Rio's Carnival Might Not Happen Next Year Here's Why

Carnival attracts thousands of party-goers and travelers to Rio de Janeiro each year, drawn by the vibrant parades, exotic costumes and non-stop street parties. An event deeply ingrained in Brazilian culture, it’s unimaginable that Carnival would be canceled, yet a lack of funding coupled with delays in the float and costume creation is jeopardizing the celebration.
Carnival is one of the key events that has put Brazil on the map and Rio de Janeiro receives the highest number of visitors each year who come to watch the parades or party on the streets. However, this year, a series of unfortunate incidents have left Carnival in limbo and people are uncertain whether it will still go ahead.

Soon after Carnival 2017, Marcelo Crivella, Rio de Janeiro’s evangelical mayor, announced that budgets for Carnival would be halved and the extra money would fund children’s meals at public daycare centers. The top 13 samba schools – many of which provide free educational and sports activities to favela residents on top of paying for Carnival preparations – declared they wouldn’t be able to have Carnival with such a drastic budget cut. However, the samba schools continued with their preparations and the outlook for Carnival seemed positive.

Yet it wasn’t long before another blow set Carnival back. The Ministry of Labour in Rio de Janeiro closed the Cidade de Samba (City of Samba), citing that the top 13 samba schools had to fulfill a series of measures to ensure the safety of the employees there before it would be reopened. The Cidade de Samba is one of the most important venues for the Carnival preparations. The huge workshop is where all the top samba schools make their floats and costumes, and each school has a closed off workstation inside to protect their designs from being revealed to competitor schools or the prying eyes of outsiders. Currently, the Cidade de Samba remains closed, causing huge delays in tailoring the costumes and assembling the floats.

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.