Paraty guide · Events and festivals

Events and festivals: the cultural soul of Paraty

Paraty celebrates all year round: religious festivals, with processions dating back to colonial times, and cultural ones that draw people from all over the world. Almost everything happens in the street and is free. Here is the usual calendar, month by month; the confirmed dates for the coming months are on our home page.

Street in the historic centre at dusk, with tables on the pavement and the lanterns lit — Almost everything happens in the street, in the historic centre. Photo: Gilberto Olimpio / Unsplash

January and February

Réveillon (New Year's Eve): fireworks at several spots around town, from Pontal to Jabaquara, Trindade and Paraty-Mirim, and open-air music stages.
Festival de Verão (Summer Festival): free concerts from mid-January to early February.
Carnival: blocos (street parades) in the historic centre and the Banda Santa Cecília playing the marchinhas (traditional Carnival songs). The most famous is the Bloco da Lama, which since 1986 has gathered on Carnival Saturday at Praia do Jabaquara: everyone covered in mud from the mangrove, dressed up as a "prehistoric tribe", with a swim in the sea at the end. There are also blocos with giant puppets and the Bloco Afro of the Quilombo do Campinho (a traditional Afro-Brazilian community).
Town anniversary: at the end of February.

March and April

Semana Santa (Holy Week): rites dating from the 17th and 18th centuries. On Maundy Thursday, at midnight, the Procissão do Fogaréu crosses the cobbled streets by torchlight, with the church bells silent. On Good Friday comes the procession of the Senhor Morto (the dead Christ), the only day of the year when the six Passos da Paixão (Stations of the Passion) set into the town's walls are opened. On Sunday, the Resurrection procession.

May and June

Festa do Divino Espírito Santo: the town's biggest religious festival, running for about ten days up to Pentecost Sunday. The Divino flag visits people's homes, a boy is crowned emperor and thousands of plates of food are served free of charge. It has been part of Brazil's Cultural Heritage since 2013.
Bourbon Festival Paraty: jazz, blues and soul on stages around the historic centre, free, usually at the end of May or in June.
Festa de São Pedro e São Paulo: on Ilha do Araújo, in the second half of June, with a procession of decorated boats and schooners leaving from the quay.

July

Festa de Santa Rita: ten days of masses, processions and food stalls around the Igreja de Santa Rita.
FLIP, Festa Literária Internacional de Paraty: since 2003, the country's biggest literary festival, at the end of July. The main tent is ticketed, but there is a free big screen in the Praça da Matriz and a huge free fringe programme in the "casas" (houses) all over town. It is the busiest week of the year: book early.

August

Festival da Cachaça, Cultura e Sabores: the town's oldest festival, held since 1983, usually on the third weekend of August, at the Areal do Pontal, a few steps from the hotel. The region's distilleries, food and music, with free entry.

September

Festa de Nossa Senhora dos Remédios: the patron saint's festival, with a novena at the end of August and the main day on 8 September: a procession, a solemn mass and children dressed as angels handing out sweets.
Paraty em Foco: an international photography festival, held since 2005, in September.

October

Encontro Internacional de Aquarelistas: in early October, watercolour painters from all over the world working outdoors in the streets of the centre.
Festejo Tradicional Caiçara da Trindade: at the end of October, with fandango, farinhada (making cassava flour), canoe races and caiçara (local coastal) food.

November and December

Festa de Nossa Senhora do Rosário e São Benedito: in the first half of November, at the church of the old Black brotherhoods.
Encontro da Cultura Negra: at the Quilombo do Campinho, on the weekend of 20 November, Black Consciousness Day: jongo, samba, capoeira and community-based tourism.
Christmas and New Year: the town lit up in December and the pre-New Year's Eve programme from the 28th.

Good to know

Long holiday weekends fill the town: Carnival, Holy Week, Corpus Christi, 7 September, 12 October, Finados (All Souls' Day), 15 and 20 November and New Year's Eve. If your dates coincide with one of them or with FLIP, book well ahead.
Dates change from year to year; always check the official programme. Our home page lists the confirmed dates for the coming months.

Updated September 2026