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All About the Rio Sambodromo

Rio Sambodromo is home for the Rio de Janeiro Carnaval Samba Parades.

Located in the heart of Rio de Janeiro, the Passarela do Samba Darcy Ribeiro or the Sambodromo can easily be accessed from Rio’s International airport, the bus central or any of the central neighborhoods. The Sambodromo of Rio e Janeiro - known by Cariocas as Marques de Sapucai Avenue - is located right at the heart of Rio de Janeiro and thus close to various hotels, cultural centers, restaurants, metro stations and also to other Rio Carnival festivities such as the Terreirao, Cinelandia street partie, the Scala Rio, and the street bands competition. It is also close to the South Zone where a lot of the blocos, bandas and Rio Carnival balls take place.

The Sambodromo is a purpose built venue

Recognized as the biggest stage in the world, the Rio Sambodrome is designed to accommodate large numbers of people, which usually comprises of close to 100,000 spectators and participants. This permanent structure is used for other cultural events during the year as well as for shows by international artists that perform in Rio. Learn more about the Rio Sambodromo, its original construction and capacity.

The New Rio Sambodromo

Rio de Janeiro Carnival is always getting bigger and better. In 2012, the Rio Sambodromo was expanded to accommodate more people and more floats, now has an average of 80,000 people capacity. Four new concrete buildings were constructed, the sectors 2, 4, 6 and 8, with new seats for al types: grandstands, open boxes or frisas, and the luxury suites, also known as camarotes. Other smaller buildings between the big grandstands blocks were built to host five new comfortable luxury suites with capacity of 60 people in each one. Learn more about the New Sambodromo.

Sambodrome tickets

Tickets for the 2014 Sambodromo parade can be bought right here ahead of time. Though the sambodromo tickets can be purchased well in advance, they will only be issued a week before Rio Carnival kicks off for fear of duplicates being made and also for security reasons.

Depending on what your budget is and what you would like to see, there are a variety of options to choose from. Carnival Seats can be right next to the sambodromo parade at ground level or elevated for those who prefer a broader view, while seat types range from economical concrete bleachers to expensive, plush suites, offering 5 star amenities.

Sambodromo Map

An overview of the new Sambodromo map will give you a good understanding of where each category of seats is located, in terms of closeness to the Samba parade runway, as well as in terms of how close to or far away from the Apotheosis Square – the end of the runway – they are.

Amenities at the sambodromo

The venue contains restrooms, a taxi stand comprising of official taxis whose sole purpose is to take spectators to and from the Sambodrome, a souvenir shop and a number of vendors selling food and refreshments. The luxury suite package includes buffet meals and also has a waiter service.

Security measures are high and the venue is considered to be the safest place in the whole of South America, during Carnival. The presence of a number of high profile visitors ensures this. The Brazilian government takes extensive security measures to ensure that this event that attracts a huge number of tourists every year goes off without any untoward incidents.

Getting to the Sambadrome

There are several chartered buses that run to and from the venue, but hailing a cab that especially plies to and from the Sambadrome during this carnival is a better option. These taxis can be easily identified by the sticker on their windscreen. There is also a taxi line near the stadium from where you can catch one back when you are ready to leave. The cheapest way, is to catch the Rio Metro which runs 24 hours during the carnival days.

Other names for the Sambodromo

The official name of the venue is Passarela do Samba Darcy Ribeiro. It is most popularly known simply as Sambodromo, but also as Sambadrome Marques de Sapucai, after the street of the same name on which the venue was built. Another name it is known by is the Apotheosis Square, which is actually the name of the square at the end of the parade runway where participants finish the parade and also where the results of each Samba school is tabulated and announced on Ash Wednesday.

Rio Carnival Service

Our Rio Carnival Help Desk is willing to customize a Rio de Janeiro Carnival package for you and your party as well as giving you some very handy tips on costumes, and of course, the Party Planner.

Considering a group of six or more people to Rio de Janeiro for Carnival ? Our Carnival Group Desk will be glad to design your itinerary. Benefit from our Travel Group Rates with major airlines carriers as well as all the hotel and service arrangements while in Brazil.