Visiting the beautiful ruins of the Jesuit Missions is often the main reason why people swing by Encarnacion for a couple of days. Nevertheless, during a certain period of the year, the city turns the festive lights on for a much awaited event and becomes a hub for local & international tourism.
It is indeed the Carnival!
Most people usually don’t know that the Carnival of Encarnacion is nothing but the most famous carnival in Paraguay and Northern Argentina. The event is so important that the city itself actually has a smaller version of Rio de Janeiro’s sambadrome where to host it!
Dates & Timings
Until a couple of years ago, carnival was celebrated for 5 consecutive weekends during the month of late January & February. Unfortunately, in recent years, due to the negative effects of this celebration on the city conditions, the municipality of Encarnacion has decided to limit carnival celebrations to only 5 consecutive Saturdays per year.
You can find the dates for 2019 and for the next coming carnivals on the official page of Asuncion municipality. Even though the dates on posters say the carnival is over the span of two days, that is correct and incorrect at the same time.
The carnival show inside the sambadrome starts at 9pm on the Saturday and goes on until 2am on the Sunday early morning (sometimes even 3am), hence why the event is displayed over two days.
Seats & Tickets Prices
The sambadrome is like a huge corridor where you have various seating options (graderia, palco bajo & palco alto) on the sides. During the performance, the dancers will slowly make their way from the beginning to the end of the sambadrome but will take a small stop in front of the judge panel located halfway through. As a general rule, the cheapest seats options are (1) graderia 30’000-90’000Gs, (2) palco bajo 30’000-100’000Gs. and (3) palco alto 30’000-150’000Gs.
Nonetheless, the more central the seats the higher the price will get across all seating categories. For example, a seat at the end/beginning of the sambadrome will be priced the same for pretty much all kind of seats but a central graderia will be cheaper than a central palco (check the sambadrome map).
TIP: If you want to have a great view but not spend much (30’000Gs.) then Graderia N°5 is the best but if you have the money (90’000Gs.) make sure to get a seat in the central Graderia N°3.
To buy the tickets you can either buy them online ahead of time from the even list on the reduts.com.py , or get them yourself from the official ticket selling stand at the sambadrome. The same ticket (apart some really fancy palcos) is usually a little more expensive online than if you buy it in person.
What’s allowed inside
- Food is ALLOWED and you can buy it inside
- Drinks are ALLOWED and you can buy them inside
- Alchol is NOT ALLOWED but you can buy it inside
- Cans of silly string are NOT ALLOWED but you can buy them inside
Where to sleep
Accommodation in Paraguay usually amounts to the most expensive part of your trip but during carnival prices are really high. The few hostels in town gets full pretty quickly and even then finding a bed at lower than 80’000Gs. is definitely a challenge!
That said, a great central option with amazing facilities and just next to the bus terminal is the Hotel Germano. There you can find double or twin rooms for as cheap as 100’000Gs./room even during carnival times. The place is the real deal!
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