Buying tickets for Sambadrome 2016

A long way off I know, but advise sought as to when tickets for the Rio carnival 2016 can be purchased over the internet by a non resident.

Thanks

My advise is to buy a tour through the cruise line if possible.

Safe, but more expensive.

Well, I suppose it depends on how timid a traveler you consider yourself. The tours usually buy seating in grandstand Sector 9, an expensive assigned seat sector mostly full of foreign tourists, not Brazilians. Limits the enthusiasm, IMO; Brazilians really know how to party and will welcome you into their midst. Sunday and Monday are the nights the top schools parade.

It is fairly easy, and not overly risky, to DIY though.

One online reseller (all you will find are resellers/middle men unless you have Brazilian friends who can sit on the phone to the organizer LIESA on the initial sales day) that has been around (with good rep) for years is:

http://www.rio-Carnaval.net

Their site also explains a lot about different grandstand Sectors (middle ones give best views), other street level seating, and about the competition.

The Sambodromo can be reached (safely) by metro (different stop for Even and Odd sectors) or by taxi or by various shuttle buses. Iirc the site above runs buses for their ticket customers. Remember that the competition starts quite late and goes into the early hours of the morning as the six schools take their hour or so each to get through the stadium.

Read the site mentioned and post again if you have more questions.

I've just had a look at Sambradora information for 2015. We are travelling this itinerary to Rio in 2017 and wanted to compare prices. The ship is charging triple for the tickets you can buy privately!!! And there is a Sambradora bus shuttle that stops at the Port, so we will be doing our own thing. Have a look at the excellent info on the Rio Port site.

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Thank you for the replies. We had noticed there is considerable mark up from the cruise line in the grandstand area and we would prefer to keep our options open as to where we will be located.

A question for Hallam. "Have you had a bed experience of purchasing tickets privately? "

When crusing we almost always do our own thing, rather than book excursions through the ship as we find it gives us far more flexibility. (not to mention the cost element!!). However if you have had bad experiences in buying the tickets we will certainlay take it into account.

I did ask in my original question when the tickets for 2016 are likely to become available, can anyone assist with this please or advise if it is possible to go on a reserve list before tickets go on general sale

Carnaval takes place in February/March. The sale from LIESA is usually in September previous iirc. Prices tend to get posted online about October/November. But the resellers don't have actual tickets in hand until much closer to Carnaval because of security/cloning concerns. Resellers usually deliver to hotel/ship just before the event or have a location for pickup.

As mentioned, you will likely be buying from a reseller, so markups do differ. Expect prices to rise each year as well. Different seating/sectors do vary in price. Do realize that tourist Sector 9 is the only grandstand sector that has assigned seating. Otherwise it's first come in the grandstands.

You are a star with all the info you pride Visa, thank you.

My wife has good walking mobility but has difficulty standing still for lengthy periods. For this reason and from what we have read, we are considering the seated open boxes, which seem to be close to the parade? and perhaps therefore not the best vantage point?

We understand that "seats" in the foreigners grandstand are numbered, and might have a better overall view of the parade, but if most people around us stand up then viewing the parade might be a problem?

We are doing the Amazon in the Maasdam in Jan 2016 and are also starting to look around & get info on the parade in Rio for Carnival. It's good to read about what is out there. Thanks

Allan & Marlane

You are a star with all the info you pride Visa, thank you.

My wife has good walking mobility but has difficulty standing still for lengthy periods. For this reason and from what we have read, we are considering the seated open boxes, which seem to be close to the parade? and perhaps therefore not the best vantage point?

We understand that "seats" in the foreigners grandstand are numbered, and might have a better overall view of the parade, but if most people around us stand up then viewing the parade might be a problem?

I don't know exactly what to advise you. Yes, in the grandstands, most people will be on their feet. Maybe not all the foreign tourists in Sector 9 though. You can bring some sort of stadium seat cushion to save yourself a seating space in the other sectors, but your/her view may be blocked by people standing, yes. You can get an overview of the different wings of the parade with their different costumes, see the overall patterns, and how the multi-story floats fit in. You can get an idea from most videos on YouTube.

The seats on the street/asphalt give a different view. Never been down there, but have watched the TV coverage (Brazilian TV shows the whole thing, all night and early morning) many times which show that vantage point. The front tables/seats are right next to the people parading, at the same level, but that's what you see, up close. The ones further back, can't say about the view. Don't know how comfortable or supportive the seats actually are either, maybe pretty flimsy.

We went to Carnivale in Rio this year 2014, we went with a local agent who got us tickets and also gave us transportation for an added costs. We had excellent boxed seats for less money than what the ship was charging for grandstand tickets. Also the ship's tour left early, and if you are going to experience Carnivale you need to stay late! The best schools go last.

I have written about it extensively in my blog with lots of pictures.

If I had to do it again I would still use this agent to get Sambadromo tickets but would not take the transportation. It was very expensive and at the end we could not locate him for transport back and thankfully one of the friendly locals got in touch with them and arranged transport back for the group of us.

There were numerous taxi outside after that we could of easily have used if we hadn't already arranged transport.

There were many on the ship who were able to scoop up tickets the day of too.

Here is my blog about attending Carnivale http://vickieandbernietravel.blogspot.ca/2014/03/carnival-rio-de-janeiro-march-1-2014.html