Brazilians are experts at the art of the party. The five-day debauch of Brazil’s Carnaval is the world’s biggest and baddest party, but there are frequent, colorful festivals all across the nation, celebrating everything from saints to seafood. There are now even Carnaval festivities outside of Carnaval season: check out the pre-season Carnatal (Natal), the post-season Fortal (Fortaleza), Brazil’s biggest off-season celebration. The new year kicks off with a bang on Rio’s Copacabana beach, site of the annual Reveillon. Soon after comes Lavagem do Bonfim in Salvador’s Pelourinho, the world’s only party for staircase-washing enthusiasts. Semana Santa (Holy Week) is celebrated all over the country with lavish processions and stately church services, but they’re at their most awe-inspiring in historic Ouro Preto. The truly devout can head north to Nova Jerusalém for the world’s biggest Passion Play. June kicks off with the Festas Juninas, a Northeastern harvest festival now celebrated throughout Brazil; Sergipe is our top choice for this fun-filled event. Fast on the heels of the Juninas is the hotly contested folkloric celebration of Parintins’s Boi-Bumbá, now one of the most popular non-Carnaval celebrations for tourists. You’ll forget you’re in Brazil (OK, you’ll forget pretty much everything) at beer-guzzling Blumenau’s Oktoberfest, second in size and popularity only to Munich’s. Sporting events in Brazil always call for a big celebration. Aside from giving in to the futebol fever that grips the country year-round, travelers flock to the Grand Prix held in São Paulo and the Semana de Vela (Sailing Week) in Ilhabela.
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For 52 years, we have published the world’s favorite budget travel guides, written entirely by students and updated every year. With pen and notebook in hand and a few changes of underwear stuffed in our backpacks, we spend months roaming the globe in search of travel bargains.
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