Street Parades

Here it is ladies and gentlemen, in all it's drum bangin', booty shakin' finery - the party to end all parties - Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. For four days prior to Ash Wednesday each year Rio lights up and literally no-one is spared!

The commercial aspects of Carnival at the Sambadrome we've all seen on the box - the Parade of Schools where multi-million dollar floats and scantily clad locals (and tourists) compete to the rhythm of their baterias but Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is much, much more than what goes on in the Sambadrome.

Follow the bloco scene and party all night long to live music, local processions and Brazilian samba fuelled by plenty of the local poison, caipirihna - available from just about anyone, anywhere, anytime. For recuperation during those hazy daylight hours relax on some of the most magnificent beaches that grace God's given earth (Copabobana, Ipanema), then, prepare to do it all again. Carnival in Rio is in the streets, it's in the people, it's rhythmic and it's incessant. If you're body can handle it, you've just got to experience one Rio Carnival before your time is up!

If you like your parade floats Herculean, your parties non-stop (and seemingly without end), and you don't mind your celebrations going off with a bang - quite literally and repeatedly - then Valencia's, Las Fallas may just be the fiesta for you.

Each and every August the chic London suburb of Notting Hill turns it on for Europe’s biggest celebration of Carnival. DJs and live acts take to the streets, colorful floats and scantily clad revellers ply the parade route to a samba beat and miles of street stalls sell jerk chicken and blackened corn on the cob by the bucket-load. If you make it to London for one weekend this year make it the bank holiday weekend in August for London's very own carnival - Notting Hill Carnival.