Salvador Carnival is "The World's Largest Party". No other popular party in the world is more famous than Salvador Carnival in Bahia Brazil. It is an explosion of happiness you’ve certainly never seen before. The Carnival happens in every city of the country, but no other city in Brazil has a carnival as the Salvador Carnival. We know that this may sound strange to foreigners who always ask: “what about Rio?” No doubt, the carnival parade in Rio is maybe the most beautiful spectacle in the world, but if you are looking for real fun, the Salvador Carnival is the place to go. Salvador Carnival is different and bigger. If in Rio you are a spectator of the parade, in the Salvador Carnival you are the show. If in Rio the carnival parades are done in two days, the Salvador Carnival last one week!!! Carnival in Rio parade is just 700 meters of street while SALVADOR CARNIVAL in Bahia takes kilometers of streets. Salvador Carnival, or Carnaval (as it's spelled in Portuguese) always starts on a Thursday (february) and it runs "officially" through Tuesday. Unofficially, Salvador Carnival ends on Wednesday noon, with a big parade of Timbalada and other trios. It is not a coincidence that thousands of Brazilians move to Salvador every February. Let us try to explain how the things occur. Instead of the famous parade of Samba Schools with those wonderful fantasies that most of the people know, Salvador Carnival happen “behind the Trio Eletrico”.


THE SALVADOR CARNIVAL WAY:

Roughly speaking, the Trio Elétrico is a big truck, driven very slowly, loaded with thousands of watts of sound equipments and with a band playing on the top. Surrounding the truck, there is a big rope carried by hundreds of security guards. This structure is organized by a private company, called “bloco”. Each Bloco sells a different T-shirt called “Abadá”. This T-shirt is you entrance ticket and allows you to get into the rope area. The biggest Blocos, like the Camaleão, have over four thousand people, dancing, drinking, kissing and having fun during Salvador Carnival. The people who aren't in blocos, and therefore are outside of the roped-off areas around the trios, are called "Pipoca". Inside the rope the security is good and the situation is reasonably organized, what cannot be said at the “Pipoca”.


SALVADOR CARNIVAL ACCOMODATIONS

We recommend you to book your Salvador Carnival accomodation in advance. Forget about reasonable pricing and international standards, instead, think about offer and demand. Salvador is a 3 million city, and in just one week of Salvador Carnival 1 million people gathered to enjoy the party. So this is it about Salvador Carnival accomodation prices.

Logically, the closer you stay from the two Salvador carnival parade areas the more expensive the accomodation. But the impact of 1 million people makes every single place become expensive. No matter your choice, you are basically paying not for the accomodation itself but for attending the biggest party on earth!.

SALVADOR CARNIVAL HOTELS

You can find accomodations for the Carnival week on a private double room from BRL 4000 to 6000. The difference depends on the location and facilities. Be aware that "attendance" isn't one of the attractions in Salvador Bahia Hotels, so relax.

SALVADOR CARNIVAL POUSADAS, GUESTHOUSES & HOSTELS

These are probably the best cost-effective accomodation in Salvador Carnival, Either if you don't mind to share a room or if you're coming in a group of 4+ each dolar will give you more satisfaction in these kind of places. Why? Because Salvador is still away from tourism international standards and many of these small places are managed by their owners so you hav the chance to find a better attendance. From the fancy guesthouses and hostels ran by foreigners to the cheap (an usually ugly) places to stay prices range from BRL800 to 1600 per person for a week, again depending on location and facilities. TIP: Although the area of "Pelourinho" have the cheapest prices for carnival try to avoid staying there, it is too dangerous at night because is sorrounded by ghetos. Besides, is far away of the beaches and since this is a walking area where cars are not allowed, you'll have to walk a mile to get in and out and find some transportation (this is particularly annoying when you come back at night exausted and probably drunk). We recommend to stay in Barra area, the safest place, sorrounded by beaches, and very comfortable with everything you may need at few steps, including transportation.

There are only few guesthouses/hostels, that can offer good attendance in foregin languages together with nice decoration, facilities and nice ambience. we recommend:

SALVADOR CARNIVAL PARADES & ABADAS

TIP: if you want to go to Salvador Carnival don’t think about saving money not buying "Abadás", they are absolutely necessary and worth the price! either to parade with the bands or staying in a "Camarote", a kind of balcony or tribune along the parade route from where you can watch the bands and when you feel like jump into the streets with the real crowd.

Lets get familiar with some Carnival terms:
The bands play on top of huge trucks called "Trios". The "Blocos" are organizations who can manage one or more Trios. Sometimes, one artist or band plays in different Trios or Blocos.

The most famous bands (Trios), but not necessarily the best, are Camaleão where Chiclete com Banana plays, Crocodilo with Daniela Mercury, Olodum and Timbalada

The party normally last for one week, until wednesday noon (March 9th). The Salvador Carnival starts around 4pm, an earlier on Saturday and Sunday. There are two Carnival Parade routes where the bands play. One close to the old district of "Pelourinho" and another by the beach in Barra.

Each Trio plays almost every day in one of these routes. You can by an "abadá" or a "camarote" for each day. If you want, you can also try different Trios on the same day, with the alternative to see everything the Salvador Carnival has to offer. In some camarotes you can have free drinks and a dj ambience, having fun without getting too tired. It also provides a great view of the party. Just remember that it is not so safe and comfortable (for the first timers) to stay on the streets as "Pipoca" (which means popcorn). If you want to bring your camera we recommend to buy an abadá or a camarote.

Another traditional aspect of the Salvador Carnival are the Afro blocos, important cultural agents for the resurgence of African-Brazilian identity. The most famous are the Ile-Ayê and Filhos de Gandhi (Gandhi’s Sons), over 5000 men, all wearing white/blue dresses and turbans.

So far, these are the parades during the Salvador Carnival:
1. Barra, starting at the light tower by the beach
2. Avenida, starting at Campo Grande square
3. Pelourinho, a small unpluged parade

1. Barra parade
The Trios start at the Farol da Barra (the light tower) and go along the ocean to Ondina. The course takes about three hours. Nowadays there is a tendency for the bigger names to play on this parade.
2. Avenida parade
Salvador Carnival's official opening is at Campo Grande, and this is where the political bigshots sit and where the Salvador Carnival contest of blocos takes place. The Trios move from Campo Grande by the Avenida Sete de Setembro to Praça Castro Alves. From there they turn around and make their way back to Campo Grande by Rua Carlos Gomes, parallel to Avenida Sete.

3. Pelourinho unpluged parade
It has been added in the last years No trios here, rather a lot of old-time marching bands.

SALVADOR CARNIVAL TRIOS / BLOCOS

From the musical point of view we recommend the following Trios: Olodum, Araketu, Tatau, Claudia Leite, Timbalada, Daniela Mercury and Psirico.

The Police Salvador Carnival is heavily policed, specially in Barra. Stands with a group of ten police officers are everywhere and the streets are constantly patrolled by these groups, moving in a single line and usually arriving quickly at any incident.

How to Avoid Being Robbed During Salvador Carnival The words "Land of Happiness" are often used to describe Bahia. While there is a strong element of truth in this, the reality (as in the cast of most things we learn) is a little more complicated. The larger truth of the matter is that you are in a poor city with plenty of inhabitants who would happily finance their own Carnival happiness at your expense. This means "pickpocketing" in an often grossly unsubtle manner, i.e. hands jammed into your pockets with no pretense at all made to disguise the fact that somebody is trying to relieve you of your money.

How to avoid this? One way is to stay out of and away from the heavy crowd called "pipoca", where is basically impossible to avoid pickpocketing. But who wants to come all the way to Bahia and do this?

Better to:
Tie your keys into your shoelaces and keep your money stuffed into your sock.
Better yet: keep your money either in an inside pocket or in a change purse attached by a strong safety pin, to the inside of your Carnival shorts.
Better yet: use gym pants with no outside pockets at all.







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