Description

Essentials about the Sambadrome in brief

Next to the Maracanã Stadium, the Sambódromo (Sambadrome) is probably the most famous building in Rio de Janeiro. During the Rio Carnival, the world-famous parades of the samba schools take place in the approximately 700-meter-long grandstand streets in front of nearly 90,000 spectators. Anyone who is on site during the carnival should get a ticket for this absolutely incomparable spectacle.

The construction of the Sambadrome

The Sambodrome, whose full name is “Sambódromo da Marquês de Sapucaí”, is located in the Cidade Nova district, which adjoins the city center to the west. The grandstand street was designed by the world-renowned architect Oscar Niemeyer and built in 1984. Before the construction of the Sambodrome, the parade was still held on Avenida Rio Branco in the center of Rio.

The carnival parades in the Sambadrome

The official carnival parades take place annually before the beginning of Lent on four consecutive nights. During this period, the samba schools compete against each other in the Sambodrome from 8 p.m. until the early hours of the morning. The up to 6,000 dancers and drummers of the individual schools present themselves there for 90 minutes each and transform the Sambodrome with their beautiful colorful costumes, their large show floats, their drum roll and of course their hot dance rhythms into a boiling witch’s cauldron full of colors, music and movement. A jury judges the performances according to various criteria such as originality and beauty of the costumes, rhythm and harmony of music and dance.

The Sambadrome outside the carnival season

Outside the carnival season, the Sambodrome is used by the samba schools for practice purposes. Those who are not in Rio during carnival and still want to visit the Sambodrome will probably be rather disappointed. Without the colorful costumes of the samba dancers, the grandstand street is a rather dull gray concrete block and not necessarily worth a photo.

Website

sambadrome.com

Opening hours

For the exact dates of the performances see the website.

Admission fees

Ticket prices vary depending on the type of seat you require. See the website for more information.

Address

Getting there

By public transport:

Metro lines L1, L2 and L4: Stops Central und Estácio

Bus lines 110D, 111, 203, 213, 220, 345, 362, 402, 415, 434, 464, 474, 497, 498, 721D, 775D, 1775D, 3721D and 9721D: Stop Rua Benedito Hipólito próximo ao 128-162

Bus lines 229, 409, 432, 433 and 444: Stop BRS 2 – Avenida Salvador de Sá próximo ao 88-96

By car:

In the immediate vicinity of the Sambadrome there are a number of car parks.