Originally Posted by
mastak
Hello everyone. Not sure if this topic is mentioned a lot, but I wasn't able to find any answers. I've read recently
here in particular) that there are numerous carnivals organized in Brazil, and the one in Rio is actually not the best to go to (overcrowded and not the biggest actually). I am completely new to traveling to South America. Can someone give any tip on which carnival would be best? And by best I mainly mean the one affordable and not-extremely-crowded-so-that-you-hardly-can-breathe
Well, considering your question, I believe you don't really know what you should expect Carnival to be.
Especially in Rio, Carnival is a series of different events at different locations (even within a city) for different crowds.
Carnival in Rio is the biggest and overcrowding depends on where you go. One thing I can guarantee though is that Rio is the city that offers the most events that are not overcrowded, since they are so diverse. Most other cities do not offer such eclectic choices and therefore have more concentrated events.
Finally, affordability is something depending on what you would like to do. In Rio, for example, most events are actually free.