pedra
- Acadêmicos de Vigário Geral
- Acadêmicos de Niterói
- União da Ilha do Governador
- Unidos da Ponte
- Unidos de Bangu
Saturday · 6 February
Nine schools, in order
- Acadêmicos de Santa Cruz
- Inocentes de Belford Roxo
- Estácio de Sá
- Unidos de Padre Miguel
- Arranco do Engenho de Dentro
- Império Serrano
- Em Cima da Hora
- Botafogo Samba Clube
- União do Parque Acari
Running orders published by Liga RJ’s 2027 Série Ouro portal. Liga RJ’s technical-rehearsal calendar and final results were still marked as pending at the time this page was reviewed.
In 2027, São Clemente has the first Friday slot, while Acadêmicos de Santa Cruz opens Saturday. The two nights offer an opportunity to see the competitive structure below the Special Group, including schools with long-standing connections to neighborhoods such as Estácio, Ilha do Governador, Bangu and Madureira. If Série Ouro is your priority, plan around its own ticket announcements and not the Special Group sales calendar.
January · No ticket price
Free technical rehearsals: exact 2027 dates and times
LIESA has published four free technical-rehearsal dates at the Marquês de Sapucaí. These are working run-throughs for the schools and production, with lighting and sound tests. They are not the finished costume-and-float presentation seen on competition nights.
| Date | Earlier programme | Special Group rehearsals |
|---|---|---|
| Sat 23 January | From 17:30 — Golfinhos do Rio de Janeiro, Ainda Existem Crianças na Vila Kennedy, Corações Unidos do CIEP | From 20:00 — União de Maricá, Beija-Flor, Paraíso do Tuiuti |
| Sun 24 January | From 17:00 — Inocentes da Caprichosos, Miúda da Cabuçu, Império do Futuro | From 19:00 — Vila Isabel, Mocidade, Unidos da Tijuca |
| Sat 30 January | From 17:30 — Petizes da Penha, Nova Geração do Estácio, Infantes do Lins | From 20:00 — Salgueiro, Imperatriz, Portela |
| Sun 31 January | From 17:00 — Lavagem da Sapucaí | From 19:00 — Viradouro, Grande Rio, Mangueira |
Schedule, free admission and start windows: LIESA, 9 September 2026. Listed times refer to the start of a programme block, not an exact individual-school entrance time.
What can you watch?
On each date, the evening pairs children’s samba-school performances or a special prelude with rehearsals by three Special Group schools. The rehearsal is valuable for hearing the samba-enredo and seeing the scale and movement of a school on the actual parade avenue.
What should you not expect?
A technical rehearsal is not equivalent to the official parade. Do not assume completed floats, final costume presentation, assigned seats, hospitality services or the same access arrangements as a paid competition night. Recheck admission guidance before attending.
For a visitor already in Rio in late January, these rehearsals are a particularly useful 2027 option: all 12 Special Group schools have announced appearances across the four dates. If you want to hear Mangueira, Grande Rio or Viradouro before the competition, for example, the published rehearsal date for all three is 31 January.
12–13 February · After the competition
Children’s schools and the Champions’ Parade
Friday 12 February
Escolas mirins
LIESA has scheduled a parade of 12 children’s samba schools, including Maricá do Futuro, Herdeiros da Vila, Filhos da Águia, Pimpolhos da Grande Rio and Mangueira do Amanhã. This is a different event from the adult Special Group competition. LIESA’s 2027 Passaporte announcement describes the 12 February event as free to attend.
Saturday 13 February
Desfile das Campeãs
The six best-ranked Special Group schools return to Sapucaí for the Champions’ Parade. Its date is confirmed, but the participating schools will only be identified following the 2027 judging. Do not confuse the previous year’s winning schools with the 2027 Champions’ Parade line-up.
Booking a visit around 13 February? The Champions’ Parade is a separate night, not an extension of a ticket purchased for 7, 8 or 9 February. Confirm the category and date printed on the ticket.
2027-specific ticket updates
Ticket announcements already made for 2027
The 2027 ticket season has had multiple release stages. These are published historical sale terms, not a claim that the corresponding seats remain available today.
| Ticket release / type | Published terms |
|---|---|
| Passaporte Rio Carnaval | R$499 for the three Special Group competition nights (7–9 February), in the March 2026 release; personal and non-transferable. |
| Special grandstands and numbered chairs | R$250 full admission or R$125 concession for one night in the September release. Grandstands were offered in sectors 2–11 except 9; numbered chairs in sector 12. |
| Frisas (box-style seating) | September offer: boxes for six people, quoted from R$1,835 to R$10,200 according to position near the avenue; availability and payment conditions vary by release. |
Price and condition sources: LIESA Passaporte announcement and LIESA September tickets announcement.
For the current inventory, use the sales route identified by LIESA: Ticketmaster Brasil — Rio Carnaval. LIESA warns that it does not sell official admission via unsolicited direct messages or WhatsApp links. The full Rio Carnival tickets guide will explain seating categories, entry details and how to assess the purchasing terms without mixing them into this programme page.
Street Carnival 2027 · Approval process
What is known about the 2027 bloco calendar?
Riotur announced that the 2027 Rio street-Carnival season is expected to start on 16 January. That is a planning start date, not a published itinerary identifying every bloco, neighborhood, route or gathering time.
Riotur opened registration for street groups on 24 August 2026 and closed applications on 24 September. Its published administrative timeline includes municipal reviews through October, follow-up documentation into January 2027 and a final documentation step on 15 January. A group expressing interest in parading is not the same as a procession that has completed the authorization process.
Avoid planning around an unverified bloco listing: until an official authorization and practical timetable are published, treat social-media posters or last year’s route as tentative. The street Carnival & blocos guide covers how to choose and attend a procession; the Carnival dates page will maintain the broader day-by-day calendar.
Source: Riotur, 2027 street-bloco registration and authorization timeline.
Choosing dates for this specific edition
Which 2027 dates match your interest?
I want a full competition night
Choose 7, 8 or 9 February and use the confirmed school order to select the four schools you most want to see. Tuesday 9 February includes the 2026 champion Viradouro and closes with Mangueira.
I want more than one school level
Choose 5–9 February to overlap Série Ouro and Grupo Especial. This is the period that includes all five competition nights on the main Sambadrome calendar, with separate ticket requirements.
I will be in Rio in January
Target 23, 24, 30 or 31 January if the priority is a free technical rehearsal. Unlike a general suggestion to visit before Carnival, the 2027 dates and participating Special Group schools are already identified.
If you can stay only through 9 February, you should not expect to see the Champions’ Parade: it takes place on 13 February. If your visit starts after the competition, plan around that separate return performance rather than assuming the main judging nights continue through the week.
Specific questions about the 2027 edition
Rio Carnival 2027 FAQs
Which school opens the first Special Group parade in 2027?
União de Maricá opens the Special Group on Sunday 7 February. It earned promotion by winning Série Ouro in 2026. Beija-Flor, Paraíso do Tuiuti and Vila Isabel follow in that order.
When will Mangueira parade in 2027?
Mangueira is fourth and last on Tuesday 9 February, following Portela, Viradouro and Grande Rio. Its announced 2027 theme is Oyá Por Nós.
Are the January 2027 Sambadrome rehearsals free?
Yes. LIESA announced free technical rehearsals on 23, 24, 30 and 31 January. The official programme specifies the school groups and the starting time of each block. Any updated admission conditions should be rechecked before visiting.
When does Série Ouro parade at Rio Carnival 2027?
The two Série Ouro nights are Friday 5 February, with eight schools, and Saturday 6 February, with nine schools. The running order is maintained by Liga RJ separately from LIESA’s Special Group timetable.
Who will parade at the Champions’ Parade on 13 February?
The six highest-placed schools in the 2027 Special Group standings will return. Their names are not yet determined as of October 2026; they depend on the results of the February competition.
Has the official 2027 street-bloco schedule been published?
Riotur expects the street season to begin on 16 January 2027, but individual processions need authorization and confirmed route details. The planned season opening should not be mistaken for a fully approved list of blocos.
Continue with the relevant detailed guide
Use the 2027 programme to make your next decision
School dates are now fixed. Choose the guide that answers the next question instead of repeating the whole Carnival overview.
Publication check: 13 October 2026. Dates and orders are drawn from the named organizers; unscheduled items are clearly distinguished. All times on this page use the local clock in Rio de Janeiro. Check organizers’ announcements again before travelling.