February world over is carnival season, be it the Venice carnival or the festivities of Madi Gras in New Orleans but if one carnival rules supreme it’s the one in Brazil!
For the Carnival of course!! While today most tourists visit Rio de Janerio to see the Carnival, cities like Sao Paulo south of Rio and Salvador in Bahia are also becoming very popular with tourists to visit for the Carnival.
Carnival was a festival started in the 1800’s as a Portuguese tradition of indulging before the 46 day period of Lent where Roman Catholics practice abstinence in preparation for Easter. If you think Carnival is same everywhere in Brazil you would be wrong. Carnival in Brazil is diverse and you must plan and pick carefully depending on the type of celebration you are keen on and also because it the most popular time to travel and can get expensive. While we already mentioned the three most popular cities for Carnival for a more local celebration places like Olinda near Recife are great and São Luiz do Paraitinga a small village between Rio and Sao Paulo celebrates the carnival in a more sustainable fashion.
Brazil lies in the Southern Hemisphere which means the seasons are an exact opposite of the Northern Hemisphere. December to March is summer in Brazil but that said because it’s a big country many regions have sub climates. February is the sunniest month is Rio so if you don’t like the sun maybe you can choose to celebrate carnival in northern towns.
