Rio Carnaval LGBTQ+ 2027 — Gala Gay & Blocos

Rio Carnaval isn't just the world's biggest party; it's also its most LGBTQ+-friendly. For one week in February or early March, Rio de Janeiro loosens up. Gender and sexual expression, normally kept in check, get a free pass.

The main LGBTQ+ event is the Gala Gay at Scala nightclub. It's Brazil's most famous LGBTQ+ Carnaval ball, running since the 1960s, and it pulls in Brazilian celebrities, incredible drag queens, and a crowd dripping in sequins and feathers.

Beyond that, there are dozens of street *blocos*—those informal neighborhood street parties that draw hundreds of thousands. The *travesti* tradition in Carnaval performance goes back centuries here, from the elaborate Samba school productions in the Sambódromo to the casual street parties everywhere else. The Bola Preta *bloco*, one of Rio's oldest and biggest, can get a million people. It just swallows up a huge LGBTQ+ crowd into its famously open celebration.

If you can make it to Rio for Carnaval, expect beaches by day, balls and *blocos* by night. The whole city just explodes. It's really unlike anything else.